Newsmakers: Chanda Kochhar on flagship schemes, GDP at 7.3% in Dec quarter and more

27 PSU banks write off Rs 1.14 lakh cr bad debts during 2012-15
A whopping Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad loans have been written off by 27 public sector banks (PSBs) during FY 2012-15, with the last fiscal alone witnessing a steep 53 per cent rise in write-offs as part of the balance sheet clean-up. For the fiscal ended March 2015, public sector banks have written off loans amounting to Rs 52,542 crore, an increase of 52.6 per cent over the previous fiscal, as per the RBI data.

Flagship schemes are govt's big test: Kochhar
India needs to remain focused on executing various ambitious programmes such as Make in India and strengthen institutional framework, a top Indian corporate leader has said while underlining that the implementation of these campaigns is going to be a big test for the country.

TRAI rules against differential pricing for Internet services
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has ruled against differential pricing for Internet services, in a setback to Facebook Inc's plan to roll out free Internet to the masses in Asia's third-largest economy. TRAI said that Internet service providers would not be allowed to discriminate on pricing of data access for different web services.

Economic growth seen at five-year high in FY16
Indian economy is expected to record a five-year high growth rate of 7.6 per cent in 2015-16 on improved performance in manufacturing and farm sectors. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or economic growth is estimated at 7.3 per cent in October-December quarter of this fiscal.

Sensex ends 329 points lower as IT stocks drag
The S&P BSE Sensex ended sharply lower by 329 points on Friday, while broader CNX Nifty closed below its key 7,400-mark. The benchmark indices crashed at the fag end of the session after staying rangebound through the day ahead of the GDP data for December quarter, which is due later in the day. Analysts believe a consecutive six-day long fall in European markets affected market sentiment in the afternoon trade.