Experts raise alarm bells on talent flight amid crackdown on audit firms

On the other hand, officials at regulatory and enforcement agencies said the audit firms tend to put the blame on individuals after finding themselves in the dock for their alleged role in frauds.

Amid a crackdown on erring auditors in cases of alleged financial irregularities, some experts and top executives at some audit firms are raising alarm bells about a possible flight of fresh talent from the profession.

While few are willing to speak openly against actions taken by regulatory and enforcement agencies against auditors for failing to flag financing bungling, senior executives at major audit firms said it was wrong at times to ban an entire audit network for alleged lapses by one or two individuals.

On the other hand, officials at regulatory and enforcement agencies said the audit firms tend to put the blame on individuals after finding themselves in the dock for their alleged role in frauds.

The officials have often pointed out that auditors are supposed to be the conscience-keepers of a company and it is their duty to ring the alarm bells even at the slightest hint of a financial wrongdoing.

In recent times, there has been a spate of actions against auditors, including against PwC in the Satyam case and against Deloitte and BSR in the IL&FS matter.

Markets watchdog Sebi has moved the Supreme Court against the Securities Appellate Tribunal's ruling that had quashed a two-year ban on PwC in connection with the Rs 7,800-crore Satyam scam.

In the IL&FS case, the Bombay High Court has granted a stay on NCLT proceedings against the company's erstwhile auditors, while some auditors were recently arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police in the NSEL matter, though they were released subsequently on bail.

Some auditors, including in the case of IL&FS matter, have come under the scanner of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) while National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is looking into alleged accounting lapses at Infosys.

"There are fewer people now who are excited to join the audit profession, primarily due to a narrative that has got built around it in the recent times," said one of the partners at a leading audit firm, citing actions taken by regulatory and enforcement agencies and the judiciary.

Business Standard

Danger ahead: $63-bn stalled real estate projects a threat for Indian banks

As lenders stop new credit, builders are forced to offload properties.

Business Standard : Ashish Shah is caught in the middle of India’s latest financial crisis. As chief operating officer of Radius Developers, he’s struggling to fund construction of apartment complexes because of a liquidity crunch in the nation’s bloated shadow-banking sector.

“Real estate is a sitting duck,” said Shah. “The timing is very crucial as the slowdown has hit the real estate market quite hard. The industry can’t service interest, new interest, additional interest, because there is no cash flow.”

Radius and hundreds of other developers relied on loans from what India calls non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to fuel a five-year property boom. That came to a halt a year ago with the default of one of the shadow banking sector’s leading lenders, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. The resulting credit squeeze has left builders such as Radius and Omkar Realtors & Developers Pvt. looking for support, or, like scandal-hit Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd., filing for bankruptcy.

There are $63 billion of stalled residential projects across the country, according to Anarock Property Consultants, and their developers have become locked in a downward spiral with shadow banks. As lenders stop new credit, builders are forced to offload properties. Prices fall, causing more real estate loans to turn sour, pushing more shadow banks toward default.

In turn, that has cast a shadow on traditional banks and dried up funding to other businesses, putting more stress on an already slowing economy.

For Radius, the crunch started when one of its main lenders, Dewan Housing Finance Corp., shut off new loans as it attempts to restructure some $12.7 billion debt to avoid bankruptcy. Shah said he gained a temporary reprieve by selling a project to Blackstone Group Inc., but like all builders, his company needs cash to operate while projects are being built.

Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. and Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd., which have some of the largest exposures to the sector, are also tightening funding.

The risks of exposure to real estate were underlined by the scandal surrounding HDIL. The Reserve Bank of India abruptly imposed withdrawal curbs on a small cooperative bank that it said had under-reported loans to the developer. The decision triggered panic withdrawals from the bank, prompting the RBI to issue a statement to reassure the public that the banking system is “safe and stable.”

India's mini-Lehman moment: Bankruptcies double at real estate developers

The growing number of insolvencies highlight Indian property developers' inability to complete apartments and meet their debt obligations amid the funding crisis.

The number of Indian real estate companies tipped into insolvency has doubled in less than a year since the collapse of a key shadow bank, an event often compared to the Lehman crisis that squeezed American funding markets a decade ago.

As many as 421 developers entered bankruptcy court by the end of June, up from 209 in September 2018, around the time when the government seized control of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd.

The move triggered a credit crunch for smaller financiers and property firms, which depend on funds from shadow lenders.

The numbers will probably increase, according to Vivek K. Chandy, joint managing partner at law firm J. Sagar Associates.

Of the 421 cases, 164 have been closed, he said, which means they were resolved, withdrawn, or the companies faced liquidation.

The growing number of insolvencies highlight Indian property developers’ inability to complete apartments and meet their debt obligations amid the funding crisis. The crunch is feeding into -- and worsened by -- an economic slowdown that is hitting Indians’ demand for goods and services.

“Banks have become more vigilant. Markets are not too good, money is tight, compliance has increased,” Chandy said. “Home owners have now become financial creditors by legislation, so they will be able to put more pressure on real estate companies and can start insolvency proceedings.”

Business Standard

Why do credit rating agencies keep missing big Indian company defaults?

India's major rating firms include Crisil, the Indian unit of S&P Global; ICRA, the local unit of Moody's Investors Service.

Mounting debt failures in India have been catching rating companies off guard, underscoring continued challenges a year after the landmark failure of shadow bank IL&FS increased scrutiny of the industry.

Defaults at companies including Dewan Housing Finance Corp., Cox & Kings Ltd. and Altico Capital India Ltd. have occurred even as their long-term ratings indicated very low to moderate risk of non-payment.

“Raters have not been able to detect stress in time,” said Ashutosh Khajuria, chief financial officer at Federal Bank Ltd. “Cutting credit profiles after the defaults is no rocket science.”

There’s a lot at stake as India tries to navigate a shadow-banking crisis and expand its debt market. The lack of more forewarning on payment problems has fueled questions about the quality of ratings, and could keep some investors away from corporate bonds, hindering market development.

India’s major rating firms include Crisil, the Indian unit of S&P Global; ICRA, the local unit of Moody’s Investors Service; Fitch-owned India Ratings & Research; and Care Ratings.

Crisil declined to comment on industry practices, adding that it didn’t rate most of the large credits that defaulted recently. ICRA, Care and India Ratings & Research didn’t immediately comment.

The securities market regulator strengthened disclosure rules earlier this year after rating firms failed to give ample warning on IL&FS group’s defaults from 2018, which triggered a prolonged cash squeeze in the nation. They now have to reveal annual default rates among the companies they evaluate.The new rules are set to improve the quality of ratings in the industry over time, said Somasekhar Vemuri, senior director at Crisil.

Business Standard

RBI tells banks, financial institutions to disclose exposure to IL&FS

It said banks and financial institutions must mention the total amount of exposure that are non-performing assets (NPAs) to the IL&FS.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks and financial institutions to declare details of their exposure and provisions related to the troubled Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). It said banks and financial institutions must mention the total amount of exposure that are non-performing assets (NPAs) to the IL&FS.

In the matter between the IL&FS and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had earlier stated that no financial institution can declare the accounts of the IL&FS or its group entities as NPAs without prior permission of the tribunal.

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However, the RBI had appealed in the NCLAT, seeking modification against the order, saying banks must reflect defaults of the IL&FS group and its entities as NPAs in their accounts.

Group entities of the beleaguered IL&FS began to default due to asset liability mismatch in the second quarter of 2018-19.

Its payment obligations on maturing loans were far more than its cash flows. The defaults by the IL&FS entities caused liquidity squeeze in the markets, affecting the non-banking financial companies and the housing finance companies adversely. The group companies have a total debt of more than Rs 94,000 crore.

Of the Rs 94,000-crore debt, state-owned lenders with exposure of Rs 35,382 crore (secured and unsecured) are the worst-hit, followed by investors holding non-convertible debentures of the IL&FS having an exposure of Rs 25,767 crore.

Business Standard