INTRODUCTION


Finance Companies’ Association (India) (FCA – earlier called ELAI) led by many Doyens of the Finance Industry has been a Premier Trade Association and has rendered yeomen service for the development of the Finance Industry.

During its Silver Jubilee year in 2009-10, FCA constituted Finance Companies’ Research and Development Foundation (FCR&DF) to conduct studies and research on the Finance Industry to present its findings and suggestions to the regulatory authorities like the Finance Ministry, Reserve Bank of India, etc, for the benefit of the industry.

The Author of the Trust namely Finance Companies’ Association (India) has contributed the initial Corpus Fund of Rs. 10 lakh and some of the big companies in the Financial Services Sector have promised to make donations as soon as the research work gets started.

REGISTRATION AS A TRUST

Finance Companies’ Research and Development Foundation (FCR&DF) was registered with District Registrar of Central Chennai on 21st October 2011 as a Trust and its main object is to conduct research in and for the development of Financial Services Sector.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

The main objective of FCRDF is to make an extensive and comprehensive study of the financial services sector, which will be helpful in making representations to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Government of India etc. RBI as well as the various committees formed by it have repeatedly recognised the vital role played by the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) in the matter of dispensation of credit to those who could not be financed by the banking sector and NBFCs can justifiably take major credit for the exponential growth of the Road Transport sector. However, the benefits arising out of such recognition have not percolated to the NBFC Sector. On the one hand, RBI has been systematically enforcing stringent and rigorous norms for the NBFC sector on par with Banks, while at the same time, is not willing to extend many of the benefits enjoyed by the Banking sector, to the NBFCs. Small and medium companies find it extremely difficult to obtain funding from Banks and others. It is with a view to set right this anomaly that the Trust has embarked on the research activity.

APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES

As per the constitution of the Trust, the Board of Trustees can have a maximum of 12 (twelve) trustees. Presently the Trust has, the following as its Trustees

1. Mr. Vijay P Chordia Managing Trustee
2 Mr. Kailashmull Dugar Trustee
3 Mr. P S Balasubramaniam Trustee
4 Mr. G V Raman Trustee
5 Mr. T T Srinivasaraghavan Trustee
6 Mr. Balraj Menon C Trustee
ACTIVITIES
Appointment of Consultant

It was discussed to appoint a Senior Retired Reserve Bank of India Official as a Consultant to help in the activities of the Foundation & also the matters relating to the Association

The matter is under process to have a meeting with a senior retired RBI Official.

Goods and Services Tax.

Consequent upon the implementation of GST with effect from 01st July 2017, Handbook on GST Guidelines were purchased and supplied to the Member Companies. Since Members and the NBFC Sector are not conversant with the implications of the GST Rules, this hand book would be useful for their unsolved questionnaire and difficulties faced on day to day business.

Conduct of Certificate Course of Examination.

Indian Institute of Banking and Finance is conducting a Certificate Course for Non-banking Financial Companies. Mr. V Gopalakrishnan, Chairman FCA and Mr. Vijay P Chordia, Managing Trustee of the Foundation had meeting with the Joint Director & Zonal Head of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance in Chennai on various issues of small NBFCs on their difficulties in official functioning

The Director of the Institution agreed to support us by arranging conduct of Certificate Course and to award Certificate in Non-Banking Finance Companies Examination. As NBFCs play an important role in fostering inclusive growth especially in sectors like MSMEs, the institute felt that a certificate course for the employee’s of NBFCs will be useful.

The Trustees decided that the Foundation will bear the expenditure incurred on the subject on behalf of the members. The subject examination is conducted twice in a year during the months of January & July. The Foundation is supporting the member companies in the following manner:

  1. Reimburse the registration / examination fee of Rs 1,800/- per employee (up to two employees per company).
  2. Purchase and supply of the study material for the candidates i.e. the book “Certificate Examination in NBFC 2017 Edition” by Taxmann Publications Pvt. Ltd to each member Company.

Member companies were asked to utilise this opportunity and plan to select suitable candidates to undergo the course.

As on March 2022, there were twelve candidates from the Member Companies who appeared the examination and they were paid the examination fee from the Foundation Fund.

Conduct of Certificate Course for NBFCs.

The Managing Trustee informed the Trustees that Mr. Sundararajan, IFMR was approached to provide necessary assistance to conduct a Certificate Course for NBFCs, covering all aspects of the financial services sector. Based on the proposal from IFMR conduct of the certificate course for NBFCs are as under :

  1. “The classes will be conducted by IFMR’s teaching arm, KREA UNIVERSITY, on-line, spanning over 13 Weeks, with two classes of 75 minutes each, every week. FCRDF will run this course on a no profit basis and except the actual expenses incurred by FCRDF, no additional fees will be collected from the students. The fees for the entire duration of the course are Rs. 30,000 each plus GST for the maximum strength of 30 students, and if only 25 students register, the fee will be proportionately higher. Registration will close when the number of registered students reaches 30”.
  2. “The course is available not only to the Members of FCA but even to Non-members. However, members of FCA will get a discount in course fees. The students will be awarded a certificate by FCR&DF/ IFMR (KREA) upon successful completion of the course”.
  3. “This will be a great learning opportunity, both for new entrants to the sector, as well as a refresher for seasoned professionals in the sector, as we prepare for the next phase of growth in our businesses”.

The detailed letter from the Foundation on the above content were circulated to all Members Companies of Finance Companies Association (India) as well among all NBFCs registered with RBI all over the country.

The foundation received Registration from the NBFCs and The Managing Trustee was happy to announce that the dates for Conduct of Certificate Course has been finalised and the course will be inaugurated and classes online will commence from 03 Jan 2023. Schedule of conduct of classes will be on every Tuesday and Friday from 4.00 pm to 5.15 pm for 13 weeks. Detailed programme and the links for the same will be sent to all the participants who have registered with payment, for the course, shortly.

‘The Indian Banker’ Journal’

The Foundation arranged to subscribe ‘The Indian Banker– monthly Journal’, published by Indian Banker's Association, Mumbai for the benefits of the Member Companies. Yearly subscription for 12 issues of the Journal is paid to the Institution from the Foundation account. The distribution of the Monthly Journal commenced from the month of June 2018. The institution is supplying the issues direct to the Member Companies of the Association.

Joint Meetings / Seminars

The Trust conducted the following meetings jointly with the other trade Associations.

Date Topic Speaker
09 10 2012 Growth of NBFC & Managing Growth Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, President -Asset Finance, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd.
21 12 2012 1) Revised Guidelines issued by RBI pursuant to Usha Thorat Committee Recommendations Mr. R Sridhar, MD & CEO Shriram Capital Ltd & Chairman FIDC Mumbai
2) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Retail. Mr. K V Srinivasan, CEO, Reliance Capital Ltd, Mumbai
17 11 2017 Arbitration Act Shri N L Rajah, Sr. Advocate - Madras High Court
15 03 2019 1) Repossession of Asset / Vehicle through various legal measures Shri Narayanan N Legal Head – Sundaram Finance Ltd
2) Compliance by NBFCs Partnership Firms, Individuals and Proprietorship Firms on Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019 Shri Gaurav Kumar K B.Com, NCFM (Professional),MBA(Finance), FCS
3) Demonstration on the use of ‘Advance GPS Tracking system for vehicles’
18 07 2019 Union Budget 2019 Aspects and Implementations of Budget 2019 Shri R Anand, Past Chairman - SIHPA
Broad Aspect of the Economy and Tax Proposals Shri Achha T R President - FIHPA
Recovery through Arbitration - Pre and Post Repossession Shri Deepak Mehta H Secretary General - FIHPA
05 02 2020 Union Budget 2020 Direct Taxes Shri Diwakar Vijayasarathi Managing Partner DVS Advisers
Indirect Taxes Shri K Vaitheeswaran Advocate & Tax Consultant
Moderator Shri R Anand Past Chairman - SIHPA
ENDOWMENT

The Trust has obtained exemption under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act as well as exemption for donation receipts under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. Efforts in progress to get donations from the member companies.

With this objective, we have had preliminary discussions with Madras School of Economics, Chennai, a renowned Research Organisation, to carry out an extensive research study and they have expressed their willingness to accept the assignment

Memorandum of Understanding between FCRDF and Madras School of Economics has been signed on 28th March 2014. The expenditure incurred to undertake the research work was Rs. 15 lakh.

RESEARCH WORK

The Research Study on NBFC Sector was assigned to The Madras School of Economics (MSE) and the assignment has been completed. Efforts are being taken to publish the Report in the form of a Book for the benefit of the members of the Industry and for distribution to the relevant authorities.

AUDITORS

M/s. Brahmayya & Co, Chartered Accountants, Chennai have been appointed as Auditors of the Trust “Finance Companies Research & Development Foundation”. The present remuneration approved by the Trust is Rs. 12,000/- + applicable Service Tax to the Auditors Brahmayya & Co.

DONATIONS

The Foundation received donations from the following Donors.

Sl. No. Name of Donor Donations Received
    LAKH THOUSAND
1 Finance Companies Association (India) 23 Lakh     40 Thousand
2 Shriram Transport Finance Co Ltd 10 lakh  
3 Shriram City Union Finance Co Ltd 10 lakh  
4 Sundaram Finance Ltd 10 lakh  
5 Vijay Hemant Finance & Estates Ltd   5 Thousand
Total Contribution 53 Lakh 45 Thousand

It was also decided to send request letters to all our members and non-members for further donations.

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