Banks pulled up for fine on home loan pre-pay

NEW DELHI: Competition watchdog CCI has asked about two dozen banks and housing finance companies, including HDFC, ICICI Bank, and LICHF, to explain their imposing penalty on borrowers for pre-payment of home loans.

The commission, according to official sources, has sent notices to major home loan players after examining a report of director general (investigations) which found evidences against banks for misusing their dominant position and entering into anti-competitive agreements.

"We have sent showcause notices to 20 banks including ICICI Bank, HDFC, LIC Housing Finance, Deutsche Postbank and the Indian Banks' Association. We have also sensitised RBI on how the practice of charging pre-payment penalty is hurting consumers," a senior CCI official said. The commission was scrutinising a complaint filed by a customer against the practice by these banks.

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Another Update on Forest land: Mumbai builders get nod

NEW DELHI: It is probably the best news for Mumbai's leading builders who had invested thousands of crores of rupees on buying prime plots to develop flats and residences but got stuck in the environment tangle as the land was classified later as forest area.

After years of uncertainty, the Supreme Court on Monday cleared their construction activity. However, the green light came with two riders — one they must pay the hefty penalty (Net Payable Value or NPV) slapped on them for using forest land for other activities and two, that the constructions would remain subject to further clearance from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF)

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