Finance
What RBI proposal for tighter project finance rules will mean for REC, PFC?
Seeing the implication of the RBI proposal for tighter project finance rules play out on the likes of an REC and PFC, gives us a sense of the negative implication for such
Anil Gupta: Basically, the regulation which has come out is harmonising the guidelines which were there for banks and NBFCs earlier. For example, today if a project defers its DCCO and that deferment is within a period of two years, the standard asset provisioning norm for a bank is 0.4% and for an NBFC it is 0.25%. Now what this circular is saying is that even if there is a deferment of DCCO within a period of two years, because there have been some deterioration in the project fundamentals, the standard asset provisioning should increase to 5%. So, this 5% provisioning requirement, which is specified with this circular, in our view is applicable only for the projects which are taking a DCCO extension and not for all the projects which are under construction. Now, if this deferment is beyond the two-year period, let us say for an infra project, the earlier guidelines required a provisioning to increase to 5%. The new guidelines which they are proposing says that if the deferment is beyond two years, then additional 2.5% over and above the 5%, which it is currently specifying, will kick in.
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So, total provisioning requirement for cases or projects which are deferring DCCO by more than two years, will be 7.5%. While this is good from the strengthening of the balance sheets for the banks, because any project, let us say, which is undergoing a DCCO extension has undergone a change in the risk. So, the increased provisioning requirement, even if the DCCO extension is up to two years, is a positive thing and that is a good thing. Another positive which we are seeing in the circular is that as per our understanding, the 5% provisioning which was there in the earlier guidelines for the projects who have taken a DCCO extension beyond two years, now the current guidelines allow that reduction in the provisioning from 5% to 2.5% and to 1% if the project commences the COD and also repays the debt to the extent of 20%. So, that way, it will be positive if the project is able to demonstrate the repayment to the extent of 20% of the debt at the time of DCCO extension, then the lenders will be able to release the provision also from 5% to 1%. So that way, we believe that it is positive for the bank’s riskiness; if there is a DCCO extension, then you increase the provision that will also force the lenders as well as the borrowers to possibly fix up a DCCO which is more realistic and you do not take a leeway in terms of a DCCO extension which is available let us say up to two years without additional provision.
So, you will fix up a more realistic DCCOs, more mindful in terms of setting out a repayment schedule which will align with your cash flows so that you do not have to avail a DCCO extension even though the project is complete but is not generating good enough revenues to service the debt. Overall, it is a good thing from the balance sheet strengthening as well as provision release once the project is operational and repays the debt.
PFC and REC are well capitalised. Do you sense that it may not lead to any damage on their profits and losses because their balance sheet is well capitalised?
Anil Gupta: I will not comment on the stock specific things but in general, it is applicable only for the projects which are availing DCCO extension. So, one, that the DCCO portfolio for the banks will not be very high or the lenders will not be very high; we are not talking about entire under construction portfolio of the lenders, we are talking only on the portfolio which would have availed DCCO extension and we should be mindful of that in the last few years if we leave aside maybe the thermal power or the roads which have been a long gestation projects and are more prone to DCCO extension, the recent expansions have largely been in the renewable energy space or let us say projects which are less prone to maybe DCCO extension.
But lenders and the borrowers have to be mindful of setting up DCCO because in the current set of rules being proposed, DCCO deferment will kick in a higher provisioning requirement.Down the line, could this regulation lead to lower loan growth?
Anil Gupta: No. First given the market reaction, there could be a case where maybe more clarification can emerge as to whether 5% provision requirement is on the entire under-construction portfolio of the lenders because our reading is that it is only for the cases where the project is under construction and has sought a DCCO extension.
So, if that clarification comes, it should not be really negative for the sector because it is only a positive from the balance sheet perspective of the lenders that you are taking care of the risk which has gone up because of DCCO extension. So, per se, if that clarification comes, it should not be any negative for the credit flow for the sector.
DULUTH — The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival is seeking both new operational leadership and a solution to financial filing issues that caused the organization to lose its federal tax-exempt status, which it has not held since 2022.
The organization is currently operating as a taxable nonprofit, confirmed Don Ness, the former Duluth mayor who serves as president of Homegrown’s
board of directors.
Ness and the board are working to discern whether there might be any outstanding tax liabilities in the wake of an apparent filing lapse.
“It’s a serious matter that requires diligence to do things right, and to correct past oversight, and to make sure that we are in full compliance with all tax and regulatory requirements,” Ness said. “The board is 100% committed to that course of action.”
As the Duluth Monitor first reported, Homegrown had its federal tax-exempt status revoked in 2022 after failing to make required financial reports for three years. The Monitor also reported that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office has notified the organization it may be in violation of state law requiring the proper registration of soliciting charities.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
“All but one of us have been on for less than a year,” Ness said of the current board members. “We’ve been committed to saying, ‘hey, we need to improve the points of accountability.’”
The organization will also require new operational leadership. Co-directors Cory Jezierski and Dereck Murphy-Williams resigned earlier this month, after leading Homegrown through four successful festivals.
“My contract ended at the end of May, and I knew a few days later that I did not want to continue in that position,” Jezierski said. “Simply put, it was the best thing for my mental health. It’s a job that requires many, many hours and a lot of work, and it can be very stressful as well.”
Amy Arntson / Duluth Media Group file photo
Murphy-Williams did not respond to an interview request for this article, nor did preceding Homegrown director Melissa LaTour. According to LaTour’s
LinkedIn profile,
she was Homegrown director from 2016 to 2022.
Jason Beckman, a recent president who is no longer serving on the board, responded to a News Tribune email but did not provide an interview availability before this article went to press.
Ness does not believe the reporting lapses were due to any ill intent. He praised Jezierski and Murphy-Williams for their success managing festival operations. “They cared deeply about the festival,” he said. “It’s amazing to see that our community continues to support this really unique and special festival.”
“Those guys run a hell of a festival,” said Scott Lunt, festival founder and a current board member. “I think they needed help with bookkeeping.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
By Jezierski’s account, issues with the festival’s tax status became apparent shortly after he became co-director. “We went to file taxes, they were rejected,” Jezierski said. “At that time we, of course, didn’t know why right away, but once we started pulling on that thread, we unraveled a whole lot of the problems that were going on.”
Jezierski said “it took a long time to try to get any sort of help” from the board, but said that by the time he and Murphy-Williams left the organization, “everything had been turned over to be reconciled” with a financial professional.
Ness, like Lunt, was deeply involved with Homegrown in its first decade but had not had an official role with the festival since then. After launching the festival in 1999 and running it on his own for several years, Lunt was “burnt out,” Ness remembered.
Derek Montgomery / Duluth Media Group file photo
After a transition period during which the festival was run in partnership with the Ripsaw newspaper, Homegrown established a nonprofit organization in 2006 with Ness as festival director. Ness subsequently stepped down when he was elected mayor in 2007.
By 2025, Ness was in his current position as executive director of the Ordean Foundation.
“I was approached by a couple of longtime music scenesters,” Ness recalled. “They said, ‘There are questions about (Homegrown’s) nonprofit status. There are questions about some governance issues. We’re concerned.’”
Ness agreed to join the board, and became president. The 2026 festival ran smoothly from an operational standpoint, but Ness found the financial reporting to be lacking.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
“The last board meeting that we had prior to the (co-directors’) resignations was intended to be an overview of the festival that was a month before,” Ness said. “I certainly felt very uncomfortable with how little financial information we were receiving.”
Lunt also joined the board in 2025, marking his first time serving in that capacity. He said the new board has been spending significant time addressing the accounting and reporting issues.
“Every year at Homegrown time I’m like, ‘I should get more involved,’ and then I don’t,” Lunt said. “Then this board thing came up, and it was kind of sold to me as, like, four meetings a year. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’ And now we’re meeting weekly.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
Although it’s unclear how the organization’s finances will look when the accounting and reporting issues have been fully addressed, along with any outstanding tax liabilities, both Ness and Lunt said they are confident the annual festival will continue without interruption.
“The organization will continue,” Ness said. “The festival will continue. Homegrown is in no danger in terms of its viability.” The financial documentation Ness initially received indicated budgeted revenues of about $140,000, against about $130,000 in expenses.
“Financially, I think we’re in a great spot. We have the money to hire the (financial) professionals, and we have (done so),” Lunt said. “We were hoping that we could get all this sorted out before it had to become more public.”
“We poured countless hours into this festival, and this is how it ends, with everyone talking about this,” Jezierski said. “It’s rough.”
“There’s a DIY ethos that is really at the core of Homegrown,” reflected Ness. “We’re throwing a music festival that isn’t waiting for some famous band from the East Coast to bless us with their presence. We are doing this on our own.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
That DIY spirit also means “you’re kind of passing wisdom down from person to person, and sometimes that’s imperfect.” Ness continued. “The ways that we do things evolve over time, because it’s not a buttoned-down corporate sort of thing. That can create its own set of challenges.”
“It’s self-supporting,” said Lunt about the festival. “It’s widely volunteer-run. You do need to pay a couple people, obviously, to keep track of some things, but it’s going to be strong into the future. It’s gone through its bumps before.”
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NEW YORK and SINGAPORE, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LUMIQ, an AI-native financial services company, today announced a strategic funding round to scale auto-decisioning for financial institutions across the United States and Southeast Asia. The round was led by Bajaj Finserv, one of India’s largest and most diversified financial services groups, with participation from existing investor Info Edge Ventures.
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Shoaib Mohammad, Co-founder and CEO, LUMIQ
From AI that assists to AI that decides
For decades, financial institutions have bought technology that made their people faster — faster data, faster scoring, faster copilots. The decision still landed on a human. LUMIQ is changing that. Through its LiteCone platform, the company deploys AI agents that read the file, apply the institution’s own guidelines, and reach the decision end to end — escalating only the cases that genuinely require human judgment. The output is not a recommendation. It is a decision, with full reasoning attached, cross-referenced to policy, and defensible under audit.
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LiteCone turns a real financial-services role into a working AI agent in weeks. Every agent we deploy is consistent, explainable, compliant, and auditable by design — not as an afterthought. This capital lets us go deeper on the platform and broader across roles. And through our cloud and AI lab partnerships, institutions will increasingly find LiteCone already embedded in the platforms they run today.
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Consumer confidence has plunged among traditionally optimistic younger adults amid fears for their personal finances and the wider economy, figures show.
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index remained unchanged at an overall score of minus 23 in June.
However, the analyst said this was was “misleading as, beneath the surface, there are new signs that confidence is weakening”.
Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, said: “The biggest fall this month is among those aged 16 to 29, traditionally one of the most optimistic groups.
“Here confidence has dropped 11 points over the past month to minus two, the lowest level seen for two years, driven by large falls in views on both their own personal finances and the wider economy.
“More broadly, there are now no demographic groups with a positive confidence score, including higher-income households earning £50,000 or more, who have slipped back into negative territory as of June.
“Confidence remains subdued and vulnerable to further economic or political uncertainty.”
Overall, confidence in personal finances over the coming year remained flat at minus two, four points lower than this time last year.
The measures of both personal finances and the economy over the previous 12 months were both slightly down, by two points and three points respectively, “reflecting the sense that things have been extremely tough over the last year for so many”, GfK said.
The only measure to increase was expectations for the wider economy over the next 12 months, up two points to minus 36 but still eight points below this time last year.
The major purchase index, an indicator of confidence in buying big ticket items, remained at minus 20, four points lower than June last year.
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