17dec

Wednesday 18-25 December , 2014
BUSINESS
24
Sony urges media groups to delete hacked data
(Agencies) washington : Sony
Entertainment pressed media
outlets on Sunday against using
data that hackers may have
leaked about the studio.
In the letter sent to
groups including The New York
Times and The Hollywood Reporter,
lawyer David Boies said
the "stolen information" must be
destroyed and should not make
it to publication.
The studio "does not
consent to your possession, review,
copying, dissemination,
publication, uploading, downloading
or making any use of the
stolen information, and to request
your cooperation in destroying
the stolen information,"
Boies wrote in the three-page
letter.
The demand comes
amid a series of damaging leaks
about salaries, employee health
records, unpublished scripts and
email exchanges about movie
stars and filmmakers. The information
has been published by
websites including gawker.com.
The FBI has launched
an investigation. The unflattering
leaks -- including a producer labeling
Angelina Jolie a "minimally
talented spoiled brat" -- have
thrown Sony into damage control
mode, amid few signs they are
going to stop any time soon.
Sony co-chair Amy Pascal
was also shown to have made
racially insensitive remarks about
president Barack Obama -- the
first black president of the United
States -- in company emails.
A group that claims to
have hacked Sony's servers has
demanded its movie studio pull a
soon-to-be-released comedy depicting
a fictional CIA plot to kill
North Korea's leader. Sony is trying
to determine whether North
Korean hackers are the source
of the leaks, according to tech
website Re/code. North Korea,
however, has denied involvement
in the brazen cyber attack on
Sony Pictures, but praised it as
a "righteous deed" potentially orchestrated
by supporters furious
over the movie "The Interview,"
due out on Christmas Day.
RBI allows banks to
recast large project loans
MUMBAI: Hundreds of road,
power, steel and other large
projects that are stuck because
of their inability to generate cash
flows required to repay loans are
likely to go on-stream with the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing
lenders to extend the repayment
period for these
projects. With the RBI allowing
restructuring of even those loans
that have been declared in default,
there is hope that a large chunk
of bad loans will be eventually
upgraded.
"Until now, banks were
focused on a 'fault finding' mission
after a default. Now they will
go in search of profits," said
Nirmal Gangwal, founder and MD,
Brescon Corporate Advisors, a
firm that advises banks on bad
loans. Gangwal said that banks
have enough powers to use as a
stick against borrowers, including
laws to attach assets and the
power to convert debt to equity.
The new guidelines give them the
incentive to work in a constructive
way with the borrower.
The RBI typically does
not encourage giving borrowers
more time or more liquidity
merely to avoid a default. However,
in the case of large
projects it has made an exception
since it is only in India
there was a restriction on the
tenure of the project loan."The
biggest beneficiary would be
road assets and projects in
the power and steel sector.
Those sectors associated with
these industries —telecom,
cement, fertilizer, textiles —
will also benefit. The only unfortunate
part is that this relaxation
has been restricted to
only Rs 500-crore projects,"
said Gangwal.
"Banks have represented
that flexible structuring
of project loans with the option
of periodic refinancing may
also be allowed to existing
loans to infrastructure projects
and core industries projects, as
it would ensure long-term viability
of existing infrastructure/core
industries sector projects by
aligning the debt repayment obligations
with cash flows generated
during their economic life,"
RBI circular said .