Non-performing assets in banks a matter of concern: Subbarao

Chennai:First Post : 4 July 2013 

The Reserve Bank of India today said the growing non-performing assets in the banking sector is a matter of concern and steps are being taken to bring it down as soon as possible.

“Together NPAs and restructured assets are increasing and are quite sizable. It is a matter of growing concern … The Reserve Bank and government have taken all action necessary to ensure that NPAs come down as soon as possible,” RBI Governor D Subbarao told reporters in Chennai.

RBI Governor D Subbarao. AFP

Non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks have been going up for the last two years due to slowdown in the economy.

The gross NPAs of some public sector banks, including State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank have crossed 4 percent of the total assets at the end of March, 2013.

Gross NPAs of public sector banks have risen from Rs 71,080 crore as on March 2011, to Rs 1.55 lakh crore as on December 2012.

Subbarao further said the Indian banks are well capitalised.

“They would be able to withstand substantial shocks to the system,” he added.

After meeting chiefs of public sector banks, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said they have been asked to focus on their top 30 non-performing accounts and take action for recovery against the wilful defaulters.

“They are keeping a close watch on top 30 NPA accounts in each bank and action will be taken to recover especially when there is a case of wilful default,” he had said.

PTI

Tribunal had no power to modify stay order which was merged with the order of High Court

Taxmann :Thursday, July 4, 2013

Where stay order passed by Tribunal had been challenged before High Court,

 such order stood merged with order of High Court; 

thereafter, Tribunal had no power to modify such merged stay order

In the instant case, the Tribunal vide its stay order directed the assessee to make pre-deposit of certain amount and report compliance.

 Against the said order, the assessee filed writ petition before the High court.

 The High Court only allowed credit of earlier payments to be taken by the party towards pre-deposit ordered by the Tribunal. 

Further, the High Court granted four weeks time to deposit any balance amount and submit proof thereof to the Registry of the Tribunal.

 In these circumstances the assessee again filed a miscellaneous application to the Tribunal seeking modification of the stay order.

The Tribunal rejected the application 

with following observations:

1) The plea made by assessee in miscellaneous application amounted to a plea for modification of original stay order which had already merged with  the order of High Court;

2) The Tribunal was incompetent to modify the stay order.

 The assessee had not complied with the time-bound direction of the High Court either. 

There was neither clear statement of any payments made by the assessee, nor there was any claim of further 

payments within the prescribed time towards pre-deposit ordered by the Tribunal;

3) In the above scenario, the miscellaneous application was rejected - 

Choice Precitech India (P.) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise[2013] 34 taxmann.com 194 

(Bangalore - CESTAT)

Banks' profitability likely to come under pressure

BE :Manojit Saha  |  Mumbai  July 3, 2013 Last Updated at 21:36 IS
Amid rising NPAs, the sector may face headwinds from higher provisioning, lower treasury gains & margin pressure

On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed - in a draft circular - that banks have to make provisions on the unhedged currency exposure of a corporate borrower. Unhedged foreign currency exposures of corporate borrowers is an area of concern for the regulator in the wake of the sharp depreciation of the rupee. 

Unhedged foreign currency exposures can result in significant losses to companies due to exchange rate movements. These losses might reduce their capacity to service the loans taken from banks and thereby affect the health of the banking system.

In several interactions with the bankers, RBI had indicated that merely 40-50 per cent of corporates' exposures are hedged. Large banks are likely to be impacted the most if the proposal is implemented. RBI has suggested additional standard provisioning of 20 basis points to 80 basis points depending on the unhedged portion.

"We believe the initial impact would be mainly on larger banks (public sector banks like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Punjab National Bank and private banks like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank) as they are actively involved in lending through foreign currency, especially long-term loans," Kotak Securities said in a note to its clients.

A report by Emkay Global estimates an impact of three-six basis points on the return on assets for public sector banks while the same for private banks would be lesser.

Banks are facing higher provisioning on restructured advances also, with the central bank implementing the Mahapatra committee recommendation. From June 1, fresh restructured standard assets will attract provisioning requirement of five per cent, as compared to 2.8 per cent earlier.

 The full impact of the increase in provisioning will be felt in the September quarter. Also, for the existing restructured assets portfolio, the provisioning has to be gradually raised to five per cent by March 2016.

There is some pressure building up on the treasury front also as yields on government bonds have started hardening on expectation that RBI will hold the key rate again in the first quarter review of monetary policy scheduled end of July. This should also reflect in the treasury income of banks in the September quarter. 

The rate cut hope was dashed following the sharp depreciation of the rupee which is the worst performing Asian currency since April. A fall in the rupee impacts inflation and inflationary expectation adversely since the country heavily depends on crude oil imports.

Net interest margins of the banks are also likely to see some pressure in this quarter as banks will start cutting interest rates on loans or their base rates. However, since deposit growth is sluggish it may not be possible for banks to cut the deposit rates and even if some rates are revised, it will be only for new depositors. A change in the base rate cut impacts both existing and new borrowers.

On the whole, since public sector banks have higher share of restructured assets, the impact for them will be higher as compared to private sector banks.

The Mehta who surprised Mallya

 BE :Dev Chatterjee  |  Mumbai  July 6, 2013 Last Updated at 00:56 IST

Untill early this week, not many outside the Indian fertiliser sector had heard of Sailesh C Mehta, 52, chairman and managing director of Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals. 

Like the company, Mehta also kept a low profile. 

In fact, he is known among peers as "overcautious". 

So his move to take on UB Group ChairmanVijay Mallya for control of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizer (MCF) has taken everyone by surprise.

"We wanted to make some noise about this acquisition," says a group insider about the 24.46 per cent acquisition, worth Rs 180 crore, in MCF. "We had first made a friendly gesture to take over the company but the UB group was not interested."

The acquisition bid has taken UB Group by surprise, as it was planning to sell MCF to Saroj Poddar of Zuari Agro. Poddar already owns a 10 per cent stake in MCF. Of Mallya's 22 per cent stake, 11 per cent is pledged with banks and financial institutions. MCF became a target after UB Group began facing liquidity issues after the collapse of its Kingfisher Airlines.

This is when Mehta, who took over as chairman of Deepak from his father last October, saw an opportunity and decided to take the plunge.

 An offer was made to UB. Mehta's company has presence in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

 A takeover of MCF would give it access to urea and non-urea capacities of 380 billion tonnes and 26o billion tonnes, respectively, and access to the Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu markets.

A Deepak Fertilisers insider said: "Our offer was a win-win deal for both companies and we think this is a good fit with our business."

But by taking on Mallya, who has fought many a 

corporate battle and won many, has Mehta bitten off 

more than he can chew?

"There has to be some understanding between Mallya and Mehta on Deepak Fertilisers," said a banker who worked closely with Mehta.

 "Mehta is not the sort of person who will go for a hostile takeover bid. I am expecting a lot of negotiations in the next six months between Mallya and Mehta over MCF."

Here, the banker said, the experience of JM Financial's Nimesh Kampani would come handy, as he is close to both Mallya and Mehta.

 JM is the advisor to Deepak Fertilisers and was also advisor to UB's Diageo for its United Spirits' deal. Kampani is also on the board of Deepak Nitrate and shares a close bond with Mehta's father, the founder of the group

Deepak Fertilisers declined to comment but insiders said the company was ready to negotiate. Deepak would make an open offer soon to other shareholders, the sources said, as they were close to the threshold limit of 25 per cent shareholding, which triggers a compulsory open offer.

Mehta, who has a management degree from Texas, took over as managing director in 2002, and chairman in October 2012, after his father, C K Mehta, decided to devote more time to social work. The Mehtas own 43.32 per cent Deepak Fertilisers.

But it's not MCF alone that is occupying Mehta's time these days. He is also busy developing new businesses, including constructing a mall in Pune and exporting fruit and vegetables across the world. His brother, D C Mehta, runs Deepak Nitrate, another group company. The next six months will decide whether a hitherto cautious Mehta was right about making a grab for MCF or not.

WHO IS SAILESH MEHTA

• 1991 Joined family-owned Deepak Fertilisers, Pune
• 2002 Took over as managing director
• 2005 Elevated to vice-chairman and managing director
• 2012 Became chairman and managing director

Finance Ministry asks banks to have independent corporate debt restructuring oversight panel

Press Trust of India | Updated On: June 07, 2013 00:27 (IST)

Mumbai: To restrict the use of loan restructuring mechanism only to deserving cases, the Finance Ministry on Thursday asked bankers to have an independent oversight committee that will vet the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) applications.

Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru asked banks to have the committee consisting of an expert from the legal field, investigative agencies and a finance professional, to make sure that there will not be any scope for allegations.

"An independent oversight mechanism which will not have any government representative or any serving banker, but some experts who can scrutinise from the correctness point of view whether the case referred is genuine," Mr Takru told reporters on the sidelines of the Skoch summit in Mumbai.

The proposal comes amidst allegations of banks using CDR mechanism - under which the repayment tenor of a loan is delayed - to take care of a borrower's temporary needs in times of stress. CDR cases have more than doubled in the past fiscal and are set to increase further this fiscal year.

According to the CDR cell, as on March 31, 2013, loans worth Rs.2,29,013 crore, or 401 companies' loans, were restructured, which is more than double the amount from FY12.

Last week, the RBI had increased provisioning for the recast loans massively and also made loan recasts tougher by increasing promoters' contribution.

Under the new rules, from June 1, banks must set aside provisioning for 5 per cent of the value of a loan that is newly restructured, from 2 per cent previously.

Under the newly revised norms, loans classified as sub-standard would attract a provision of 15 per cent, against the current 10 per cent. For unsecured loans classified as sub-standard assets, an additional 10 per cent provision would have to be made over the current 15 per cent.

Thus, total provisioning for sub-standard unsecured loans would now be 25 per cent, against 20 per cent earlier.

Mr Takru cited a recent case of a corporate conniving with lenders to get its loans restructured and immediately approaching the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction in two months which froze the repayment, so the promoter got away scot-free with the money.

Going to the CDR committee will be non-mandatory for a bank and the committee will act as a pure advisory body, helping the bank vet a particular case, he said.

To be impartial, the officers in the committee should be hired by the Indian Banks Association itself, Mr Takru said, adding the government has some names in mind.

Additionally, on the gross NPAs, which have declined to 3.5 per cent as of March from 3.9 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter, Mr Takru asked banks not to show any flexibility.

In case of provisions of the SARFESI Act being used, the bank should issue auction notices of the asset as soon as possible and dispose of the asset. In case they are not able to get the reserve price, they should take over the asset and place it in their books, to be sold at a later date once the market revives, he said.

He also said while lending, banks should make sure that they have a collateral at least of the equal value as the loan amount, in order to not getting hit by NPAs in the future if the account turns bad.

He also asked banks to submit the reports on agri debt waiver by June 30, but added that they have not found any substantial violations in agri debt waiver cases.

Gammon India’s corporate debt restructuring cleared

Under the agreed CDR terms for Gammon, loan repayment will be stretched to 10 years and the company gets a moratorium of two years. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/ Mint

Live MInt : Didesh Unnikrishnan :Thu, Jul 04 2013. 11 58 PM IST

Loan repayment to be stretched to 10 years, Gammon India to get moratorium of two years on servicing it

Mumbai: Creditors have approved a Rs.13,500 crore corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package for Gammon India Ltd, offering the engineering and construction company a breather from a crisis brought on by slower economic growth and project delays, but adding to the growing pile of restructured loans at banks.

The CDR cell, a forum of lenders, has cleared the proposal and the process of loan restructuring will start soon, said two bankers familiar with the proposal. They declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

Under the terms agreed for the CDR, the loan repayment will be stretched to 10 years and Gammon India will get a moratorium of two years on servicing it. The interest rate on the loan amount will be reduced by 1-2 percentage points to 11-12%.

“The loan recast will definitely aid an improvement in the operations of the company. Banks have approved this case, recognizing that there is a genuine need for the firm to avail this facility,” said a banker with a state-run bank, one of the creditors of Gammon India, who also did not want to be named.

Emails sent to officials at Gammon on Wednesday remained unanswered as of press time.

Gammon India and other infrastructure companies are struggling amid a slump in economic growth, which fell to a decade-low of 5% in the year ended March, as companies put new investments on hold. Infrastructure firms have also been battling a credit crunch amid high borrowing costs that made it difficult for many borrowers to repay debt.

Delays in securing mandatory government approvals have stalled project execution and impeded cash flows at several infrastructure firms. In April, according to finance ministry estimates, about 215 infrastructure projects were stalled, involving a collective outlay of over Rs.7 trillion.

Shares of Gammon India surged as much as 9.6% in intra-day trading on investor speculation about the loan recast. They closed up 3.481% at Rs.19.4 on the BSE on a day the benchmark Sensex gained 1.22% to 19,410.84 points.

In Gammon India’s case, out of the total debt amount, banks have a fund-based exposure of aboutRs.3,500 crore Fund exposure is the loan amount given by the bank to the company. Non-fund exposure is mainly in the form of performance guarantees or similar facilities

. Leading lenders to the company include ICICI Bank Ltd and Canara Bank Ltd. Banks will restructure the non-fund exposure of the company to the extent at which the facility has been used, said one of the officials cited above.

The individual exposure of each bank to Gammon India could not be ascertained as the banks declined to divulge details.

As of 31 May, Indian banks had loans outstanding of Rs.7.7 trillion to the infrastructure sector.

Under CDR, bankers typically extend the repayment period, cut lending rates and sometimes agree to forego a part of the money that’s owed to them. Banks may also offer a repayment holiday. A CDR is approved if at least 75% of the banks by value of the loan and 60% by number agree to proposal.

For the quarter ended 31 March, Gammon India reported a net loss of Rs.124.98 crore, largely because of some one-off items on its overseas operations, which included provisions made by the company in connection with investments and advances.

Gammon joins several companies that have recast loans. In the recent past, banks have restructured the loans of companies including Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (about Rs.3,000 crore),Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd and Suzlon Energy Ltd.

Analysts said banks are going ahead with loan recasts despite the higher provision they need to make on such loans, failing which they would need to categorise these loans as non-performing assets (NPAs), which attract even higher provisions.

“Gammon restructuring was on expected lines. This is a good move for banks also as otherwise they would be forced to classify this as NPA,” said Hatim Broachwala, an analyst at Karvy Stock Broking Ltd.

On a cumulative basis, total restructured loans under the CDR mechanism have crossed Rs.2.29 trillion, or 4.4% of total loans given by Indian banks, as of March. The aggregate figure for bilateral loan recasts is not available, but bankers said such recasts may nearly equal the CDR figure. That would take the total restructured assets of the Indian banking industry to around Rs.4 trillion.

“It (Gammon CDR) seems to be in the ordinary course of things,” said Vaibhav Agrawal, vice-president, research at Angel Broking Ltd. “There are going to be more such cases at least in the next 1-2 years. Probably the peak of restructuring is over but things are not getting any better.”

Indian banks began large-scale restructuring in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Indian banks have recast loans of companies across sectors such as textiles, real estate, power and gems and jewellery. About 10-15% of the restructured advances are estimated to have turned bad in the first cycle of loan recasts, but this time the proportion will be higher at around 15-20%, analysts said.

Govt banks writing off more loans than they recover

Vrishti Beniwal  |  New Delhi  July 5, 2013 Last Updated at 00:49 IST

FinMin identifies 17 lenders who wrote off Rs 11,000 cr loan
 vis-a0vis Rs 4,000 cr recovery in Q4

Public sector banks are writing off more loans than they recover, despite repeated advisories from the finance ministry. In the fourth quarter of the last financial year, of the 26 state-run lenders, as many as 17 banks had written off more loans than they recovered.

The write-off by these 17 banks in the January-March quarter of 2012-13 was higher than the write-off by all the 26 public sector banks in 2011-12.

According to data compiled by the finance ministry, 17 public sector banks, including big lenders like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank, had written off loans worth Rs 10,777 crore in January-March quarter, while the recovery was Rs 4,172 crore during this period. During 2011-12, public sector banks wrote off loans worth Rs 2,300 crore, while the recovery was Rs 47,800 crore. The issue has alarmed the finance ministry, which in a note to the banks, highlighted the practice and reminded them the issue was raised as early as July 2006 and was reiterated in March this year. The issue was raised during a meeting of bankers with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday. (ASSETS CONCERN)

To address the problem of rising non-performing assets (NPAs), Chidambaram had said banks “must recover higher than what they write-off in a year.” A loan is written off after making 100 per cent provision, which hits bank’s profitability. However, this also helps banks to show lower gross NPAs. Banks, particularly the government-run ones, are facing headwinds as far as asset quality is concerned amid economic slowdown. Not only gross and net NPAs of public sector banks are higher than that of their private sector counterparts but these banks also share higher burden on restructured loans.

The finance ministry has asked banks to initiate penal measures against wilful defaulters. The measures may include not granting additional facilities to such defaulters, debarring entrepreneurs/promoters of defaulting companies from institutional finance from floating new ventures for a period of five years.

The government also asked the banks to strengthen the recovery management and to have a board-approved policy on recovery. Banks have been asked to put in place an effective mechanism for information sharing for sanction of loans to new or existing borrowers.

In addition, banks were told to constitute a board-level committee for monitoring of recovery. Further, banks have been asked to lodge formal complaints against the auditors of such borrowers, if it is observed that the auditors were negligent or deficient in conducting the audit. Chidambaram has asked banks to focus on top 30 NPAs and take action against defaulters, as these account for bulk of the bad loans. Gross NPAs of public sector banks stood at 3.78 per cent of their advances at the end of March 2013 against 2.32 per cent at the end of March 2011. Gross NPAs of the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India, were at 5.17 per cent at March-end 2013.

The three legal options available to banks for resolution of NPAs/recovery of loans are: the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (Sarfaesi Act, 2002), Debt Recovery Tribunals and Lok Adalats.

How one man’s refusal to abandon his dog changed a law

FP : Jul 4, 2013

It began with a circular issued by the Central Board of Excise & Customs on April 8. Dog owners and lovers alike were stunned to realise that according to the new rules, only people who had spent at least two years abroad could return with their pets.

The new policy was aimed at pet breeders who bring in exotic breeds in inhumane conditions from abroad. But it turned out to hit all dog-owners.

But now, one Mumbaikar and his resolve to bring Zola, his beloved dachshund back to India with him, has single-handedly gotten the arbitrary rule scrapped, even putting his life on the line in the process.

According to the report, which appeared in today’s Mumbai Mirror, Partho Mondal is a senior executive with an Indian petrochemical giant who was posted in Tanzania for the last year and a half. When he was asked to return to India by doctors for health reasons, Mondal refused to leave Zola behind.

Mondal was diagnosed with a heart condition, and was advised to return home by his doctors for the bypass surgery and the resultant six month rest period. According to the Mumbai Mirror report, doctors told Mondal not to delay more than two weeks, but when he realised that Zola wouldn’t be able to join him, he refused to leave.

Mondal shot off letters to the vice-chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India and Maneka Gandhi, pleading his case. Gandhi’s request to Mumbai customs was however turned down. Mondal wrote again to the two, threatening that he wouldn’t leave without Zola even if his life was at risk. The letter prompted Gandhi and the vice-president to move for an amendment in the April 8 circular, and a fresh circular allowing the “re-import” of pets was issued. Mondal could now return home with Zola.

“Zola has been with us for ten years and she is our daughter,” said Mondal to the Mumbai Mirror. “I couldn’t leave her…I made it clear I would rather die for wont of medical aid in Dar e Salaam than leave Zola behind.”

Read the full report in the Mumbai Mirror here :-

By Yogesh Sadhwani, Mumbai Mirror | Jul 4, 2013, 12.41 AM IST

How a Mumbaikar's refusal to abandon his beloved 10-year-old dachshund in Tanzania forced the Central Board of Excise and Customs to scrap a rule that allowed only those who had spent more than two years abroad to return to India with their pets.

If you own a pet and often travel abroad, you owe a big thanks to Partho Mondal. A big, chunky bone for his dog, Zola, would also be in order. 

Mondal, a senior executive with an Indian petrochemical giant posted in Tanzania, and Zola, his 10-year-old Dachshund, have forced the Central Board of Excise and C u s t o m s (CBEC) to amend its April 8 circular that allowed only those who had spent more than two years abroad to return to India with their pets. 

While the circular was aimed at professional breeders who brought dogs from foreign countries and turned them into pup-machines in India for a profit, it had become a headache for pet owners travelling abroad for shorter periods. 

With the new rule in place, Zola is now ready to fly back to India (right) Partho Mondal

Mondal, 54, in fact, put his life on the line to get the circular revised. 

Mondal, who was asked by doctors in India to return home for health reasons, refused to abandon Zola in Dar es Salaam, though he was returning just one-and-a-half years after being posted there. It was his spirited fight for Zola's rights that eventually forced the CBEC to amend it rules, bringing relief to thousands of pet owners. 

A Mumbaitte, Mondal moved to Dar es Salaam on an assignment in January 2012. However, in May this year he was diagnosed with a heart condition and flew down to India for treatment. After a failed angioplasty, the doctors advised a bypass. 

Realising that the bypass and the post-operative care would take at least six months, he decided to return to India for good. Doctors told him he should not delay the big operation beyond a fortnight. 

But as Mondal began working on his relocation, he came across an April 8, 2013 circular stating that only if a person has completed two years abroad would he be allowed bring his pet back to India. 

Before this circular, under the Baggage Rules of 1998, a passenger was allowed to bring back two pets as baggage and all that was required was a health certificate from the country of the pet's origin and its examination by the concerned quarantine officer. But the April 8 circular changed this. 

Mondal wrote to the customs detailing his plight and medical condition. He requested them to make an exception in his case. "There was no response to my letters. Sitting in a foreign country, I did not know what to do," Mondal said. 

Then he found out that the April 8 circular came into effect following representations by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and former member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi. 

He wrote to Dr Chinny Krishna, vice-chairman of AWBI and Gandhi requesting help. He attached his medical papers with the letter. 

Gandhi responded to Mondal's letter and wrote to the chief commissioner, customs, Mumbai, requesting that an exception be made for him. But her plea was turned down by the CBEC. By now, the 54-year-old heart patient in need of an urgent bypass had lost a month. 

Frustrated, he wrote to Gandhi and Dr Krishna in June, warning that he would not leave Tanzania without Zola even if that meant dying without receiving treatment for his ailing heart. 

"Zola has been with us for 10 years and she is our daughter. How can I leave my daughter all alone in a foreign country? I knew that I could not leave her with someone and go back months later to pick her up as once I leave I would have to surrender my work visa and re-entry would be impossible. Moreover, I don't know anyone who can take care of Zola here. I made it clear that I would rather die for want of medical aid in Dar e Salaam than leave Zola behind," said Mondal. 

This letter moved Gandhi and Dr Krishna, who the made a fresh representation to CBEC, this time seeking an amendment to the April 8 circular. CBEC agreed and a fresh circular --which allowed 'reimport' of pets -- was issued. 

The new circular states that 'reimport' of pets is allowed, provided the customs officials are able to establish that the animal was exported or sent from India to begin with. 

Dr Krishna said he was impressed by Mondal love for his pet. He explained that April 8 circular was brought in to put an end to breeders who would import animals on the pretext of bringing in pets. "There are enough breeds in the country. We do not need any new ones, especially the ones for whom the climate here is not conducive," said Dr Krishna. 

Mondal is ecstatic. "I am still running around for paper work and have booked tickets for July 10. I hope I am able to finish all the paperwork by then," he said. 

Animal welfare activists, who have been lobbying for the ban of rampant breeding, said the ban should be sensibly imposed. "We welcome the government's import ban, but it should not harm genuine pet owners," said Nilesh Bhanage, founder of PAWS, an animal welfare organisation.