Independent directors
On February 19, India's largest private low-fare airline IndiGo announced the resignation of one of the two founders, Rakesh Gangwal, from the airline's board and his intentions of offloading his stake in the airline over the next five years. The announcement came on a Friday, giving the stock markets the weekend to absorb the news but the markets registered a tepid response on Monday's opening. In contrast, in July 2019, when the fight between the two founders and erstwhile friends first became public, the markets reacted savagely. The IndiGo scrip at the time fell 19 per cent, wiping out millions of rupees of shareholder wealth before bouncing back. For readers who may be hazy on the details of the dispute, here is the context.
The market watchdog had directed that pending completion of the probe, revenues from the co-location facility - starting September 2016 - be transferred to a separate bank account.
COVID-19 forced people to work from home turned into the fuel for new demat accounts, observes Debashis Basu.
There was no postal intimation to unitholders who didn't have a registered email address, according to a letter that Midas Touch Investors Association sent to Sebi.
An additional factor spurring the FMP launches is MFs' desire to retain investors as many such offerings are set to mature over the next two months.
The total default is said to be in excess of Rs 3,000 crore - making this the largest default by a broker.
Sebi on Wednesday imposed a total penalty of Rs 25 crore on Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, other individuals and entities for non-compliance with takeover norms in a Reliance Industries case dating back to 2000.
A number of listed companies are not to be found on their registered address. The stock exchange has also been unable to contact them through other means. These 50 companies had been suspended for violations for more than six months. The BSE had reached out to them with show cause notices in December 2020.
The strict curbs, including a curfew from 8 pm till 7 am, and prohibitory orders during the daytime on weekdays came into force from Monday in the state.
Amazon has filed a legal challenge at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) suspension of the US e-commerce giant's 2019 deal with Future Retail (FRL). Amazon has challenged the CCI order on at least five grounds, and the matter is likely to be listed this week, according to the sources. Parallelly, Amazon's Indian unit has approached the Supreme Court against a halt on an arbitration case against Future Retail's (FRL) asset sale to Reliance Industries (RIL).
Any speculation suggesting otherwise, or any rumours around sale of our business in India are incorrect and simply that -- rumours, says head of the US-based asset manager.
Sebi's change of rules will give the government -- which owns 100 per cent of LIC -- the flexibility to assess market demand and opt for lower dilution.
If a retail investor wants exposure to a healthcare ETF, it should be a part of his satellite portfolio, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The regulator is more carefully scrutinising applications by infrastructure investment vehicles that have a limited number of investors. They have been asked to broaden their investor base before application approval, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Securities and Exchange Board of India is concerned about the structure being used for getting around tax requirements, according to one of the sources.
Sebi had, in February, dropped allegations of fraudulent and unfair trade practices against NSE's former heads Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramakrishna in the co-lo case.
Sebi has barred eight entities from the securities market for indulging in insider trading activities in the shares of Infosys. While imposing the ban till further orders on the eight entities, the watchdog also directed impounding illegal gains worth Rs 3.06 crore from two of them -- Capital One Partners and Tesora Capital. The entities have traded in the scrip of Infosys while in possession of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) pertaining to Infosys' financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, Sebi said in an interim order passed on Monday.
In a first for India, bullion derivatives contracts will be settled on a blockchain platform. This will help in global acceptance of gold refined by Indian bullion refineries, giving a fillip to the local industry, exports, as well as investments. From November 1, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will accept gold delivery only on the blockchain platform.
In stock market parlance, "meme stock" was certainly the word of the year. Coined to mean those stocks that gain sudden popularity on the internet with resultant high prices, it was used to derisively describe the behaviour of retail traders globally who entered the market in huge numbers in the two Covid-19 years. A recent study, "Market Concentration and Retail Participation in India", by the National Stock Exchange economics team led by their chief economist Tirthankar Patnaik shows unlike these impressions, the retail investors, at least in India, have not performed inconsistently.
The regulator typically meets overseas investors in the US and UK in the first half of a financial year, and had opted for a virtual meet last year too.
More cos could join the likes of Burger King and Antony Waste in giving listing another shot.
While the amount collected is a tad lower than last two years, it may surpass the previous two years' collections by the end of the year.
Of the total Rs 63,288 crore invested through the route till July, Rs 52,356 crore was invested in equities, Rs 10,429 crore in debt, Rs 250 crore in the hybrid securities and Rs 190 crore in derivatives segment.
As the industrial era wanes, the network era looms, notes Ajit Balakrishnan.
Equities in India saw record FPI inflows of $16.8 billion in November and December, taking the benchmark indices to new highs.
911 have been traced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), while the rest of the 402 are not traceable on the bourses
The Supreme Court Tuesday set aside three Delhi high court orders including the refusal to grant a stay on the final arbitral award which had restrained Future Retail Ltd from going ahead with its Rs 24,731 crore merger deal with Reliance Retail and ordered fresh adjudication. In a major relief to Future group, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana also set aside the high court's order of February 2 last year, by which it had directed Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to maintain status quo in relation to the merger deal. The March 18 order of the high court, upholding the EA's award and imposing a cost of Rs 20 lakh on it as well as its directors, has also been set aside.
Maximum promoter holding to be eligible for reclassification to be raised from 10% to 15%; waiting time to be brought down to one month from three.
Companies providing portfolio management services (PMS) had a tough time beating the benchmark index in January, with more than half of the schemes invested in large companies underperforming in the run-up to the Union Budget. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.5 per cent during the month. Only around 44 per cent of PMS schemes did better, among the schemes investing in large-cap companies. The analysis is based on data from industry tracker PMS Bazaar. Half the mid-cap schemes outperformed, while the rest underperformed.
The regulator said violations could not be established against the company.
The Delhi high court on Friday declined Future Group's plea for stay on an arbitration tribunal order refusing to interfere with the Emergency Award (EA) which restrained it from going ahead with the Rs 24,731 crore merger deal with Reliance Retail. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait sought response from US-based e-commerce giant Amazon which had challenged the merger before the Singapore arbitration tribunal under SIAC, and listed the appeals by Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) and Future Retail Ltd (FRL) for further hearing on January 4. Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for FRL, urged the court to pass an interim order clarifying that an earlier order passed by the Supreme Court - which stayed all proceedings in relation to the enforcement of the EA - would remain in force despite the subsequent order passed by the duly constituted arbitration tribunal.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Monday said the Delhi high court has ruled that statutory authorities cannot be restrained from acting in accordance with law and stayed a previous order on status quo of its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance. Updating stock exchanges about the court ruling, FRL said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has stayed the operation and effect of order passed by single Judge J R Midha on February 2. "...inter alia, for the prima facie reason that the company is not a party to the Shareholders Agreement dated August 22, 2019 executed between Amazon, Future Coupons Private Limited and the Promoters of FRL, under which arbitration was initiated by Amazon in Singapore," FRL said.
The Supreme Court Monday stayed the ongoing proceedings before the Delhi high court in the case related to the amalgamation of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) with Reliance Retail. A bench of Justices R F Nariman, B R Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy posted the matter for hearing on May 4 and directed that all pleadings be completed in the matter. Amazon had moved the apex court on April 8 challenging the Delhi high court's division bench order that had vacated a stay on Kishore Biyani-led Future Group proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore asset sale to Reliance Industries.
As a result, the deadline for filing June quarter results ends on August 15. However, only 1,538 companies out of the 4,000-odd listed firms managed to declare their results within the usual deadline.
Sebi on Wednesday barred Kishore Biyani and certain other promoters of Future Retail Ltd from the securities market for one year for indulging in insider trading in the shares of the company. Apart from Kishore Biyani, who was the CMD and promoter of Future Retail Ltd (FRL), others facing ban are Future Corporate Resources Pvt Ltd, Anil Biyani and FCRL Employee Welfare Trust. In addition, the regulator has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore each on Kishore Biyani, Anil Biyani and Future Corporate Resources. Besides, they have been asked to disgorge Rs 17.78 crore for the wrongful gains made by them.
Growth-oriented technology companies have raised Rs 15,000 crore through initial share sales in the last 18 months and IPOs worth around Rs 30,000 crore by such firms are in the pipeline, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi said on Thursday. "Growing number of unicorns in the startup ecosystem is a testimony of the new age tech companies coming of age in our economy. These companies often follow a unique business model focusing more on rapid growth than immediate profitability," Tyagi said at an event organised by industry body CII. During the last 18 months, growth-oriented technology companies have raised a sum of around Rs 15,000 crore through IPOs (Initial Public Offerings).
The new wing will be known as the corporate finance investigation department, which will be headed by one of Sebi's executive directors. This department will have information technology solutions experts, particularly to detect the menace of frauds.
A Mumbai court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of businessman Raj Kundra, arrested in a case of alleged creation of pornographic films and publishing them through apps, after the prosecution contended the police investigation was still on and his release at this juncture will derail the probe.
The meeting will review the current global and domestic economic situation and financial stability issues, including those concerning banking and NBFCs.
The Indian State's arbitrariness may have come to be accepted with resignation within the country, but when it behaves in the same manner with external players, it gets a push-back, observes T N Ninan.