The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed stricter disclosure norms for certain foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to bring in more transparency and trust against the backdrop of the Adani-Hindenburg Research saga. Under the new norms, FPIs with an exposure of more than 50 per cent to a single group or with assets of over Rs 25,000 crore will be tagged as 'high risk' and will be required to provide additional information such as full identification of their ownership, economic interests, and control rights. A failure to provide these disclosures will lead to invalidation of the FPI registration.
In India, manufacturing has failed to take off.
On Tuesday, Bajaj Electricals extended its brand licence agreement with UK-based kitchen appliances major Morphy Richards, launching a new range of products. Chairman & managing director Shekhar Bajaj, cousin of industrialist Rahul Bajaj, tells Viveat Susan Pinto the company will increasingly focus its attention on its consumer products business.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. This was Sitharaman's fourth Budget. While the taxpayers were left in the lurch, once again, was she able to cheer Corporate India?
Modi is keen to get more investments into Gujarat.
'From the investor's point of view, a real change would happen only when business environment in all our states qualitatively improves,' says NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar.
RBI may also be open to injecting liquidity through open market purchases of bonds but is resisting relaxing capital buffers for banks.
Drug shortages in the US are at an all-time high, and price erosion has stabilised, which could benefit Indian pharmaceutical (pharma) companies with a US focus, according to analysts. Nuvama Research analysts said that US price erosion seems to have normalised to its old levels of 6-8 per cent and volumes are picking up with easing of inventory. Similarly, an ICICIdirect analyst noted: "Price erosion intensity has now moderated to a single digit and is expected to tone down a
The big-ticket announcement during US President Barack Obama's visit to India starting November 6 will be about lifting controls on the export of high-technology items to India. "We are looking forward to a significant announcement on export controls," said US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in an exclusive interview to Business Standard.
Over the weekend, many companies stepped in to ease the bottleneck in supply and transportation of oxygen, as demand ran high with the surge in cases.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has extended the suspension of futures and options trading in seven agricultural commodities, including wheat and moong, for one more year till December 2023 in a bid to rein in prices. The other agricultural commodities suspended by Sebi are -- paddy (non-basmati), chana, crude palm oil, mustard seeds and their derivatives and soya bean and its derivatives. "The suspension of trading in the above contracts has been extended for one more year beyond December 20, 2022, i.e. till December 20, 2023," Sebi said in a statement on Wednesday.
200 staffers, consisting of RBI officials and support teams, who are essential to perform critical functions, were isolated at a separate facility in a dedicated quarantined environment near all three RBI data centres.
Sebi also allowed foreign investors to own up to 15 per cent stake in domestic stock and commodity exchanges
The biggest risk to India's growth outlook is an escalation of geopolitical tensions, especially if these tensions spread to the Asian region, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said on Wednesday. Varma, in an interview to PTI, said that inflation and inflationary expectations appear to be moderating and high inflation will certainly not become the 'norm' in the country. He is cautiously optimistic about the Indian economy as after the pandemic abated, consumption demand has begun to recover though the recovery is uneven across sectors and industries.
Tata Sons has started the process of due diligence of state-owned Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. Sources said the group has appointed Bain and Company and Seabury Group for this purpose. Once complete, a financial bid will be submitted and a deal to take over the airline is likely to fructify by end of this year or even earlier, people involved in the process said. Simultaneously, the group has brought in veterans in the aviation business from Delta and United Airlines to prepare a plan for post-merger integration of Air India with its existing airline ventures. Tata Sons operates Vistara - a 51:49 percent joint venture with Singapore Airlines and Air Asia India, in which Tatas hold 83.67 per cent stakes.
Auditors seem to have developed a heightened sense of risk and are not content to tick the boxes and sign the papers.
PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 4 per cent, followed by NTPC, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries and IndusInd Bank.
The net outward foreign direct investment went up from $9.1 billion in 2017-18 to $12.6 billion in 2018-19 and moved further north to $13 billion in 2019-20.
About 60 per cent of Indian private insurers believe there has been a significant rise in insurance-related frauds, and as risks lurk there is an immediate need to consider a proactive fraud risk management framework, a Deloitte survey said on Thursday. Insurance companies in India have experienced a rise in fraud instances in life and health insurance, and increased digitisation, remote working post pandemic and weakened controls are key factors contributing to frauds, according to Deloitte's Insurance Fraud Survey 2023. "About 60 per cent of survey respondents believe that there has been a significant rise in fraud, while further 10 per cent experienced a marginal increase," the survey said.
State-level reports every quarter for service quality and artificial intelligence-based solutions may be officially mandated as part of a set of more stringent, updated quality-of-service (QoS) norms by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) soon. The new norms will also factor in user experience for 5G networks, officials informed Business Standard. In February, Trai asked telecommunication (telecom) service providers (TSPs) to submit updates on measures taken to reduce call drops and lags and raise the quality of connection.
India does not feature in the top 100 countries on eight of the 10 indicators of the World Bank study.
Only five of India's top 20 car models have seen a reduction in wait times over the past year.
'If you look at the order books of capital equipment companies or money deployed on the ground, there is forward movement in terms of actual investment by the private sector.'
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor were also present with the PM as he interacted with the students inside the train.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is in the process of issuing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for designated depository participants (DDPs) regarding disclosures and onboarding of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), according to a regulatory document seen by Business Standard. DDPs act as a link between the markets regulator and overseas investors. The SOP, framed in consultation with the industry, aims to bring consistency across all players and avoid any form of regulatory arbitrage.
The series is held together by a superbly astute performance by Gagan Dev Riar, who moves from cheerful conman to menacing criminal with remarkable skill, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'India has always been a bottom-up stock-picking market, and as growth recovers with higher liquidity, mid and small-caps always tend to outperform.'
The Centre plans to repeal the existing 80-year old Coffee Act and has proposed a new "Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill), 2022" to promote development of the Indian coffee industry. Through a new law, the government aims to modernise the functioning of the Coffee Board of India that is responsible for boosting production and the quality of Indian coffee, push exports and support the development of the domestic market. The Bill is likely to be introduced in the ongoing session of the Parliament.
Trade and economic issues, including visa, totalisation pact and impediments hampering investments, are likely to figure at Monday's US-India CEO Forum meeting, which will be jointly addressed by visiting US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Reflecting a loss of "growth momentum", manufacturing activities in the country slowed down to a six-month low in March amid softer increases in new orders, production and employment, according to a survey.
Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said.
If India is to urbanise successfully, it has to focus on Tier 2 cities with a population of one-five million, observes T N Ninan.
The US replaced Mauritius as the second largest source of foreign direct investment into India during 2020-21 with inflows of $13.82 billion, according to government data. Singapore remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country for the third consecutive fiscal at $17.41 billion. During the last financial year, India attracted $5.64 billion in FDI from Mauritius, according to the data by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Manufacturing production growth eased in May, which combined with the slowdown in services resulted in a weaker increase in private sector output, the survey said.
India's economy continues to be robust, but downside risks such as rising crude oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and the global banking crisis outweigh the upside potential in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the current financial year (FY24), the finance ministry said on Tuesday in its Monthly Economic Review for March. "We reiterate that downside risks to our official forecast of 6.5 per cent for real GDP growth in FY24 dominate upside risks," the review said. "Opec's surprise production cut has seen oil prices rise in April, off their lows of low-seventies per barrel in March.
Modi said it is an outcome of India's consistent reforms trajectory that the country's position is getting credence globally and is being recognised by international bodies like the IMF, World Economic Forum and UNCTAD.
Around 58 per cent of developers expect housing prices to increase this year because of rise in input costs, while 32 per cent builders feel it will remain stable, according to a survey. According to the 'Real Estate Developers Sentiment Survey', by Realtors apex body CREDAI, real estate consultant Colliers India and property research firm Liases Foras, 43 per cent of developers expect residential demand to remain stable in 2023, while 31 per cent feel the demand would increase up to 25 per cent. As many as 341 real estate developers from various parts of the country participated in the joint survey conducted during the last two months.
Only three of India's 45 commercial banks have cut base lending rates since the Reserve Bank of India's surprise easing this month, hurting the government's drive to lift business investment.
Mhambrey said while the bowlers will get some rest in days leading up to the WTC final, the group is determined to extract the maximum benefits from the training sessions.
Manufacturing activities in India touched a three-month high in March boosted by faster expansions in new orders and output amid demand resilience and easing of cost pressures, according to a monthly survey. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 55.3 in February to 56.4 in March, signalling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far. The March PMI data pointed to an improvement in overall operating conditions for the 21st straight month.