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.
Most of these alleged tax evaders hail from Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Delhi.
A global association for regulated funds that is leading efforts to shorten the settlement cycle for US equities has reached out to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) with a plea to extend the T+1 implementation timeline by 18 months. The short transition period of four months does not provide foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), their services providers, and broker dealers sufficient time to make the necessary operational and compliance changes to accommodate a shorter settlement cycle, ICI Global said in its letter addressed to Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi written a few days back. ICI Global carries out the international work of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), a global association for regulated funds, whose members manage assets of more than $42 trillion.
Senior officials in the MF industry say while the finance ministry and regulators communicate regularly, this is one of the very few instances in many years where an issue between the two has come out into the open.
The high-level panel, chaired by former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts, K Sodhi, had focused on reviewing the Sebi (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) may require at least five more years to comply with the minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent beyond the current exempted timeline of 2027. Formal communication in this regard had been shared recently with the finance ministry, underlining LIC's roadmap, plans of further dilution of stake, current norms around public float, and challenges ahead, a government source familiar with the matter said. "Going forward, we will have to take a call, along with Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and the Department of Economic Affairs on the roadmap for minimum public shareholding (MPS).
With an aim to recover fines from elusive offenders, capital markets regulator Sebi on Thursday introduced a reward system for up to Rs 20 lakh to informants for sharing information about the assets of defaulters. The reward may be granted in two stages -- interim and final. While the interim reward amount will not exceed two and a half per-cent of the reserve price of the asset regarding which tips was provided or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is less and the final reward amount will not exceed 10 per cent of the dues recovered or Rs 20 lakh, whichever is less.
SBI Capital, Axis Capital, GMR Holdings, United Breweries, Alpic Finance (a Cipla group unit), Saradha Realty, United Bank of India and Trident India are among the prominent entities named in the list.
Oravel Stays - which operates hospitality tech firm OYO - on Friday pre-filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with stock market regulator Sebi, sources said. Sources close to the company told PTI, OYO may launch its initial public offering (IPO) around Diwali this year. Unlike the traditional route where companies have to launch the IPO within 12 months from the Sebi approval, or final observation; in the pre-filing route, an IPO can be floated within 18 months from the date of Sebi's final comments.
Independent directors
The National Pension System (NPS) added 21.5 per cent fewer fresh subscribers under the corporate segment in 2023 compared to the preceding year. Government officials and experts attribute it to the higher exemption limit of income tax of Rs 7 lakh announced in the FY24 Budget that no more requires employees under this income bracket to opt for NPS for tax-saving purposes. Data collated from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) reveals that the corporate component is voluntary in nature and saw 158,212 new subscribers in 2023 compared to 201,517 during 2022.
Bank CFOs may meet next week to discuss minimum public shareholding and takeover rule issues.
Led by a $6.5 billion surge in personal net worth on Tuesday, Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, is back in the top 20 of the world's richest list and is now ranked 19th globally. Adani is also now India's second richest with a net worth of $66.7 billion as of Tuesday, per the Bloomberg Rich List, while Mukesh Ambani, chair of Reliance Industries, is ranked number one in India and number 13 in the world with a net worth of $89.5 billion.
Sebi on Wednesday approved measures to strengthen the framework for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), including having an independent valuation of their investments and introducing a comprehensive certification requirement for key investment teams of AIF managers. To improve governance and transparency to investors with respect to transactions involving conflict of interest, the regulator also approved that there should be a mandate for obtaining approval of 75 per cent of investors by value for buying or selling of investments potentially involving conflict of interest. The proposals pertaining to valuation of investments, dematerialisation of units, certification requirement for key employees of investment manager, transactions with associates and option to sell unliquidated investments to a new scheme of AIFs were approved by the Sebi's board on Wednesday.
Tactical investors should have an investment horizon of around six months to one year, long-term investors should stick around for 10 years or more.
Rules for market infrastructure institutions such as stock exchanges, clearing corporations, and depositories have come under review by Sebi after five years.
Sebi has long struggled with balancing the needs of small investors and those of the market.
Since March 2020, when the Nifty50 plummeted to 7,511 following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown, the stock market has been on an upward trajectory. Over the next four years, the major market index has delivered a remarkable compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 31.5 per cent. In the past year alone, the Nifty50 has gained by 27 per cent, hitting a succession of record highs.
The stock market regulator's definition of large, mid, and small-cap companies has irked mutual fund managers, reports Samie Modak.
Sebi has asked exchanges to appoint independent auditors to conduct forensic audit of these firms for verification, including their credentials/financials.
In a nearly 10-year-old case, Sebi on March 24 had banned Reliance Industries and 12 others from equity derivatives trading for one year, while accusing RIL of making 'unlawful gains'.
In its closure report submitted before a special CBI court New Delhi, the agency is understood to have said it did not find enough evidence to prosecute the accused.
JM Financial on Wednesday said it had a "careful and detailed review" of the Reserve Bank's order imposing restrictions on the company's financing business and asserted that there was "no material deficiencies" in its loan sanctioning process. The Reserve Bank on Tuesday imposed restrictions on JM Financial Products Ltd after it found the company indulged in various manipulations, including repeatedly helping a group of its customers to bid for various IPOs (initial public offerings) by using loaned funds. "After careful and detailed review of the order issued by the RBI on the action against JM Financial Products Ltd, we strongly believe that there have been no material deficiencies in our loan sanctioning process.
Market regulator also announces measures for mutual funds sector.
Within Sebi, the chairman should hold an umbrella for both young and old employees, says Somasekhar Sundaresan.
New regime places more limits on unregulated foreign entities
The shift to a shorter T+3 settlement cycle for initial public offerings (IPOs) will be a big test of the domestic market structure, requiring players in the ecosystem to work harder to meet the squeezed timelines, according to industry insiders. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has announced that the transition to the T+3 cycle will be voluntary starting next month and mandatory from December 1. The new mechanism will necessitate quicker confirmations from banks and speedy verification of permanent account numbers (PANs) for all applicants.
In a circular dated May 20, Sebi had directed the listed companies to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on their capital and financial resources, profitability, liquidity position, assets, and ability to service debt. Instead, companies have spoken about the number of plants, warehouses and distribution centres that have resumed operations; work-from-home and safety measures undertaken for employees; and the labour shortage they are facing.
The decision to quiz Sinha, as also former Sebi Chairman M Damodaran, was taken after examination of another former Sebi chief C B Bhave earlier this month, during which the agency sleuths were told that public interest was involved in grant of licence to MCX-SX to trade in currency derivatives.
'More than investors, fund houses, and advisors have raised caution and limited flows on small-and mid-caps.'
Several mutual funds (MFs) have recently approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as they renew efforts to increase their overseas investment limit. In June 2022, the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) permitted MFs to invest in foreign stocks within the aggregate mandated limit of $7 billion after a correction in stocks. One of the proposals shared with the RBI is to link MFs' foreign investment limit to the country's foreign exchange reserves.
Sebi had directed some of these companies to wind up their unregistered schemes and repay investors.
Avoid relying on a bank RM for investment advice. Instead, approach a Sebi-registered investment advisor whose livelihood depends on the fee paid by his customers and not on product commissions.
Under U K Sinha, Sebi became a pan-India organisation with local offices in 16 cities
Sebi directs freezing of all demat accounts not linked to Aadhaar by December 31
The equity cult has grown at a rapid pace in India in the last few years, with retail investors latching on to the stock markets like never before. At 126.6 million, the number of dematerialised (demat) accounts, where investors hold their securities in electronic form for trading purposes, are at record high levels. The growth rate, on an annualised basis, stood at 27 per cent in 2022-2023, up from barely 6 per cent a decade ago.
Violation of provisions of Sebi Act, Securities Contracts regulation, Prohibition of Fraudulent Trade (PFTUP) norms were not observed in respect of these 114 entities.
The proposal has been discussed by Sebi's Committee on Rationalisation of Financial Resources, which favours setting up such a fund.
The regulator last week reached out to custodians for beneficial ownership information of investors coming from China, Hong Kong, and 11 other countries.
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