The most important positive of India's stealth bull market is earnings growth across different sectors, explains Debashis Basu.
Damage from new shenanigans can be contained if regulators move quickly when something does not smell right, counsels Debashis Basu.
Just because India has outperformed the US markets in a short recent period, it does not mean that this is based on fundamental reasons that are here to stay, points out Debashis Basu.
Mutual funds, as experts and custodians of another set of retail investors' savings, play a speculative game they are neither supposed to nor equipped to do, cautions Debashis Basu.
The most important step is delivering what is needed -- a fairer IPO pricing, notes Debashis Basu.
Because they have become too big and pervasive and the time to regulate is long gone, points out Debashis Basu.
A quaint Indian idea called face value is putting high-performing companies out of the reach of retail investors, observes Debashis Basu.
'The finance ministry and public sector banks have tried to keep the names of wilful defaulters secret.' 'Secrecy and concealing information are inbred among banks and even the RBI,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.
Start-ups don't care that mad-money funding comes to a hard stop after an IPO, observes Debashis Basu. As a listed entity, corporate actions have to take the interests of all shareholders, especially minority shareholders, into account. So far, we are not seeing any sign of it, observes Debashis Basu.
If the central banks act harshly now, the markets will crash and then rally. If they are hesitant, the pain will be prolonged, predicts Debashis Basu.
Since 2016, Sebi has made many rules to prevent unauthorised trading by stockbrokers. Yet, one comes across dozens of cases of blatant overtrading in client accounts, every year, leading to massive losses to investors, observes Debashis Basu.
Following the money and freezing anything unaccounted is the only way to set an example for others, suggests Debashis Basu.
From small restaurants to mighty software companies, it is businesses, not the government, that create jobs. Yet, in a cruel irony, they have to fight extortive and brutal State power every step of the way, says Debashis Basu.
It is the biggest issue we have ever faced in the securities market, where a sensitive and systemically important institution and first-line regulator was not only exploited by unscrupulous elements but functioned like a private fief, points out Debashis Basu.
There are overvaluation and excesses in many pockets of the market. This is most obvious in the IPO market, where loss-making companies have inflicted large losses on investors, observes Debashis Basu.
We have not suffered such huge price shocks across so many basic commodities, at the same time, in decades. Has the inflationary impact of all this been factored into stock prices as yet, asks Debashis Basu.
I am not sure if Modi can ever act as a chowkidar, even if he wants to. But he can surely act as a thanedar, by ensuring a fast resolution of corruption cases once they come to light. Exemplary action is easier and will burnish his anti-corruption image, argues Debashis Basu.
NSE's own handle @nseindia was content tweeting out the press release in seven tweets.
COVID-19 forced people to work from home turned into the fuel for new demat accounts, observes Debashis Basu.
The tax department will remain a source of endless nightmares for citizens and 'transparent taxation' will remain an empty slogan and a cruel joke, observes Debashis Basu.
The RBI, which has no interest or mechanism to get feedback from bank customers, is unaware of this. If made aware, it remains silent, proving that it has no problem in allowing lenders to short-change its customers, says Debashis Basu.
Nothing has ever been done to make bank officers accountable, except for the rare actions when there is a public controversy, argues Debashis Basu.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani recalls his early childhood and what his father Dhirubhai taught him.
We had limited capital but our approach was different, says the RIL chairman.
And if there are so many opportunities, why haven't they invested in them, asks Debashis Basu.
Rogue lending under political influence was rife in the Congress-led regime and is not happening in the Modi regime, certainly not on that scale. But if PSBs cannot lend as indiscriminately as they did last time in the name of 'credit expansion', how well will these banks do, asks Debashis Basu.
'When fund managers talk of being bullish for the long term, they assume strong economic growth.' 'That is what they have assumed every year, naively believing the pronouncements and promises of ministers.' 'Unfortunately, they have been wrong year after year,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.
The temptation to get into businesses that are hot is perhaps too great for any politician, no matter what his public slogans are. Nehru plunged into hot sectors of his time -- engineering and iron and steel. Modi has plunged into digital payments -- the hot sector of his time, notes Debashis Basu.
Even if the Paytm fiasco does not mark the end of the bull run, at least some sanity will return to the wild IPO market, observes Debashis Basu.
The rot is is not limited to Chitra Ramkrishna and the yogi, observed Debashis Basu.
For the past 10 years or more, the RBI has been turning down dozens of applications under the RTI Act that sought disclosing the list of wilful defaulters and the RBI's inspection reports. In fact, it is the only organisation that has a granular and complete view of the heist that has been going on for 25 years at least. But it has escaped any blame for the multiple rounds of bankruptcy and massive periodic recapitalisation of public sector banks caused by bad loans. In fact, they don't want anyone to know how incompetent and collusive they have been in handling bad loans, says Debashis Basu.
Scams happen with high regularity because the price of getting caught is insignificant. Aggrieved investors run from the police to already clogged courts to find redress for issues for which financial regulators have been specifically set up. For over 3,750 years we have known what to do, but we don't do it, observes Debashis Basu.
Not only has the Mudra loan mela generated no jobs, it has frittered away trillions of taxpayers' money and it's time to bury the scheme, argues Debashis Basu.
'MFs acted as reckless lenders and not as prudent investors.' 'Clearly, how debt funds are being run is a systemic issue,' warns Debashis Basu.
Property buyers fund the project cost and the entire debt and entire equity servicing, and yet, have no locus standi in the IBC process, points out Debashis Basu.
If Sebi and RBI remain quiet about this brazenly illegal activity, will someone in the finance ministry or the NITI Aayog take a closer look, asks Debashis Basu.
In a most perverse example of tax bullying, someone I know has got by three such notices reopening his assessment minutes before the midnight deadline of June 30, reveals Debashis Basu.
Large investors track high-frequency data that is immediately available today. That data has been bullish, points out Debashis Basu.
If raters get away by moving from AAA to D overnight after companies default, as happened with DHFL, YES Bank, RCom, and IL&FS, it shows a complete breakdown in the rating system. It calls for exemplary punishment, not kid glove treatment, says Debashis Basu.
'The growth drivers are mostly invisible, but the growth is undeniable at least for now,' notes Debashis Basu.
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