The National Stock Exchange (NSE), which is once again in the eye of a storm due to the co-location scandal, has said it has taken several transformational steps in the past few years on the regulatory, technological, and surveillance fronts to help improve stakeholder experience and to protect investors. Senior officials of the exchange briefed the media over the steps the exchange has taken on various fronts following changes at the helm with former managing director and chief executive officer Chitra Ramkrishna's ouster in December 2016. "Over the last few years, we have been looking to modernise and transform the entire value chain of technology.
In all this, the political establishment -- and especially the finance ministry -- appears the weakest link, and worse still, the possible reason for the political backing to Narain and Ramkrishna that emboldened them to defy all the sentinels -- the independent board, the auditors, top management persons like the chief compliance officer, the company secretary, and unbelievably the super-regulator Sebi, observes V Ranganathan.
The government is likely to take a call on the timing of LIC initial public offering within this week, a senior official said. The sale of 5 per cent stake or 31.6 crore shares in the country's largest insurer was originally planned for in March, but was postponed in view of the geopolitical tension. The government has time till May 12 to launch the IPO without filing fresh papers with markets regulator Sebi. The official said it would be a tough call to decide whether to go ahead with the retail and domestic investor demand or to wait for geopolitical tension to ease and FIIs to return to market.
The stock fell by 24.5 per cent to its 52-week low level of Rs 111.25 in opening trade at the BSE.
The government has amended rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), paving the way for up to 20 per cent foreign direct investment in the insurance behemoth LIC. The government is planning to dilute its stake in LIC through the the Initial Public Offering (IPO). LIC in February had filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) before the markets regulator Sebi for the IPO.
The rally in the broader markets, a spate of new listings, and the influx of retail investors have resulted in a boom for research and this has spurred a surge in the number of entities providing such services. From 467 entities that provided research services as of March 2018, the number jumped 57 per cent to 733 as of March 2021. And, another 46 entities have been added to the list in the six months since, to take the total number of registered research analysts to 779 as on September 13. However, the total number of analysts could be a multiple of this number.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India initiated on Tuesday proceedings against 20 listed companies, including five public sector entities, for violating corporate governance regulations.
Reviving its IPO plan for the third time, realty major Lodha Developers has filed draft papers with market regulator SEBI for its proposed initial public offering to raise around Rs 2,500 crore, according to sources.
The matter pertains to the Rs 173.8 million severance offer given to former CFO Rajiv Bansal in October 2015 when he was allegedly forced to step down due to differences with then chief executive Vishal Sikka over the acquisition of Israeli technology firm Panaya for $200 million.
'My wife, family members as well as members of the workers will be trustees.' 'The trust will take all decisions -- no family member can individually take any decision.'
Market regulator Sebi on Tuesday said foreign investors from Mauritius will continue to be eligible for FPI registration with increased monitoring as per international norms. The announcement comes after the tax haven was put on the "grey list" of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- an inter-governmental policy making body that sets anti-money laundering standards.
Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout.
Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm is likely to allocate shares at the upper price band of Rs 2,150 apiece on November 16 after market regulator SEBI's approval which is expected to come on Monday, sources aware of the development said. Earlier the allocation was expected to take place on Monday and the Paytm Money app also displayed the same.
An argument used for removal of this exemption is that it is used to launder black money and bring it in as clean tax paid money by manipulating the price of less liquid shares in the market, says Harsh Roongta.
Under Clause 49, independent directors are required to have at least 50 per cent representation on the board of directors of listed entities, including listed Central Public Sector Enterprises, in case the chairman is an executive member, or at least one-third in case the chairman is non-executive.
At present, the EPFO is mandated to invest 20-45 per cent of its incremental funds - of around Rs 1.5 trillion - in debt-related instruments.
Sebi said Thapar-promoted and -related entities owed Rs 1,723.19 crore as receivables to the company, while connected parties owed another Rs 462.74 crore.
In our mystery the watchdog agencies are silent, but it is the market that has barked and has not stopped barking. Till such time as it continues to do so, this headache will not go away, notes Aakar Patel.
The government is looking to sell shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) held through Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) and is soon going to appoint an intermediary to manage it. The plan is to sell about 8 lakh shares of RIL that will help the government garner around Rs 180 crore. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will appoint an intermediary that will act as a custodian of these shares. The intermediary, based on its market analysis, will offload these shares at the best price, said an official. A final approval on the proposal is expected soon.
Despite the much-hyped crackdown in the Initial Public Offer scam, market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India seems to have gone slow in addressing investor grievances against listed companies.
The Centre has no objection to a proposal for setting up a panel of domain experts to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanisms for the stock market, the Supreme Court was told on Monday while it was hearing pleas relating to the Adani stocks rout after the Hindenburg report.
Sebi, however, allowed wilful defaulters to make counter-offers to avoid hostile takeovers
Global investment firm Blackstone-sponsored Nexus Select Trust has filed the draft paper with market regulator Sebi to launch India's first public issue of retail REIT to raise around $500 million (about Rs 4,000 crore), sources said. Nexus Select Trust has a portfolio of 17 operational shopping malls across 14 major cities, covering about 10 million square feet of area valued at around $3 billion. As per the sources, Nexus Select Trust has on Thursday filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and is looking to hit the capital market with India's first retail REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) public issue in the first half of the 2023 calendar year.
Reliance Group, recently, accused L&T Finance and Edelweiss Group entities of "illegal" and "motivated" actions in invoking the pledged shares of Anil Ambani group's three listed firms and selling them in open market causing a steep fall in share values.
At a time when investors are preferring higher-risk investment products like thematic and small-cap mutual fund (MF) schemes, some fund houses are exploring the possibility of going further down the market-capitalisation (m-cap) ladder to unearth newer investment opportunities. HDFC MF had filed papers with the capital markets regulator - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - earlier this year for an active micro-cap scheme. Some more fund houses are keen on launching such schemes, say industry observers.
This was a fresh probe based on the inspection of certain derivative contracts both on the BSE and NSE.
Retention of Murthy within the promoter group was crucial for Infosys as the company believed the promoters' relationship would help the company in difficult times.
The regulator's announcement on disclosure of pledged shares comes in the wake of the Satyam scam, wherein promoter Ramalinga Raju had pledged nearly all his shares -- whose prices he had inflated by falsifying profits. The details of disclosure, which should be made in two stages -- event-based and periodical -- will be notified shortly after amending the relevant regulations and listing agreements, Sebi chairman C B Bhave told reporters after the board meeting in Mumbai.
Bourses chiefs say, they are keeping a constant vigil to thwart any attempt to make undue gains through the markets.
As many as 49 players including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power Ltd and Adani group have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring the assets of debt-ridden Future Retail, which is currently going through insolvency resolution process. Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, which is the holding company for retail operations of RIL and April Moon Retail Private Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Airport holdings and Flemingo group have again submitted their EOI, after the lenders of Future Retail decided to invite fresh bids after dividing FRL's assets into clusters. According to an update from FRL's Resolution Professional, the 49 players would be permitted to submit "resolution plan(s) for any/all such Clusters under Option II".
Multi-Commodity Exchange of India is the only listed bourse in the country
Last week, Sebi made amendments to key regulations that govern capital raising activities to ensure that wilful defaulters do not get access to capital markets
Move aims to comply with Sebi's norm
Close to 20 regional stock exchanges, including the big exchanges of Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru, have voluntarily exited in the face of SEBI's stringent regulations. Namrata Acharya finds out what makes CSE continue to fight its lone battle.
Weeks after it revised the rating outlook of two companies of embattled Adani group, S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said it is watching for additional information on the conglomerate's governance and funding for any ratings action. Investors, it said, seek clarity on the credit impact of a string of allegations against the group in a short-seller report published in late January, and on the findings of a recently launched Supreme Court investigation. S&P Global published an FAQ-style commentary titled, "Adani Group: The Known Unknowns".
The success of recent IPOs and the stability in the secondary market are propelling many firms and investment bankers to remove their IPO plans.
The Satyam board said corporate governance, a clean record, management and organisational ability in operating a global company will be considered, apart from the financial bid and other technical criteria. The bidders will furnish an irrevocable and unconditional performance bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore to guarantee the deposit of funds required for the preferential allotment and the requisite escrow amounts for the public offer within four days of being selected.
SEBI will soon come out with new guidelines on public offers, including the introduction of the green-shoe option.
Sebi to fix promoters' side deals with PE investors
