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.
Sahara group has been engaged in a long-running regulatory and legal battle with Sebi.
Most of these alleged tax evaders hail from Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Delhi.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Independent directors
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.
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.
Bank CFOs may meet next week to discuss minimum public shareholding and takeover rule issues.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
'More than investors, fund houses, and advisors have raised caution and limited flows on small-and mid-caps.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
New regime places more limits on unregulated foreign entities
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 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.
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.
Sebi had directed some of these companies to wind up their unregistered schemes and repay investors.
Sebi directs freezing of all demat accounts not linked to Aadhaar by December 31
The Burman family, which had made an open offer in September to acquire Religare Enterprises' control, in a statement said: "We are surprised and disappointed at these allegations." Burmans said it will move towards closing the transaction "expeditiously", working with all the regulators.
Under U K Sinha, Sebi became a pan-India organisation with local offices in 16 cities
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 regulator last week reached out to custodians for beneficial ownership information of investors coming from China, Hong Kong, and 11 other countries.
Rising outgo towards clearing and settlement fees has led to an altercation between the BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), with the latter striking down the former's request to lower the charges. NSE said it has no plans to restructure the same and that it will continue with the pricing defined under the interoperability framework. The interoperability framework, introduced in 2019, allows trades executed on any of the exchanges to be settled or cleared at either of the two clearing corporations -- NSE Clearing (NCL) or Indian Clearing Corporation (ICCL), fully-owned by the NSE and the BSE, respectively.
Market experts said disruptions caused by the pandemic - to businesses as well as the filing process - and the sharp decline in valuations were the reasons behind fewer new companies wanting to tap the capital markets.
The proposal has been discussed by Sebi's Committee on Rationalisation of Financial Resources, which favours setting up such a fund.