The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has proposed key exemptions to the current listing framework and measures for setting up holding companies (holdcos) and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to encourage domestic startups list at GIFT City, the country's only international financial services centre (IFSC). Under the current framework, to be eligible to list on IFSC exchanges, an issuing company should have operating revenue of at least $20 million in the preceding financial year and average pre-tax profits of at least $1 million during the preceding three financial years. An expert committee has noted these conditions have acted as hurdles to listing new-age companies, and they need a relook.
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.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 26 crore on Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL) for alleged violation of securities laws. The regulator also directed the company to initiate steps to recover dues of Rs 3,535 crore-the amount diverted from seven subsidiaries of CDEL to Mysore Amalgamated Coffee Estates (MACEL). Affirming the violations of the Sebi (Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) Regulations and Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia said the listed company was being run like a personal fiefdom with no checks and balances in place.
Retail participation is directly proportional to the prosperity of any market. By discriminating against the flow of financial information to investors, the Sebi has taken a step backward.
Market players attribute the rally in small and midcaps to flows from retail investors and domestic institutions.
Capital markets regulator Sebi Chairman U K Sinha advocated the listing of bourses and greater competition among exchanges.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Monday set aside the penalty imposed by Sebi on Reliance Industries Ltd's chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) back in November 2007. The ruling has come after all the entities appealed before the tribunal against the order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in January 2021. In January 2021, Sebi imposed a Rs 25 crore fine on Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL), Rs 15 crore on Ambani, who is the company's chairman and managing director, Rs 20 crore on Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd and Rs 10 crore on Mumbai SEZ Ltd in RPL case.
Market regulator Sebi on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking 15 more days to conclude the ongoing probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in its fresh application, said that it has examined and investigated 24 matters pertaining to the case. "Out of the said 24 investigations/examinations, 17 are final and complete and approved by the Competent Authority in accordance with Sebi's extant practice and procedures," the regulator said.
The CBI on Friday questioned former CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in view of fresh facts emerging in connection with its ongoing probe into the alleged abuse of co-location facility in the NSE, officials said. The agency has also opened look out circulars against Ramkrishna, another former CEO Ravi Narain and former COO Anand Subramanian to prevent them from leaving the country. The central probe agency had booked a owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt. Ltd, Sanjay Gupta and other in connection with alleged abuse of NSE co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market, they said.
The fate of the $10 billion merger between Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Culver Max Entertainment, formerly Sony Pictures Networks India, is hanging by a thread, with the two parties unable to finalise an agreement as the end of the one-month grace period looms. The two parties are yet to come to an agreement over Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) MD and CEO Punit Goenka leading the merged entity after Sony expressed concerns after market regulator Sebi barred him from holding managerial posts in Zee and any of the entities in a fund-diversion case.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked fund houses operating smallcap funds with a large corpus to share data on their holdings in the total free float of smallcap stocks, according to sources. This is part of the stress tests that the regulator wants fund houses to undertake amid a surge in inflows into smallcap schemes and growing concerns about valuations. Free float refers to the quantum of freely available shares for trading on the stock market.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday warned investors not to fall prey to investment plans with guaranteed returns offered by Suraj Mourya associated with "Aimers Trader". The exchange pointed out that these entities are not registered either as a member or authorised person of any registered member of the NSE. The cautionary statement comes after the NSE noticed that Suraj Mourya associated with Aimers Trader was offering to handle trading accounts of investors by asking them to share their user identification (user ID) and password.
Hong Kong has regained its spot as the world's fourth-largest market following a broad market rout in Indian equities. Currently, the Chinese territory's market capitalisation stands at $4.9 trillion versus India's $4.75 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In January, the domestic equity markets' market capitalisation had surpassed that of Hong Kong following a spectacular rally in the small- and midcap stocks.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has reserved its order on the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises and with Culver Max Entertainment (earlier known as Sony Pictures Networks India). The Mumbai bench of NCLT, comprising H V Subba Rao and Madhu Sinha, reserved the order on Monday, after hearing arguments from creditors who objected to the scheme including Axis Finance, JC Flower Asset Reconstruction Co, IDBI Bank, Imax Corp and IDBI Trusteeship. In December 2021, Zee Entertainment and Sony Pictures had agreed to merge their businesses.
There is a need for further focus and strengthening of guidelines.
Real estate investment trusts (Reits) are in talks with regulatory bodies - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - to seek changes in regulations that will allow easier access to capital. The Indian Reits Association (IRA) said it has approached the market regulator seeking to get classified as an 'equity' asset, which will open the path for their inclusion in equity indices and also make investment by mutual funds (MFs) easier. The association is also in active discussions with the RBI to allow banks to lend to a Reit.
Sebi on Friday allowed Bangalore Stock Exchange (BgSE) to exit as a bourse from the capital markets.
The bid-pack for potential investors is ready and the government-appointed board has already sent it to the Company Law Board and Securities Exchange Board of India, according to sources close to the development.
US-based Schall Law Firm has said it will file a class action lawsuit against Infosys Ltd to recover losses suffered by investors in the wake of allegations of "unethical practices" at the Indian IT major. In October, Infosys had informed the stock exchanges of having received anonymous whistleblower complaints alleging certain unethical practices by the top management.
US short-seller Hindenburg Research had shared an advance copy of its damning report against Adani group with New York-based hedge fund manager Mark Kingdon about two months before publishing it and profited from a deal to share spoils from share price movement, according to market regulator Sebi. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in its 46-page show cause notice to Hindenburg, detailed how the US short seller, the New York hedge fund and a broker tied to Kotak Mahindra Bank benefited from the over USD 150 billion routs in the market value of Adani group's 10 listed firms post-publication of the report.
'The market should maintain optimism on the back of range-bound oil prices, a robust fiscal balance sheet, a better-than-expected monsoon, and moderating inflation.'
Jignesh Shah, the promoter of Financial Technologies India Ltd, on Wednesday resigned from the board of MCX Stock Exchange, amid continuing Rs 5,600 crore (Rs 56 billion) payment crisis at group company NSEL.
The strict curbs, including a curfew from 8 pm till 7 am, and prohibitory orders during the daytime on weekdays came into force from Monday in the state.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is reviewing the current stock categorisation framework followed by actively managed equity mutual funds (MFs) to ensure they are true-to-label. Individuals familiar with the matter said the universe of largecap and midcap stocks could be expanded by 25-50 stocks. The move follows concerns raised by industry players that the current threshold has been skewed following a sharp run-up in the domestic markets after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) plans to operationalise the framework for direct listing of companies at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) exchanges by the end of the year, said Chairperson K Rajaraman. He added that the amendments would be notified within three months. Further, the GIFT City regulator is also considering the launch of separate payments system regulations - similar to that of the real time gross settlement (RTGS) for banking within a few months.
In a stock exchange filing, Adani Enterprises Ltd said VCPL has urged SEBI "to provide its observations on the draft letter of offer filed in relation to the open offer, in accordance with the SEBI (SAST) Regulations."
The exchange will unveil a ticker showing live quotes and news flashing on a huge video screen.
Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (Asifma) has raised concerns about the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposal to introduce a T+0 settlement cycle. The industry association of top foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) has stated that this move could give rise to several issues, including the bifurcation of the market, liquidity fragmentation, and deterioration of market quality. In a discussion paper floated last month, Sebi has proposed a separate same-day settlement cycle that will run parallel to the existing T+1 cycle, where trades are settled the next day.
Before framing regulations to curb 'misleading' messages and stock recommendations by finfluencers (a portmanteau of the phrase 'financial influencers'), the market regulator plans to put in place some 'building blocks' to ensure smooth enforcement. Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is of the view that the 'traditional approach may not work' to rein in finfluencers. "There are many interlinked pieces in our regulations - investment advisor regulations, research analyst regulations, the fact that we don't have algorithmic (algo)-related regulations, what brokers are permitted to do, and what is incidental advice.
Numbers could be classified further into (140) marketing and (160 or 161) for service calls to easily identify the purpose of the call in the future.
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.
Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) with a lock-in period performed better than the ones that allow investors to withdraw capital at any time. Close-ended schemes had a median return of 5.62 per cent in December, according to data from industry tracker PMSBazaar. The median returns for open-ended schemes were 3.91 per cent
Securities Exchange Board of India chairman C B Bhave, and Insurance Regulatory Authority of India chief J Harinarayan had separate meetings with finance secretary Ashok Chawla on Monday over the ongoing tussle between the two regulators over equity-linked insurance schemes.
Delhi Stock Exchange's (DSE) struggle to end its life without hurting the diverse interests of its multiple stakeholders will continue into another year.
The CBI has arrested Sanjay Gupta, owner and promoter of Delhi based OPG Securities Pvt. Ltd, in connection with the NSE co-location scam in which brokers allegedly abused the facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market, officials said on Wednesday. The agency has already arrested Chitra Ramkrishna, former CEO and managing director of NSE and Anand Subramanian, former group operating officer of the market, they said. Gupta was arrested on Tuesday night, four years after the agency had registered the FIR in the Co-location scam case against him and his company.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Monday said it was planning a tie up with Commodities and Futures Trading Commission of US within a month for sharing of information.
In the current calendar year, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have witnessed an impressive surge in initial public offerings (IPOs), surpassing the 2018 record. Over 150 SME IPOs have been introduced to the market, breaking the previous record of 141 set in 2018. According to data from PRIME Database, a primary market tracking firm, 147 companies successfully concluded their debut share sales by the end of October, raising a cumulative Rs 3,727 crore.