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The capital market regulator said on Thursday independent directors on the boards of listed companies must act in the interest of all shareholders. UK Sinha, chairman, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), was responding to reporters' queries on the role of independent directors in the ongoing boardroom fight in Tata Group companies. Without naming any company, Sinha, on the sidelines of the CII Financial Markets Summit on Thursday, said, “Independent directors have a fiduciary duty to perform and they have their loyalty and obligation to all sharehol ders. So, they must take care of the interest of all shareholders. Besides, they have to follow Sebi's guidelines and the Companies Act.“ The Tata The TataMistry boardroom battle, being played out in several Tata Group companies, has put the spotlight on the role and responsibilities of independent directors. Inde pendent directors of Indian Hotels and Tata Chemicals had unanimously backed Cyrus Mistry and expressed

Income tax authorities have been keeping a close tab on reports in this regard The income tax department launched a multi-city crackdown on those taking demonetised currency at a discount, selling gold at premium in exchange of old notes and hawala operators offering foreign currency at a premium. Raids were carried out in Delhi, Mumbai and some cities of Punjab after reports surfaced of traders taking ` . 1000 notes, selling gold . 500 and ` at as much as ` . 50,000 per 10 gram and dollar touching as high as 100 rupees in the hawala market. Traders on the radar have been asked to furnish details of cash in hand as on November 8, when the government announced the scrapping of . 500 and ` ` . 1000 notes. “Raids have been carried out based on specific intelligence,“ a senior government official told ET. Tax authorities have been keeping a close tab on reports in this regard and have been di rected to be alert as people attempt to get rid of large amounts of unaccounted for cash in the d

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday reiterated the government’s assurance that people need not fear harassment from the income tax department if they have deposited small amounts in banks following the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The minister also spoke on a number of other issues at the Economic Editors’ Conference in New Delhi. Edited excerpts: Small depositors need not worry about demonetisation: Small deposits which are made, nobody will face any questions or harassment of any kind. So people who have small amounts of cash, there has been an Indian tradition to keep some cash always at home for exigencies and emergencies, which is required, they can exchange that; they can deposit that in their accounts. The revenue departments are not going to take notice of small depositors. In any case, deposits which are within  .. Worry for some: It's only those who have large amounts of undisclosed monies who will have to face the consequences under th

It has given lenders additional time up to 180 days for hammering out a restructuring package under the scheme In a step to address corporate stress, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday made sweeping changes to existing loan recast schemes like S4A, 5/25 and SDR. It has given lenders additional time up to 180 days for hammering out a restructuring package under the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed asset (S4A). Previously, the time limit was 90 days. There was a need to provide reasonable time to the overseeing committee to review the processes involved in the resolution plan, RBI said in a late night notification. This is step also intended to harmonise rules across various recast schemes, as time given in other schemes such as joint lenders’ forum (JLF) is 180 days. One of the significant changes made to the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme is that the new promoter should have acquired at least 26 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of the borrower compa