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 Retail investors in IPOs to get compensation: Sebi Sebi said there should be a uniform policy for calculation of the minimum compensation payable to investors Market regulator Sebi on Thursday said retail investors applying for shares in IPOs would need to be compensated if bankers fail to make the allotment despite their eligibility. Besides, the public issue banker would need to pay an interest amount of 15 per cent to the investors for failing to resolve the grievance within 15 days, while they may also face Sebi’s action for such failures. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday said retail investors applying for shares in initial public offerings would need to be compensated if bankers fail to make the allotment despite their eligibility. The public issue banker would also need to pay an interest of 15 per cent to the investors for failing to resolve the grievance within 15 days, while they may also face Sebi’s action for su...

Base year for GDP, IIP to be changed to 2017-18 The government will change the base year to 2017-18 for the calculation of gross domestic production (GDP) and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) numbers.  For retail inflation, the year will be revised to 2018, Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda said on Thursday. “During 2018-19, the ministry is proposing to initiate steps to revise the base years of GDP, IIP and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to accommodate and factor in  the changes that take place in the economic scenario of the country,” the statistics and programme implementation minister said at a conference on Budget provisions. Gowda said the ministry will undertake various steps in the next financial year that will improve the statistical system and help meet the data requirements in the emerging socio- economic scenario. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 16th February, 2018  ......

 Export growth rate dips to 9.07% in Jan Trade deficit balloons to nearly five-year high at $16.3 billion. Growth in exports reduced in January to 9.07 per cent, from 12.03 per cent in December. With exports of $24.38 billion, the growth rate in January dipped to a single digit for the first time in three months. The rate in December more than halved  to 12.4 per cent, from November’s 30.5 per cent. “More than 6 per cent of the growth has been contributed by petroleum products. More importantly, labour-intensive sectors like garments, carpets, handicrafts,  and man-made textiles are exhibiting negative growth, primarily due to liquidity crunch because of funds getting blocked under the goods and services tax  regime,” Ganesh Kumar Gupta, president of the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations, said. Of the 30 major product groups, 20 were in positive territory  in January, against 21 in December. On the other hand, the figures made clear that Ind...

 RBI asks banks to accept coins of all denominations from public  Banks should not refuse to accept coins of all denominations from customers and any non-compliance may result into penal action, the Reserve Bank said today.  Despite advisory that none of the bank branches should refuse to accept small denomination notes or coins tendered at their counters, complaints keep coming about non-acceptance of coins by bank branches, RBI said.  The Economic Times, New Delhi, 16th February, 2018  ......

Tax collection assumptions in India's budget ambitious: IMF  The IMF today said the tax collection assumptions in India's budget is ambitious but there is a need to look into the fiscal implications of some of the initiatives that are presently unfunded.  Referring to some of the implementations relating to the goods and services tax (GST) in 2017, IMF Director of Communications Department Gerry Rice said if  these issues persist, tax revenue collection could fall short on the budget.  We think the budget assumes the tax revenue will rise faster than the volume of transactions in the economy. So, its ambitious. It assumes the government would be able to climb higher tax revenue from the same amount of consumption and income,a Rice told reporters at his fortnightly news conference.  There are also some initiatives in the budget that are presently unfunded and fiscal implications of these need to look at a little bit more closely as more d...