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A panel tasked with drafting a bankruptcy code for financial service providers such as banks, insurance companies and payment systems has proposed classifying companies into five categories based on their vulnerability and also suggested setting up a Resolution Corporation. The panel's report was made public on Wednesday for comments. It has also recommended that some of the bigger firms be classified as systemically important financial firms (SIFIs). "These are financial institutions whose failure might pose a risk to not just their consumers or the sector they operate in, but rather to the overall financial stability of the country itself," the panel said it in its reportIn the report, the panel said the proposed resolution corporation would contribute to the stability and resilience of the financial system by carrying out speedy and efficient resolution of financial firms in distress, providing deposit insurance to consumers of certain categories of financial services

The new indirect tax network (systems integration) called Project Saksham will be developed with the help of Wipro In a swift progress towards the goods and services (GST) tax roll-out from April 1, 2017, a Cabinet committee cleared the Rs 2,256 crore back-end information technology (IT) project for the indirect tax department on Wednesday. The new indirect tax network (systems integration) called Project Saksham will be developed with the help of Wipro. "The implementation strategy for the project will be to ensure the readiness of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) IT framework by April 1, 2017, when GST is to be introduced," an official statement read. Project Saksham, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, will facilitate implementation of GST, extension of the Indian Customs single window interface for facilitating trade (SWIFT) and other taxpayer-friendly initiatives under Digital India and ease of doing business of CBEC. GST will subsume ex

Detailed guidelines to be issued by the regulator later The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed commodity exchanges to introduce trading in options. The regulator on Wednesday said in a circular sent to exchanges that would require its approval, which will be subject to guidelines that would be announced later. Sebi has refrained from introducing index-based futures as of now. Leading commodity exchanges have their indices, but Sebi wants to finalise a standard methodology.  “Traders need to hedge against price change in a particular commodity and not the overall market and, hence, index futures are not given a priority,” explained a person connected with the development. Samir Shah, managing director and chief executive officer, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange said, “For farmers, it will be a game changer. It would help them sell their produce in the derivatives market and, thereby, get the benefit of price protection in case price falls below their

The final decision on the Budget date will be a political one and will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs The finance ministry is said to be pitching for the Union Budget 2017-18 to be presented on January 31, an event which would give Parliament exactly three months to  approve the Finance Bill before April 1. The final decision on the Budget date will be a political one and will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said last week that while the government was in favour of advancing the Budget to enable the passage of the Finance Bill before the start of the next financial year, a final call on the matter will be taken after studying the state election schedule. Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are slated to go to the polls early next calendar year. The Budget planners and policymakers in North Block are pushing for a January 31 Budget. It will be a Tuesday, which also raises the likeli

Restrictions on Algo, colocations, PMS continued Tuesday issued several circulars, replacing those of the erstwhile commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC). Last year, FMC ceased to exist after being merged with Sebi. While warehousing norms have been tightened significantly, other circulars include algo trading and co-location facilities for commodity exchanges. According to one of the circulars, portfolio management services would not be permissible in the commodity derivative market. Under the norms, warehouse service providers (WSP) will be corporate bodies with subscribed share capital of Rs 10 crore. An accredited WSP would have a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore for multi-commodities and Rs 10 crore for a single commodity. The commodity exchange would have to ensure that the WSP, its promoters and key management personnel are “fit and proper” to carry out the business. All WSPs should also be approved by the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority a

U K Sinha said immediate priority is to bring the commodities derivatives market at par with securities market Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman U K Sinha on Tuesday with met finance ministry officials and discussed the major reforms required to strengthen the commodity market, said sources in the know. Sebi chief told the ministry that its immediate priority is to bring the commodities derivatives market at par with the securities market. The regulator intends to introduce new products and categories, including options trading, to ensure better liquidity and fair price discovery. WHAT NEXT? To bring commodities derivatives market at par with securities market To bring new products and new categories of participants in the space Options trading in commodity futures Allowing banks, mutual funds, AIFs, foreign hedgers in the space Single licence for commodity and equity brokers The commodity derivatives has come under Sebi's purview since September 28,

The new charges will be effective from October 1 Multi commodities exchange has increased transaction charges for agri and non agri commodities effective 1 October this year. The charges for non agri commodities were last revised in February 2014. For non agri commodities for daily average turnover upto Rs 350 crore charges have been raised from Rs 2.10 per Rs. One lakh of turn over to Rs 2.60 and for incremental turnover above Rs 350 crore it has been revised from Rs 1.40 to Rs.1.75. According to circular issued today by the exchange, for non agri commodities, transaction charges have been made equal and only one slab of Rs 1.75 has been fixed. Earlier for turnover upto Rs 20 crore charges were Rs 0.75 and on incremental turnover above Rs 20 core charges were Rs 0.50. In another circular MCX has removed various charges and fees that is being levied to the Members of the Exchange. This is also coming in force from October 1. Business Standard, New Delhi, 28 September 2016