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Sebi knocks at PMO door on NPA disclosure rules Regulator keen on implementing a revised proposal The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to look into its proposal mandating listed companies to make public disclosures within a day of loan defaults. According to sources, the market regulator is keen on implementing its initial proposal with certain changes. The new rule was to come into effect in October 2017 but got deferred due to hurdles in its implementation. A revised proposal was discussed on December 28 at Sebi’s board meeting, which decided to hold it further, saying it required more discussion. Sources said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance were not keen on the proposal as the move would require banks to make an additional provisioning of Rs 260 billion. Sebi, on the other hand, is pushing the proposal as it will benefit investors and lead...

GST Council may lower rates for farm gear, EVs The GST Council may take up rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST) rates for a handful of items at its meeting next week These items include biodiesel buses, electric vehicles and irrigation equipment.The GST Council meeting will be its last one before the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1. The relatively small list for rate reduction was finalised by the fitment committee earlier this week and may be taken up by the GST Council, which is headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprises state finance ministers. “The items qualifying for rate reduction in the upcoming meeting have been picked with an objective of giving a push to agriculture and clean energy.Other items in the 28 per cent tax slab will not be taken up this time with revenues yet to stabilise,” said an official The rate for irrigation equipment may be reduced from 18 per cent to 12per cent, while that for biodiesel vehicles and elec...

Budget bonanza: Dividend distribution tax may go The finance ministry is likely to do away with the dividend distribution tax (DDT) in the upcoming Union Budget.Sources in the know have said there have been considerable discussions on the topic among various stakeholders. At present, if a company gives dividend to its shareholders, it has to pay DDT of 20.36 per cent (15 percent plus surcharge and cess).Two stakeholders, who met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia separately for preBudget consultations, told Business Standard that the issue of DDT came up in the meetings that took place between industry representatives and Adhia. This move, experts say, would help the government in more ways than one —it would boost India Inc´s ease of doing business, encourage firms to give more dividends, and improve returns for retail investors in the lower income tax bracket “It is expected that Budget 2018 may propose a withdrawal of DDT and return to the cl...

MCA to review SEBI´s PW order The corporate affairs ministry (MCA) will examine markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India´s (Sebi´s) order against audit major Price Waterhouse in the Satyam Computer Services case, Union MinisterPPChaudhary said on Thursday. On Wednesday, Sebi barred Price Waterhouse´s network entities from issuing audit certificates to any listed firm in India for two years after finding the audit major guilty in the multicrore Satyam scam. Besides, the regulator has directed disgorgement of over Rs 130 million wrongful gains by the audit major and its two erstwhile partners who worked on the IT major´s accounts. When asked about Sebi´s order against Price Waterhouse and whether the ministry would be looking at having stricter norms for auditors in the wake of that order, Chaudhary said, “We will examine it.” “There are already stringent norms and the only question is about execution,” he said in response to a query on whether there are plans t...

Officials back Dholakia´s objection to RBI´s growth assessment As Advance Estimates by the statistics office for growth in gross value added (GV) came much below the Reserve Bank of India´s (RBI) projections for 201718, officials in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) point to an assessment by a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member who said the central bank had overestimated the numbers, ahead of the December policy review. Another official in the finance ministry said the assessment by the member,RDholakia, was correct so far as the issue of cut in the policy rate was concerned.According to minutes of the MPC meeting in December, Dholakia said RBI overestimated growth. While the CSO puts GVA growth at 6.1 per cent, RBI had projected 6.7 per cent.Dholakia,a professor of economics at IIMAhmedabad, had pitched for a 25 basis points (bps) rate reduction in the December meeting. He had also predicted the fiscal deficit might exceed the target of 3.2 per cent of Gross Domestic P...

Sebi extends deadline for stockbrokers to set up records of client orders Sebi has extended till 1 April deadline for stockbrokers to comply with the requirement of keeping evidence of every instruction given by clients for equity and equity derivative trades The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday extended the deadline for stockbrokers to comply with the requirement of keeping evidence of every instruction given by clients for equity and equity derivative trades. This rule will now be applicable from 1 April, instead of the earlier specified date of 1 January On 26 September, the markets regulator had directed all brokerages to compulsorily record every phone call of their clients or keep evidence of all trade-related instructions in writing, email or text message formats in a bid to prevent any risk arising from unauthorized trading. The market watchdog had also directed brokerages to keep a record of the logs of internet transactions by their clients ...

Price Waterhouse banned from audit for 2 years The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) late on Wednesday banned Price Waterhouse (PW) from providing audit services to listed companies and market intermediaries for two years in the Satyam fraud case. Two PW partners have been banned for three years. The regulator also imposed a disgorgement of Rs 130.9 million on Price Waterhouse, and two of its chartered accountants —S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri.The three entities also have to pay 12 per cent interest on the disgorgement amount since January 7, 2009, in 45 days from the date of the order. Further, it said that no listed company or intermediary registered with Sebi to be engaged with any audit firm associated with the PW network for issuing any certificate with respect to compliance of statutory obligations which Sebi is competent to administer and enforce, under various laws for a period of two years. These entities have been charged under Sebi´s prohibitio...

Govt relaxes FDI norms for AI, retail Foreign Airlines can buy up to 49% stake in Air India & 100% FDI for single-brand retail via automatic route Just days ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to showcase India´s potential before global chief executive officers and political leaders, the Union Cabinet has relaxed rules for attracting foreign investments across sectors such as aviation, retail, and construction. This is the fourth time in the past three years that the government is tweaking the foreign direct investment (FDI) rulebook.In a significant step, the Cabinet on Wednesday permitted FDI in stateowned carrier Air India, which is up for disinvestment.Foreign airlines or any other foreign investor can now put in up to 49 per cent in Air India, thereby making it easier for the government to divest its holding in the airline. The government is expected to invite expression of interest for Air India after the Union Budget...

World Bank pegs India´s GDP growth higher than FY18 Advance Estimates The World Bank has pegged India´s economic growth at 6.7 per cent in 201718, slightly higher than 6.5 per cent estimated by the statistics office.For the next financial year, the growth would accelerate to 7.3 per cent, overtaking China´s at 6.4 per cent in 2018, the multilateral agency said. In its 2018 Global Economics Prospect, the World Bank projected India´s economic growth to be 7.5 per cent in the two years each after 201819. In these two years, China´s growth rate will drop to 6.3 and 6.2 per cent, respectively.The Central Statistics Office on Friday came out with Advance Estimates which showed that India´s gross domestic product (GDP) growth would fall to 6.5 per cent in 201718, the lowest in the Modi government´s first four years. But, the World Bank said India was estimated to have grown at 6.7 per cent in 201718, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and the goods and services tax (GST). In...

Sebi team working on relaxation for IBC firms Easing of delisting rules and exemption from public shareholding norms among key proposals Market regulator Sebi has formed a team to look into securities law changes, after advent of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The team will collect inputs from all stakeholders and examine feasible proposals. The final report is expected by March. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has formed a team to look into securities law changes, after advent of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The team will collect inputs from stakeholders and examine feasibility of proposals. Sources said doing away with the tedious reverse book building process (RBB) for delisting of IBC companies, exemption from minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms and relaxation from some compliance requirements will be among the recommendations considered. The final report is expected by March. The move comes after Sebi, the markets regulator, rece...

FDI relaxation for real estate brokerages to boost investment: Experts The government's decision to allow 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under automatic route in the real-estate broking services is expected to boost the segment as this would enable international brokerage companies to invest in Indian counterparts and also set up their own subsidiaries here. The move, according to experts, would help in formalizing the largely unorganized segment, create more jobs and offer professional services to property buyers."The Cabinet, through an amendment to the FDI policy has clarified that Real Estate broking services would not be classified as Real Estate business. Accordingly, companies undertaking such activities are eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route. This is a welcome clarification especially given the number of startups in this space offering innovative broking products," said Bhairav Dalal, Partner - Real Estate Tax, PwC India. According to ANAR...