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 SEBI seeks to cut retail F&O bets Investors may soon have to tailor their bets in equity derivatives to their income.    The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to link the extent of investors' exposure to futures and options to what they earn, said three people familiar with the development. The move is aimed at preventing individuals from taking unaffordable positions in risky instruments but market participants fret about the impact of such a move on derivatives volumes.    The capital market regulator wants to introduce the concept of product suitability for investors in India as prevalent in other developed markets, said one of the three people cited above.    SEBI TARGETING MANIPULATORS’    Any product sold to an investor should be suitable to him,” said one of them. “If it is not suitable, why should an investor invest in it?” Derivatives, once described as weapons of mass destruction by i...

  Post­ RERA changes made in agreements: survey While 45% of the developers don’t have a proper mechanism for RERA compliance yet, there have been significant changes made to customer and vendor agreements RERA Act is changing the entire landscape of the real estate sector and redefining the process of how real estate sales happen in India. Every stakeholder, right from the government, bankers, private equity to consumers, are unlearning the old ways of operating and aligning to the new systems/processes which are RERA-specific According to Navin Raheja Chairman, FICCI Real Estate Committee, “RERA, which came into force from 1 May 2016, is now seen as one of the most significant reforms in the real estate sector. According to RERA, all the state governments were to put in place the Act’s rules and regulations for their respective states by May 1, 2017. The Government of Karnataka has notified their rules in July 2017.” As per the latest survey on RERA, 45 per cent of th...

 Trump slaps tariffs, rattles Indian metal firms; JSW asks govt to retaliate Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Steel, however, asked the government to impose similar tariffs on steel made overseas to protect Indian manufacturers Indian metal producers with exposure to Europe and the United States warned of increased costs and lower sales with US President Donald Trump signing on Thursday a proclamation levying a 25 per cent duty on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium imports. As soon as Trump signed the proclamation, Tata Steel Europe asked the Dutch government and the European Union to persuade the US not to levy the duty on steel imports. “Time is running out, as the planned charges will take effect in two weeks. Together with our customers, we will urge the American government to make an exception for our products. Since we do not dump steel, our steel does not pose a threat to the national security of the US, and American companies depend on our steel,” said Theo He...

With no fixed targets, GST collection not-so-encouraging: Par panel With no targets fixed, the monthly revenue collections from GST are not encouraging, the frequent revisions in rates has impacted the stability of the new tax system and has adversely impacted the trade and businesses, a Parliamentary panel has observed in its report. "The Committee are constrained to observe the not-so-encouraging monthly revenue collections from GST, which still have not stabilised with frequent changes in rates and issue of notifications every now and then. Further, the Committee are surprised to learn that no GST revenue targets have been fixed by the government," the Standing Committee on Finance headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said in its report tabled in Parliament today. The Committee also observed that the frequent revisions in rates has "no doubt affected the regime stability, with adverse impact on trade and business." States have also reported losses i...

SEBI  takes up 116 cases to probe violation of securities law during FY17-18 Regulator Sebi has taken up as many as 116 cases to probe alleged violation of securities law including market manipulation and price rigging, the government said on Friday. The cases were related to market manipulation, price rigging, insider trading, takeover violations and illegal collective investment schemes, Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. During 2017-18 (till December last year), as many as 116 cases were taken up for investigation compared to 256 in the preceding financial year, 179 in 2015-16 and 135 in 2014-15, the minister noted. Of these cases, a total of 36 matters related to market manipulation and price rigging, illegal CIS (14) and insider trading (9). In a separate reply, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said that Sebi has mandated listed companies to appoint at least one women director. As on March 2017...

 ETF assets surge four-fold in 2 years on steady inflow from EPFO ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product   The assets of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have quadrupled in the past two years, on the back of steady inflow from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product. An ETF's portfolio exactly mimics the securities in its underlying index, in the same weightage.   EPFO had entered the stock market in August 2015. The decision was to invest up to five per cent of its investible deposits; this was raised in 2016 to 10 per cent and then in 2017 to 15 per cent. The body had an estimated Rs 440 billion invested in the stock market this January.   EPFO has invested the remaining portion in debt market instruments such as government securities and bank fixed deposits. ETF schemes run by SBI Mutual Fund...

SEBI re-constitutes panel on corporate bond market   Markets regulator Sebi has re- constituted its committee that suggests roadmap for developing corporate bond market in the country. The 27-member committee would now be chaired by Harun R Khan, former Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as per the latest update with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).   Earlier, the panel was headed by Shyamala Gopinath, who was also a former Deputy Governor at RBI. Notably, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi was part of the HR Khan committee appointed to look into measures to deepen the corporate bond market in the country. The committee -- corporate bonds and securitization advisory -- has representations from the government, banks, markets regulator, mutual funds, rating agencies, stock exchanges and depositories.   The panel was set up in 2011 under the chairmanship of R H Patil and is mandated to advise the regulator on developing the corporate bond m...

Epayments continue to climb in feb Digital payment transactions for February have touched 1.09 billion maintaining the above 1-billion threshold even in the shortest month of the year, acoording to RBI data. The numbers reveal that UPI clocked 17.12 million against 151 million recorded in january. while UPI maintained the growth trajectory, carads showed a slight fall at 2.47 million The Economic Times, New Delhi, 08th March 2018

 Fooling the IT returns system by using all zeros as Aadhaar number Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued a circular, making it mandatory to provide Aadhaar or the enrolment number with IT returns for everyone Even as the government is in overdrive to get people to link their Aadhaar number with the income tax (I-T) department while filing returns, some of those without the unique identification number have managed to find a loophole in the system. They say they have been able to file tax returns by putting in all 0s or 1s instead of the 12-digit Aadhaar. The drive to link Aadhaar with I-T returns started in July last year. Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued a circular, making it mandatory to provide Aadhaar or the enrolment number with IT returns for everyone who was eligible for the unique identification number. The same condition applied for those applying for the permanent account number, too. However, many still do not have an Aadhaar card and are holding ou...

Council to take first step on bringing alcohol into Goods and Services Tax The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will likely take the first step towards inclusion of alcohol in the GST during its meeting on Saturday. Despite resistance from states, extra-neutral alcohol (ENA), a key ingredient in making alcoholic beverages, or ‘alcohol for human consumption’, may be included in the GST if a consensus is arrived at This is Centre’s second attempt at imposing the GST on ENA, which is taxed by states at present. Alcohol for human consumption, or potable alcohol, is out of the GST, whereas its input, ENA, is a grey area. Industrial alcohol is within the GST. “The council will take a re-look at taxing ENA under the GST. States had opposed it earlier, but now we have a legal view on the matter, strengthening our case for taxing it under the GST,” said a government official. The council is meeting after a gap of one-and-a-half months. The Centre has taken the views of the additio...

GST Council to weigh proposal to further delay rollout of e-way bill   The GST Council meeting on Saturday will also try to reach a consensus on simplifying GST returns and set GST on raw alcohol   The GST Council meeting will on Saturday consider proposals to further delay rolling out the e-way bill system by about 5-6 months and levy GST on a concentrated form of alcohol. The 26th GST Council meeting will also try to reach a consensus on simplifying tax returns.   The GST Council meeting, earlier planned as a video conference, will now be held in New Delhi as this is expected to make it easier to explore consensus on technical issues relating to tax rebates that are proving to be a stumbling block in simplifying tax returns, a person privy to the development said on condition of anonymity.   The GST Council wants to make sure that businesses, logistics firms and the IT backbone for rolling out e-way bills are fully prepared before electronic permi...