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The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has restrained 22 entities, mostly brokers, from the securities market for allegedly making illicit gain through manipulation of liquid stocks options. Sebi found these entities putting through ‘ reversal trades’ in the stock options segment. The manipulation typically took in deep in- themoney and out- of- the- money options on individual stocks that were thinly traded. In fact, 70- 100 per cent of the volumes in these counters were by the alleged manipulators, it said. According to Sebi, entities through reversal trades generated atotal loss of Rs.1,273 crore and total profit of Rs.1,303 crore. “ These brokers have, prima facie, facilitated their clients to use and employ a pre- meditated manipulative device or contrivance while dealing in the market, a... nongenuine and deceptive transaction,” said Rajeev Kumar Agarwal, member of Sebi, in an order. Some of the entities barred are Giriraj Stock Broking, Best Bull Stock Tradin

FinMin officials say an announcement could be made in the Budget The Centre is likely to set up a “ bad bank” to take over the non- performing assets (NPAs) of the country’s financial institutions, and is examining a policy proposal paper on the matter. As such, the setting up of an asset reconstruction company backed by the sovereign is a long- drawn process and these are still early days. Even then, senior government sources say Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might make an announcement in the upcoming Union Budget as part of his medium- term plans for the financial sector. There have been inter- ministerial discussions on the matter. Earlier in February, Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) Governor Rajan had said there was “ no need” to set up a separate “ bad bank” to deal with stressed assets of public sector ( PSU) banks. “ PSU banks themselves have the backing of the government, so there is no need to create a new entity that has the backing of the government. The issue is now to

Various instances of client code changes by stock brokers between 2009 and 2011 has caught the attention of the income-tax department. A few brokers in Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan have got notices from the I-T department in January and February seeking details of changes to client codes in their system in the past few years mainly for assessment year 2010-2011. Changing client codes within 30 minutes after the market closed to rectify any punching errors was a common practice in markets. However, the I-T department feels the practice was turning into a scheme to avoid paying taxes as client code modifications constituted a staggering Rs.56,000 crore worth of trade ev` ery month. Tax officials believe that gains and losses were transferred from one account to another un der the guise of rectifying errors. The I-T department is seeking details like the transaction ID original client code, modified client code, name of the origi nal client, PAN of the original client, nam

Updates Of the Day 1.The petitioner is admittedly not a foreign company : Since the petitioner is not an eligible assessee in terms of section 144C(15)(b), no draft order can be passed in the case of the petitioner u/s 144C(1) - HC. [Honda Cars India Limited (Formerly – M/s. Honda Siel Cars India Limited vs Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax & Another - 2016 (2) TMI 527 - Delhi High Court]. 2.Manufacture of rosin and turpentine without aid of power , seeking retrospective exemption is not a constitutional right - HC. [Mangalam Organics Limited vs Union of India - 2016 (2) TMI 529 - Delhi High Court]. 3.Supply Of Goods to Indian Navy not must to claim excise exemption. [CCEx vs. M/s Wartsila (I) Pvt. Ltd]. 4.Proceedings under rule declared unconstitutional by HC in invalid. [Vipul-S Plasticrafts P. Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Central Excise]. 5.Cenvat of Goods/ Service used in construction of rented property allowed. [Nirlon Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Central Excise,Mumbai]. 6.Bro

The WTO agreement aims to simplify customs regulations for the cross-border movement of goods The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization, which aims to simplify customs regulations for the cro-ss-border movement of goods. To facilitate both domestic coordination and implementation of the TFA provisions, a National Committee on Trade Facilitation will be set up; it will be jointly headed by the commerce and revenue secretaries. The TFA contains provisions to speed up the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. “These objectives are in consonance with India’s ‘ease of doing business’ initiative,” a cabinet statement said. The provisions that each country needs to implement have been divided into three categ

In what could slow down dollar inflow into the country, infrastructure and asset finance companies -including large state-owned firms like Rural Electrification Company, Power Finance Corp and Indian Railway Finance Corp -are unable to raise dollar loans, with new rules on external commercial borrowings (ECB) imposing certain restrictions. These companies, categorised as nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) in the revised ECB framework, can only raise foreign currency loans which are denominated in rupees. In such loans, lenders take the foreign currency risk -unlike the customary dollar loans where the risk arising out of exchange rate fluctuation lies with borrowers. But, under the current circumstances, where the market has turned volatile and the local currency is depreciating, these companies are finding it impossible to raise rupee-denominated ECB.And, even if they can, the pricing of such borrowings would be prohibitive. Since the beginning of 2016, a little less than

Experts say move to raise period from one to three years could scare markets The already- nervous Street has a new reason to lose sleep. The plan proposed by the government to increase the time frame of long- term capital gains tax from one year to three years has made the stock market investors nervous in the run- up to the Union Budget. Capital gains are the profits that an investor realises when he sells a stock. Long- term capital gains tax is a levy on those gains.Currently, investors dont have to pay any capital gains tax on shares sold on an exchange after one year of holding. The move to increase the holding period to three years would force investors to hold on to their stocks, hurt sentiment, and lead to a crash in the market, say experts. Benchmark indices are already down 10 per cent this year following a rout in the global markets. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, managing director and chief executive, Destimoney Securities, believes such a move would be "disastrous"