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Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill to cover wide-ranging white-collar crimes   The provisions of the fugitives bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, will apply to those involved in loan defaults, bank frauds, tax evasion, black money, benamy transactions and corruption   The government on Monday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha seeking punitive powers to target fugitives who have committed white-collar crimes. Significantly, the brief of the proposed legislation is much wider than the initial draft that had been put out by the government last year.   The provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018 will extend to not only loan defaulters and fraudsters but also to those individuals who violate laws governing taxes, black money, benami properties, financial sector and corruption. Earlier this month, the cabinet had cleared a bill that seeks to give the government powers to attach assets of offenders who are outside the country and do not return to India t

Growth engine gets twin boost from IIP, CPI data  India’s industrial growth accelerated in January while inflation eased for the second month running in February, providing a twin boost to the economy and suggesting overall economic growth could accelerate further from the five-quarter high recorded in the October-December period.  Industrial production growth rose higher than expected to 7.5% in January from 7.1% in the previous month, data released by the government showed, on the back of strong manufacturing. The simultaneously released Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a further decline in retail inflation to 4.44% in February from 5.1% in the previous month.  “This looks like an early sign of industrial revival,” said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at India Ratings, a Fitch Group company. “It looks like post demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) implementation, finally the industrial sector is gaining traction.” India reclaimed the title of fastestgrowing m

 Ease lender approval norms for resolution plans: Govt panel    In a move aimed at ensuring that small creditors do not disrupt the resolution process under the bankruptcy law, a governmentappointed panel has suggested that a revival plan can be approved if two-thirds of the creditors endorse it against the current requirement of three-fourths.    This is one of the key recommendations proposed by the 14-member panel looking at fine-tuning the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), two senior officials aware of the deliberations told ET.  Currently, the resolution professional needs the consent from 75 per cent of the creditors to act upon anything — from day-to-day operations to strategic decisions such as approving or rejecting a resolution plan.    The reduced approver threshold of 66 per cent of the lenders by loan value would apply, the proposal says, to key resolutions such  as appointing, replacing or dismissing a resolution professional, approving or rejecting a re

SEBI may impose restrictions on algo trade  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to impose restrictions on algorithmic trading by introducing a congestion charge for a prescribed slab that will be levied on traders. The move is aimed at ensuring that algorithmic trading doesn’t give market participants an unfair advantage over those with no access to such technology.  The proposal was discussed last week by the regulator’s Secondary Market Advisory Committee. If the curbs are implemented, Sebi will be the among the first to do so globally.  In 2016, the regulator had proposed the introduction of maximum order message-to-trade ratio requirements among several other proposals.  A maximum order-to-trade ratio requires a market participant to execute at least one trade for a set number of order messages sent to a trading venue. The mechanism is expected to increase the likelihood of a viewed quote being available to trade and reduce hyperactive orderbook pa

SEBI seeks relaxed rules for municipal bodies eyeing bond market SEBI has approached the government to allow municipal corporations and municipalities to access the bond market through pooled finance The capital markets regulator has approached the government to allow municipal corporations and municipalities to access the bond market through pooled finance, two people aware of the development said. Many civic bodies do not sell bonds because lower-rated securities have few takers. In pooled finance, several civic bodies jointly float a trust, which issues the bonds. Investors are seen as more open to buying bonds which can be serviced by different revenue streams. Trusts are currently not allowed to sell bonds. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) was previously considering a proposal to allow small municipal bodies to come together “The feedback Sebi gathered is that good-rated municipalities are not willing to be pooled with low-rated ones. It has also given a

 Reforms in health, education & banking will benefit India: IMF Indian economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from disruptions caused by demonetisation and roll-out of GST, the IMF said on Sunday.  At the same time, the IMF has underscored the significance of reforms in other key sectors like education, health and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial systems. “India's economy has expanded strongly in recent years, thanks to macroeconomic policies the emphasise stability and efforts to tackle supply-side bottlenecks and structural reforms. Disruptions from demonetisation and the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) did slow growth,“ Tao Zhang, deputy managing director of IMF, told PTI in an interview.  “However, with the economy expanding by 7.2% in the latest quarter, India has regained the title of the fastest-growing major economy.” Calling this development a “welcome change”, Zhang said the growth prospects remain positive.  “That sa

Define'shell companies' in companies act, panel asks govt At present, the term 'shell company' is not defined under the Companies Act, which is implemented by the corporate affairs ministry A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to define "shell company" in the Companies Act and ensure distinction between those guilty of fraud and those irregular with filings. The recommendation assumes significance at a time when the government is cracking down on companies that have not been carrying out business activities for long as well as those entities being allegedly used for illicit fund flows. As part of larger efforts to curb the black money menace, the corporate affairs ministry has already struck off the names of more than 226,000 companies from the official records besides disqualifying a large number of directors associated with such entities. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by senior Congress leader and former Corporat