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The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) on Monday cleared the decks for initial public offerings ( IPOs) by stock exchanges and depository firms by providing clarity on the listing framework. It said the combined shareholding of trading members, associates and brokers in a listed exchange cannot exceed 49 per cent. Every shareholder will have to declare their “ fit & proper” status at the time of the IPO. The depositories will monitor the investment caps for single entities. The industry players, however, said they would wait for more clarity. “We welcome the Sebi move. We will be able to comment once the detailed regulations are published. BSE will try to expedite the listing process, based on the regulations. Listing of exchanges is expected to bring additional transparency to their working,” said a BSE spokesperson. BSE had proposed to list in 2012 but could not because of the lack of enabling provisions. The NSE, which recently told its shareholders a

RBI gives a leg-up to rupee bonds The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) on Monday approved a set of more liberal external commercial borrowing norms ( ECB), allowing Indian companies to raise rupee resources from overseas lenders, without incurring currency risks. The new norms will be effective April 1 next year. Such rupee- denominated bonds are being issued in large numbers. They are a hit with Japanese retail investors. Once Indian companies start raising rupee resources from abroad, more such bonds will be issued and would help make the domestic currency more international. For ECB in foreign currency, the central bank raised the limit for small- value bonds, with a minimum average maturity of three years, to $50 million from the existing $ 20 million. For ECB of more than $ 50 million, the minimum maturity period should be five years, it said. The allin cost for such ECB has been reduced 50 basis points from what was allowed earlier. For long- term ECB though, the all-

Govt capital expenditure pushes investments, domestic demand a concern India’s gross domestic product ( GDP) for the three- month period ended September 30 grew 7.4 per cent— a tad higher than the seven per cent in the previous quarter — with a boost from manufacturing and financial services. The growth of the manufacturing sector —more than nine per cent — pleased the finance minister, Arun Jaitley. He said despite adverse global conditions, factory production had increased. The statistics and programme implementationministryreleasedthefiguresonMonday. There was a slight increase in investments because of the government’s capital expenditure, butthedomesticdemandcontinuedtobe aconcern. The growth was, however, much slower than the 8.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Economists had projected that GDP would growby7.3- 7.6percentthisquarter( seechart). The gross value added ( GVA), comprising agriculture, industry and services, increase

Updates Of the Day 1.Particulars of candidates for election of ICAI is availabe at http://icai.org/post.html?post_id=12122 and the details of your polling booth are also available on – www.icai.org and the link being 'Election-2015'. 2.SEBI has prescribed format for financial results and limited review report for listed entities which have listed their debt securities and/or non-cumulative redeemable preference shares wef 1st December 2015. 3.DVAT issued Circular No. 31 of 2015-2016 directing zonal authorities to restore registration within 3 days after the proposal is approved by Competent Authority. 4.DVAT notified extending time for submissions of Form DP-1 latest by 31.12.2015. 5.Transfer pricing provisions requires comparison of a controlled transaction with uncontrolled transaction, comparison within two controlled transaction is immaterial. [ITAT Mumbai: Greaves Cotton Ltd. vs. ITO] 6.Reassessment proceeding based on ED information without correlating with returns

Options include raising both excise and service tax rates in FY16 The Centre is confident of rolling out a combined goods and services tax ( GST) at the national level in time to meet the April 2016 deadline, even before states get their legal structures in order. “Nothing in the law stops the Centre from doing so in this financial year ( FY16),” said an officer in the know of the developments. The plan is afallback option, to be resorted to only if the government is unable to make the first of the three Constitution amendment Bills sail through in the current session of Parliament. One of the options is to raise both excise and service tax rates in FY16, as these are way below any expected GST rates. Sources say the government is very serious about meeting the April deadline. Doing so will restore confidence among investors, domestic and foreign, about the government’s ability to make reforms happen, especially when it involves Parliament. The prime minister has already announ

Sebi perusing Amfi panel report on this, likely to set investment cap The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) will soon introduce new norms governing investment by mutual funds ( MFs) in rated debt instruments. The regulator might change the investment limit in asingle issuer to less than 15 per cent, depending on the rating associated with the paper. For example, in the case of an AAA- rated paper, the investment cap could be left unchanged at 15 per cent, for AA- rated paper at 12 per cent and so on. At present, Sebi restricts investment in rated investment- grade debt instruments issued by a single issuer to 15 per cent of the net assets of the scheme. “The lower the rating, the lower should be the exposure to the paper,” said a member of the valuation committee set up Association of Mutual Funds in India ( Amfi), on condition of anonymity. The markets regulator is likely to come out with new investment norms in debt papers soon, based on the recommendations of th

Meets Sonia, Manmohan to end stalemate; both sides to meet again, says Jaitley Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hosted Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over tea at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road to find middle ground on the government’s key tax reform, the goods and services tax ( GST) Constitution amendment Bill. It was the first time in his 18- month tenure that the PM reached out to the Congress leaders in the manner he did on Friday. Sources in the Congress said the only other occasion when the PM had spoken to the Congress president was over the Naga peace accord earlier this year. Sources in the government and the Congress party termed the 45- minute long meeting an ‘ icebreaker’. While both the Congress and the government viewed it as an ‘ introductory meeting’, there was hope in the government camp that this could pave the way for passage of the GST Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. The Bill is