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NSE top brass discusses IPO colocation with shareholders The National Stock Exchange (NSE) held a meeting with top shareholders to update them on the status of its much a waited initial public offering (IPO) and the pending regulatory issue with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).The meeting, which took place on Tuesday, was addressed by the exchange´s top management, including Chairman Ashok Chawla and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vikram Limaye. Most of the domestic and foreign shareholders were other attendees, said sources in the know.The NSE´s Rs 10,000crore maiden offer to provide partial or full exit to 27 shareholders has got delayed by nearly a year due to a probe against it for giving unfair access to its colocation (colo) servers to some brokers. In the past, certain shareholders had mounted pressure on the bourse´s management over the delay.A source present at the meeting said most stakeholders acknowledged that there was nothing much

Note ban proves a big gain for wholesalers Metro Cash Walmart Two of the country’s biggest wholesalers — Metro Cash and Carry and Walmart — saw double digit sales growth, helped by demonetisation which saw sellers’ dependency on traditional retail channels drop significantly and a greater number of small grocers rushing in to buy daily essentials from the big box formats after November Metro, the first global firm to enter India, is the largest cash and carry operator here, and posted higher growth than Walmart. Both saw significant jump in revenue growth compared to previous years. Metro, the Düsseldorf-based retail and wholesale group posted a 22% rise in sales during FY17 to Rs 5,632 crore, compared to 16% growth a year ago. Walmart India, that runs Best Price Modern Wholesale stores saw revenue growth nearly double to 13% at Rs 3,609 crore, versus a 7% growth in FY16 The Düsseldorf-based retail and wholesale group said it had split its India operations into two divisions to

Parliament panel seeks GST relief for exporter A parliamentary panel has asked the finance ministry to allow exporters to use the old system of refunds to mitigate the compliance burden incurred in transitioning to GST Lawmakers have pitched for fresh concessions to labour-intensive exporting sectors such as textiles, leather, gems and jewellery to mitigate the compliance burden incurred in transitioning to the goods and services tax (GST) regime that was rolled out on 1 July. Accordingly, a parliamentary panel has asked the finance ministry to allow exporters to use the old system of refunds through the so-called duty drawback scheme.The parliamentary standing committee on commerce sought the intervention, claiming that the GST compliance burden was causing job losses in labour-intensive export sectors. Under the duty drawback scheme in the pre-GST era, exporters could claim rebates on taxes such as service tax and excise duty. After GST was introduced, the government pared

Trai backs open access But exempts specialised services, critical IoT, content delivery networks Within days of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposingaplan to dismantle the existing net neutrality regulations in the US, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended upholding the basic principle of keeping the internet free.The proposals of Trai, when accepted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), would ensure that no service provider can restrict, discriminate or interfere in the treatment of content by blocking, slowing down, degrading or granting preferential speeds while providing internet access. “No one owns the internet.so, it should be open and accessible to everyone,” Trai Chairman RS Sharma said.Although Trai has addressed key concerns such as discriminatory treatment of content, zerorating etc, it has exempted specialised services, critical internet of things (IoT) services, and content delivery networks (CDN) of operators fr

GST anti profiteering body set up The government has set up the National Anti-Profiteering Authority amid reports that some companies, particularly restaurants, are not passing on the benefit of the goods and services tax (GST) rate cuts to consumers.BN Sharma, additional secretary in the department of revenue, was on Tuesday appointed chairman of the authority.Now, guidelines on what exactly constitutes profiteering are awaited. The authority will exist for a period of two years from the date Sharma takes charge.The authority is mandated to ensure that the benefits of input credit and the reduction in GST rates on specified goods or services are passed on to the consumers by way of a commensurate reduction in prices. The government also named four senior officials as technical members of the authority.“With the chairman and technical members now having been appointed, the authority becomes functional thereby reassuring consumers of the government´s commitment that GST would result

Govtwants RBI rate cut before March  Impatient for faster economic growth, government is lobbying forareduction in official interest rates in coming months, as it expects inflation to stay close toa 4 per cent target, finance ministry officials said. At its last meeting in October, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the repo rate at 6.0 per cent, near as even year low, and a Reuters poll found that economists expected the rate to stay there through to the second quarter of next year. The finance ministry, according to officials, wantsarate cut sooner than that, puttingafocus on the MPC meeting on December 56, or when it next convenes in February. “We expect the RBI to cut policy rates, if not in December then in its next policy review,” one ministry official said on condition of anonymity.After that, he said, higher oil prices could fuel inflation, making it more difficult to cut rates The Business Standard, New Delhi, 29th November 2017

Arun Jaitley defends IBC ordinance says no loan waiver for big defaulters Arun Jaitley says under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, cases have been instituted in NCLT for time-bound recovery from 12 largest defaulters in 6-9 monthsFinance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday defended recent steps taken by the government to tackle bad loans in the Indian banking system and blamed aggressive lending during the years the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power for the pile-up of toxic assets. In a blog, the finance minister also defended amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) through an ordinance aimed at keeping wilful defaulters away from regaining control of their assets The government has been criticized by opposition parties for introducing amendments to IBC through an ordinance. The ordinance, which came into effect last week after receiving the President’s signature, bars errant promoters of defaulting companies as well as guarantors to the debtor,