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Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is once again caught on the wrong foot, and this time for one of its recent circulars that  made public names of over 2,000 entities, which have defaulted on its dues. Some of the companies named in the list have raised objections with the finance ministry, stating that the list was erroneous, said sources aware of the  development.  The regulator had pulled out the circular dated 2 April within hours without any explanation. But, the uncertainty and confusion among market players,  triggered by the list, lingered. The list featured some prominent names like SBI Capital, Axis Capital, GMR Holdings, United Breweries, Alpic Finance (a Cipla group unit), Saradha Realty,  United Bank of India and Trident India. “Putting our name on the defaulter list has sent a wrong message to our shareholders. It has affected the company image,” said the official of a company  whose name was on the list. An executive with another firm sai

The Supreme Court on Friday reprimanded the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for refusing to disclose information pertaining to the annual inspection report on  banks under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, and warned that any further attempts by the banking sector regulator to hold back such information “shall be  viewed seriously by the court”. Though the apex court held the RBI in contempt of court, it gave the regulator “one last opportunity” to withdraw the disclosure policy related to the  annual inspection report on banks. The RBI, the court held, was “duty-bound under the law” to provide such information, which was otherwise exempted under  law. “Though we could have taken a serious view of the respondents continuing to violate the directions issued by this court, we give them a last  opportunity to withdraw the disclosure policy insofar as it contains exemptions which are contrary to the directions issued by this court,” a two-judge  Bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justi

Ministry of Corporate Affairs has extended the due date for filing ACTIVE eForm INC-22A upto 15th June 2019. For more information refer to the following article: Applicability The following companies are required to file INC-22A filing: Company incorporated on or before 31 December 2017. Penalty for Non-Compliance If a company does not file Form 22A or ACTIVE before 15th June 2019, the company would be marked as ACTIVE non-compliant. When a company is marked as ACTIVE non-compliant, it would not be able to effect any of the following changes: Penalty of Rs.10,000 will be applicable for regularisation Changes in authorized capital (Form SH-07) Changes in paid-up capital (Form PAS-03) Changes in Director (Form DIR-12) (cessation would be allowed). Changes in Registered Office (Form INC-22) Amalgamation or Merger (INC-28) If a company files Form INC-22A or ACTIVE after 15th June 2019, a penalty of Rs. 10,000 would be charged. On payment of the penalty and filing o

The first such open market operations (OMO) for the fiscal year 2019-20, amounting to Rs 12,500 crore, will happen on May 2 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to buy Rs 25,000 crore worth of bonds in two installments from the secondary market in May, it has notified.  The first such open market operations (OMO) for the fiscal year 2019-20, amounting to Rs 12,500 crore, will happen on May 2. The date for the second auction has not been given. This would be on top of the dollar swaps that the central bank is undertaking. The system liquidity was short of Rs 1.4 trillion as on Monday. This is despite the central bank buying bonds worth Rs 3 trillion in the last fiscal year and infusing another about Rs 70,000 crore through two dollar swaps.  The OMO plan is in continuation with the central bank’s practice in the last financial year. The RBI had spelt out how much of bonds it would purchase from the market through monthly calendars. In the OMO, the central bank would be buying bon

The three-year forward premium was 775 paise in the morning before the auction The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) second three-year dollar-rupee swap auction was a massive success like the first one, even as it took just five large bids to cover the entire dollor 5 billion on offer.  Market participants bid more than three times the offer, but the five successful bids were closer to the market rates and managed to shoot up the forward premium in the secondary market.  “The aggressive bids most likely came in from a large corporate looking to hedge long-term dollar liabilities, such as external commercial borrowings,” said Abhishek Goenka, managing director of IFA Global. RBI's second 3-year dollar-rupee swap auction too a grand success Since the other participants could not offload their dollar holdings, the central bank offered to buy up to Rs 25,000 crore of bonds from the secondary market in May to help with liquidity. The banking system was running a liquidity defici

A day after it “strongly advised” the finance ministry to ensure that all enforcement agencies under it were “absolutely neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory” while cracking down on illicit money use in elections, the Election Commission (EC) has called a meeting with the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the revenue secretary, ET has learnt. Meanwhile, the chief accountant of the Congress party was summoned for questioning by the income tax department on Monday, sources said.  “We expect that senior leaders could be called in for further questioning on Tuesday,” a senior Congress functionary said. Government sources indicated Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel could be called in for questioning on Tuesday. Patel handles all financial matters and the I-T department’s findings on alleged hawala transactions would need to be explained by him. The EC meeting with the CBDT chief and the revenue secretary is expected to be held at Nirvachan Sadan on Tuesday morni

The move by the government to bring warehouses under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) net is likely to have a major impact on players in the organised  sector who take warehouses on rent as part of their collateral management business. They see a huge burden especially when they deal in farm commodities. Agri commodities collateral management business has flourished the past few years as companies in this space help farmers and processors get finance from  banks and non-banking institutions. The new government decision means that they have to pay now 18 per cent GST on the rent they pay for the warehouses in  which their collateral commodities are stored. In many cases, such companies themselves finance farmers or their group NBFCs finance them against collateral  commodities. Hence these collateral management companies cannot get input credit of the GST they pay on rent because the commodities in which they deal are  agri commodities, which do not attract GST. This is a big burden