Govt plans ‘corporate data mgmt’ scheme

In a move that will ensure that a more detailed data of companies registered in India is made available to the public, regulators and other agencies, the ministry of corporate affairs has proposed a centrally sponsored scheme, called Corporate Data Management, which entails conversion of statutory information of 13.94 lakh registered companies into readable statistical information for data analysis and research. The proposed scheme intends to analyse the current information base of registered companies.

"The proposed scheme is likely to aid in bringing more objectivity and transparency in reporting by the corporates. Dissemination of company level data comprising both financial and non-financial parameters, and analysis thereof would enable evidence based policy formulation, strengthen decision making process, encourage high quality empirical research on various aspects of corporate governance," the ministry said.
Initially, data of about 7,000 listed companies will be mined and tabulated in readable form, it said.
The corporate data management scheme will require an additional budgetary support of R33.94 crore (to be spent over next three years). This amount, the ministry said, will be above and beyond the Budget allocated for the 12th Five-year Plan period. A proposal for obtaining the necessary clearances from the Planning Commission has been moved by the ministry.

To execute this scheme, the ministry will obtain the services of professional IT companies via tendering process and a forward linkage of MCA 21, the e-governance project under which it is mandatory for all registered companies to file their company-related information online. The IT companies hired for this project will have to develop software/IT tools for data cleaning, data mining and data analysis.
As per the proposal, the third-party IT company engaged for this project will clean the data stored with MCA21 and make available financial aggregates and non-financial information relating to Indian corporates in the public domain for individuals, research agencies and regulators.

"Given the importance of such statistical information for planning, research, economic analysis and other such important purposes, it is imperative that this Project is established as a forward linkage of MCA21," the ministry said in a note moved seeking comments from stakeholders.
‘‘An extended Plan Scheme could be considered for the next Plan Period to cover a larger canvas if the present pilot yields gratifying results,’’ it said.

The ministry will also constitute an Inter-Ministerial advisory group under chairmanship of Additional Secretary having representation from various ministries, to provide apex level guidance and monitoring for efficient implementation of the Project.
Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/

‘Bolder’ Chinese media ready to expose corporate wrongdoing

China's campaign to stamp out corruption has emboldened the country's normally docile state media to push the barriers in exposing corporate wrongdoing.

While it's still off-limits to delve too deeply into what government leaders and powerful institutions may be up to, recent 'undercover' state TV reports accusing state-owned Bank of China of aiding money laundering and a US-owned food supplier of safety violations suggest the media are more ready to run critical reports.
China's central bank said earlier this month it was investigating allegations by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) that Bank of China offers a service to help Chinese move more of their cash offshore than is allowed. Bank of China, the country's fourth largest lender, has denied the allegations.

“Part of the reason the report went forward was because of the anti-corruption campaign,” said a CCTV network employee. “It isn't like corruption never existed before, but now there's a bit more room to report on it.”

Five current and former CCTV employees told Reuters that while the network had run critical reports on state-owned enterprises before, it was unusual to target a major entity such as Bank of China. All asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. CCTV could not be reached for comment.

“The Bank of China investigative reporting by CCTV is definitely part of the government-wide push to clamp down on corruption and related activities,” another CCTV insider said, adding that Chinese-language TV channels were putting more resources into chasing investigative stories.

Foreign companies operating in China, and their local suppliers, are also in state-media's crosshairs.
A documentary last week by Shanghai government-owned Dragon TV accused food supplier Shanghai Husi Food, owned by Illinois-based OSI Group, of mixing expired meat with fresh produce, triggering a food safety scandal that has since spread to Hong Kong and Japan.

Several foreign fast-food brands, including McDonald's Corp, pulled the company's products from their outlets and switched suppliers. Regulators in Shanghai said Husi forged production dates on smoked beef patties and sold them after they had expired.

Late on Saturday, OSI said on its website it was withdrawing all products made by its Shanghai Husi business, and was carrying out an internal investigation into senior management that could end in legal action against those responsible.

“Reports on food safety have a broad impact and the (Dragon TV) investigative report was totally on the mark,” said Zhang Zhi'an, a journalism professor at Sun Yat Sen

Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/

PFRDA to allow more players after ‘fit and proper’ test

Armed with statutory status and more powers, pension regulator PFRDA is revamping all its guidelines to foster competition while ensuring all entrants pass the stringent 'fit and proper' test before they get to manage funds under the National Pension System (NPS).

After the PFRDA Act was passed by the UPA government in September 2013 and notified on February 1, 2014, the regulator has started framing regulations while reviewing all guidelines it had issued in the past so that provisions could be revised to conform with the new legislation and strengthen some clauses according to the need of the day.

"Earlier, we had issued guidelines. Now that the PFRDA Bill has been enacted, we are framing the regulations under the PFRDA Act ," PFRDA chairman RV Verma told FE. “We have so far drawn up 12 regulations in all, including the two latest regulations on pension fund management and NPS Trust."

While the main thrust is to expand the scope and coverage of NPS across the length and breadth of the country and across all segments of the population in the formal and the unorganised sector, a market-based and sustainable approach by encouraging competition through entry of more number of players and ensuring efficient pricing, will make the pension market more robust and inclusive, he said.

In this context, Verma said the 'fit and proper' criteria has been made more specific to make due diligence for the pension funds more robust.

The move assumes importance in the wake of rising demand for pension cover in a country where less than 20% of the population has some form of savings to fall back on after retirement. Since inception in 2004, the NPS subscriber base has grown to about 7 million by the end of June 2014, with the corpus growing to about R58,000 crore.

The draft regulations put out by the pension regulator as per the PFRDA Act stipulate a cap on foreign stake at 26% in the sponsor company or such percentage as may be approved for an Indian insurance company, whichever is higher.

The eligibility criteria for a company to become a pension fund manager for the NPS also includes a minimum capital of R25 crore, five years of experience in fund management (both equity and debt), a positive networth for five years and a three-year profit record apart from being regulated by any of the financial sector regulators — RBI, Sebi and Irda.

To ensure that only serious players enter the pension sector, PFRDA has mandated that a company will not be given licence if the sponsor of pension fund or its principal officer or key management personnel has been convicted by a court for any economic offence or fraud. A company will be debarred from NPS also if any of the other financial regulators have cancelled its licence or charged any of its top official with market manipulation or insider trading or unfair trade practices.

Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/

Contribution Of MSMEs To GDP, Exports and Employment

As per the revised methodology suggested by Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), on the basis of the data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) published by CSO, MoSPI and final results of the latest Census (Fourth Census), conducted (with base reference year 2006-07), wherein the data was collected till 2009 and results published in 2011-12, the estimated contribution of manufacturing sector Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to GDP, during 2012-13, is 7.04%. However, taking into account the contribution of services sector MSME, which is estimated at 30.50% during 2012-13, the share of MSME sector in GDP of the country, during 2012-13, is 37.54%.  Based on the export data maintained by Director General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics, Ministry of Commerce and the information available with this Ministry about MSME products having significant export, the share of MSME in India’s total export, for the year 2013-14, has been estimated as 42.38%. The Government monitors the employment in the MSME sector in the country by conducting All India Census of the sector, periodically. As per the latest Census (Fourth Census), as well as data extracted from Economic Census 2005 conducted by CSO, MoSPI, for activities excluded from Fourth Census, namely wholesale/retail trade, legal, educational & social services, hotel & restaurants, transports and storage & warehousing (except cold storage), the total employment in the MSME sector is 805.24 lakh. The Ministry is in the process of preparing a comprehensive development strategy for the sector in consultation with all stake-holders. This is expected to be ready within a period of 6 months.

Breather for India Inc: Govt trims relatives list for related-party deals under new cos Act

In what would reduce India Inc's compliance obligations with respect to the functions and role of directors, the government has knocked off one-third of the "list of relatives" for “related-party transactions” under the new Companies Act of 2013.

In the old Companies Act of 1956, there were over 22 categories of relatives. This has now been reduced to eight. Also, the government has exempted the list of relatives of directors and key managerial persons (KMP) of subsidiaries and associate companies from the ambit of related-party transactions, leaving the definition of related party to cover the directors and KMP of a company and its holding company.

Relatives' list is crucial for determining the related party transactions as it extends to the relatives of director, key managerial persons (KMP) and a firm in which a director’s relative is a partner or a public company in which a director or manager holds along with his relatives more than 2% of its paid-up share capital.

Experts said a reduced list of relatives is significant for companies. "Shortened definition of relative will mean fewer transactions will fall within the ambit of the related party transactions," said Lalit Kumar, partner in J Sagar Associates, a leading law firm.

These rules are part of the Companies (Specification of definitions details) Rules,2014. As per the rules, a person shall not be eligible for appointment as a director of a company if he has been convicted of the offence dealing with related party transactions at any time during the last preceding five years. As per the new Companies Act, it is one of the duties of the independent directors to ensure that adequate deliberations are held before approving related-party transactions.

Such related-party transactions, also need the approval of the board of directors. As per Section 188 of the new Act, every contract or arrangement entered into with related parties of the directors/KMP (others as defined under the law) will have to be referred to in the Board’s report to the shareholders along with the justification for entering into such contract or arrangement.

However, the limits for approaching the shareholders for seeking an approval via special resolution has undergone a change after the consultative process, experts said. The government has enhanced the limits in several cases.

"This is a welcome move since lower limits could mean that for most related-party transactions that are not at an arm’s length and not in the ordinary course of business, companies would have to approach the shareholders for their prior approval,” said Sai Venkateshwaran, partner, head of accounting advisory services, KPMG, India.

Experts said the concept of related parties and list of relatives is significant for auditors as well. "For example the auditor gets disqualified if his relative has entered into certain transactions or bought certain securities from the company in which his relative, as defined in the list, is an auditor," said a company law expert.

The burden of compliance for companies has also been reduced while preparing the directors’ report as scope of internal financial controls has also been restricted to financial statements as opposed to the earlier requirement of covering operational aspects. This move is expected to reduce the compliance burden of directors, experts said.

Source : www.financialexpress.com

SEBI red flags 13 firms for misuse of M&A norms

Stock exchanges have refused no-objection certificates to more than 10 companies for misuse of scheme of arrangement/ amalgamation with a view to circumvent SEBI’s rules and regulations.

Out of 180 companies, which applied for a scheme of arrangement in the last one year, SEBI’s adverse findings prompted exchanges to refuse no-objection certificates to 13 companies. These are Heera Ispat, Ganon Trading and Finance, Mapro Industries, Saboo Brothers, Khoday India, Aris International, Rajlaxmi Industries, Aashee Infotech, Crazy Infotech, Source Industries, Trilogical Digital Media, Trio Mercantile and Trading and Zenith Capitals.

SEBI had, in February 2013, issued regulations to plug misuse of the scheme of arrangement, making inadequate disclosures and exaggerated valuations used to list unlisted companies or seek exemption from an IPO. Prior to this, there was no check on such abuse by companies.

SEBI found these companies violated its regulations and tried to become listed companies without going through an IPO.

Other violations include sidestepping takeover regulations, bypassing preferential issue guidelines by using a share swap to increase promoter holding, and circumventing delisting regulations without shareholders’ approval.

SEBI has also found that the companies had indulged in bringing in a change in control without providing an exit opportunity to existing investors.

Swap ratio

Some entities were found to have a swap ratio in favour of an unlisted company while others had deprived their minority shareholders of fair value by undervaluing the listed company.

To ensure effective curbs against such violations, SEBI said the draft scheme of arrangement/ amalgamation should be submitted to it through stock exchanges 30 days prior to seeking High Court approval.

The circular directs listed companies to furnish the draft scheme of arrangement/ amalgamation, independent valuation report, audit committee recommending the scheme, fairness opinion by merchant banker, pre- and post-amalgamation shareholding pattern of unlisted company and audited financials of the last three years of the unlisted entity.

SEBI found these companies violated its regulations and tried to become listed companies without going through an IPO.

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

FAQs On XBRL

• What is XBRL?

XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information. It offers cost savings, greater efficiency and improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data. XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is already being put to practical use in a number of countries and implementations of XBRL are growing rapidly around the world.

• Who developed XBRL?

XBRL is an open, royalty-free software specification developed through a process of collaboration between accountants and technologists from all over the world. Together, they formed XBRL International which is now made up of over 650 members, which includes global companies, accounting, technology, government and financial services bodies. XBRL is and will remain an open specification based on XML that is being incorporated into many accounting and analytical software tools and applications.

• What are the advantages of XBRL?

XBRL offers major benefits at all stages of business reporting and analysis. The benefits are seen in automation, cost saving, faster, more reliable and more accurate handling of data, improved analysis and in better quality of information and decisionmaking. XBRL enables producers and consumers of financial data to switch resources away from costly manual processes, typically involving time-consuming comparison, assembly and re-entry of data. They are able to concentrate effort on analysis, aided by software which can validate and process XBRL information. XBRL is a flexible language, which is intended to support all current aspects of reporting in different countries and industries. Its extensible nature means that it can be adjusted to meet particular business requirements, even at the individual organization level.

• Who can benefit from using XBRL?

All types of organizations can use XBRL to save costs and improve efficiency in handling business and financial information. Because XBRL is extensible and flexible, it can be adapted to a wide variety of different requirements. All participants in the financial information supply chain can benefit, whether they are preparers, transmitters or users of business data.

• What is the future of XBRL?

XBRL is set to become the standard way of recording, storing and transmitting business financial information. It is capable of use throughout the world, whatever the language of the country concerned, for a wide variety of business purposes. It will deliver major cost savings and gains in efficiency, improving processes in companies, governments and other organisations.

• Does XBRL benefit the comparability of financial statements?

XBRL benefits comparability by helping to identify data which is genuinely alike and distinguishing information which is not comparable. Computers can process this information and populate both pre defined and customised reports.

• Does XBRL cause a change in accounting standards?

No. XBRL is simply a language for information. It must accurately reflect data reported under different standards – it does not change them.

• What are the benefits to a company from putting its financial statements into XBRL?

XBRL increases the usability of financial statement information. The need to re-key financial data for analytical and other purposes can be eliminated. By presenting its statements in XBRL, a company can benefit investors and other stakeholders and enhance its profile. It will also meet the requirements of regulators, lenders and others consumers of financial information, who are increasingly demanding reporting in XBRL. This will improve business relations and lead to a range of benefits.With full adoption of XBRL, companies can automate data collection. For example, data from different company divisions with different accounting systems can be assembled quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Once data is gathered in XBRL, different types of reports using varying subsets of the data can be produced with minimum effort. A company finance division, for example, could quickly and reliably generate internal management reports, financial statements for publication, tax and other regulatory filings, as well as credit reports for lenders. Not only can data handling be automated, removing time-consuming, error-prone processes, but the data can be checked by software for accuracy.

• How does XBRL work?

XBRL makes the data readable, with the help of two documents – Taxonomy and instance document. Taxonomy defines the elements and their relationships based on the regulatory requirements. Using the taxonomy prescribed by the regulators, companies need to map their reports, and generate a valid XBRL instance document. The process of mapping means matching the concepts as reported by the company to the corresponding element in the taxonomy. In addition to assigning XBRL tag from taxonomy, information like unit of measurement, period of data, scale of reporting etc., needs to be included in the instance document.

• How do companies create statements in XBRL?

There are a number of ways to create financial statements in XBRL:• XBRL-aware accounting software products are becoming available which will support the export of data in XBRL form. These tools allow users to map charts of accounts and other structures to XBRL tags.• Statements can be mapped into XBRL using XBRL software tools designed for this purpose• Data from accounting databases can be extracted in XBRL format. It is not strictly necessary for an accounting software vendor to use XBRL; third party products can achieve the transformation of the data to XBRL.• Applications can transform data in particular formats into XBRL. The route which an individual company may take will depend on its requirements and the accounting software and systems it currently uses, among other factors.

• Is India a member of XBRL International?

India is now an established jurisdiction of XBRL International. A separate company, under section 25 has been created, to manage the operations of XBRL India. The main objectives of XBRL India are• To create awareness about XBRL in India• To develop and maintain Indian Taxonomies• To help companies, adopt and implement XBRL.

For more information, visit www.xbrl.org/in

• Which taxonomies developed for Indian reporting requirements? Where can I find the taxonomies?

Taxonomies for Indian companies are developed based on the requirements of• Schedule VI of Companies Act,• Accounting Standards, issued by ICAI• SEBI Listing requirements. Taxonomies for Manufacturing and service sector (referred as Commercial and Industrial, or C&I) and Banking sector, is acknowledged by XBRL International.

These taxonomies are available at www.xbrl.org/in

• Where can I find more information about XBRL?

Please visit www.xbrl.org/in  Also Ministry of Corporate Affairs would be shortly developing its webpage on XBRL with list of contact persons for training purposes.

What are XBRL Documents?

An XBRL document comprises the taxonomy and the instance document. Taxonomy contains description and classification of business & financial terms, while the instance document is made up of the actual facts and figures. Taxonomy and Instance document together make up the XBRL documents.

• What is Taxonomy?

Taxonomy can be referred as an electronic dictionary of the reporting concepts. Taxonomy consists of all the data definitions, the basic XBRL properties and the interrelationships amongst the concepts. It includes terms such as net income, EPS, cash, etc. Each term has specific attributes that help define it, including label and definition and potentially references. Taxonomies may represent hundreds or even thousands of individual business reporting concepts, mathematical and definitional relationships among them, along with text labels in multiple languages, references to authoritative literature, and information about how to display each concept to a user.

• What is meant by extending taxonomy?

Taxonomy is extended to accommodate items/relationship specific to the owner of the information. Taxonomy extension therefore can bea) Modification in the existing relationshipsb) Addition of new elements in the taxonomyc) Combination both a & b

• Are Taxonomies based on any standards?

Yes, taxonomies are based on the regulatory requirements and standards which are to be followed by the companies. Accordingly, depending on the requirements of every country, there can be country-specific taxonomies.

• What is an Instance document?

An XBRL instance document is a business report in an electronic format created according to the rules of XBRL. It contains facts that are defined by the elements in the taxonomy it refers to, together with their values and an explanation of the context in which they are placed. XBRL Instances contain the reported data with their values and “contexts”. Instance document must be linked to at least one taxonomy, which defines the contexts, labels or references.Thus, in order to concluded the usage and explain the XBRL technology which leads to more information exchanges that can be effectively automated by use. This one standard approach leads to the best interest of the company or more so for the international business interests globally that warrant the accuracy of all the financial data for the end users and early collaborative decisions by the companies or those whose interst is involved for acquisition/ rights etc.

Source : www.mca.gov.in

Amendment to Combination Regulations- 28thMarch 2014

The provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 (“Act”) relating to the regulation of combinations as well as the Combination Regulations have been in force with effect from 1stJune 2011. 

The Combination Regulations were amended twice on 23rd February 2012 and 4th April 2013, with a view to relax filing requirements in respect of transactions not likely to raise competition concerns, provide certainty, reduce compliance requirements and make filings simpler. In continuation of these efforts, the CCI has further amended the Combination Regulations on 28thMarch 2014 to, inter alia, simplify and provide greater clarity on the application of the combination provisions of the Act and the Combination Regulations. 

The highlights of the recent amendments in the Combination Regulations are as under: 

 To provide greater certainty on the requirement of filing notice, it has been clarified that the notification requirement shall be determined with respect to the substance of the transaction and structure of transaction(s) having the effect of avoiding notice shall be disregarded; 

 Item (10) of Schedule I is deleted with a view to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty regarding insufficient local nexus and effect on markets in India; 

 Considering the nature of cases and the resources deployed by the Commission, as well as the assistance provided to parties, it has been decided to revise the fee, from INR 10,00,000 to INR 15,00,000 for Form I, and from INR 40,00,000 to INR 50,00,000 for Form II; 

 It has been decided to delete regulation 29 which was perceived to impose an additional condition in respect of preferring appeal in matters relating to combinations; and 

 Similar to Form I, now the regulations do not require verification on each page of Form II. 

Consistent with the international best practices, CCI has been offering informal pre-notification consultation with its staff on the procedural issues relating to filing of notice. Considering the experience of more than two and half years of enforcement and the requirements of stakeholders, it has been decided to expand the scope of consultation to include substantive issues regarding filing of notice with CCI. This measure is expected to benefit the parties with appropriate guidance on the requirements of combination provisions of the Act and the Combination Regulations. .As before, the pre-filing consultation would continue to be informal & verbal and the consultations offered would not be deemed to be the opinion of the Commission in any manner whatsoever or binding on the CCI. 

Finmin working on bankruptcy law to fast-track recast of firms

A separate bankruptcy law may be on the cards. Finance minister P Chidambaram has recently flagged this idea to the chiefs of public sector banks, official sources said. The government reckons that a separate bankruptcy law/code and efficient bankruptcy courts would help fast-track restructuring/winding up of indebted companies and prevent deterioration of their assets. Replicating legislation and best-practices in countries like the US is what is aimed at. The Companies Bill, 2013, passed by Parliament recently, deals only with matters involving the formation of a company, its management, accounts and finance, corporate governance, investor protection and accountability issues, apart from matters related to insolvency. There are also a host of other laws, including SICA and Sarfaesi, which are relevant in this context.

Source : Financial Express

RBI policy review: Investors upset with no-action; no rate change, nor any timeline for easing liquidity

Reserve Bank Governor DuvvuriSubbarao left rates unchanged as expected and scaled down economic growth projections in his swan song monetary policy announcement whose hardline tone presaged more pain for the economy and, in the process, roiled markets. Subbarao, who retires in September after five years at the helm of the central bank, on Tuesday refused to signal a timeline for rolling back the recent liquidity squeeze undertaken to defend a sliding rupee, and warned that these actions had consequences. "We are determined to control volatility in the exchange rate," he told a news conference after unveiling the monetary policy review.

Source : Economic Times

Call data record is important evidence in fraud cases, says Sebi

Within days of the government notifying an ordinance empowering the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to seek call data records, a public interest litigation , is likely to come up for hearing before the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. The Indian Council of Investors, which has filed the PIL, has argued that the regulator cannot exercise such powers till the government amends the law or the department of telecommunications notifies Sebi as one of the authorised agencies which can seek such information from telecom service providers. An affidavit has also been filed in the Bombay High Court by Sebi's assistant legal adviser Sumit Agrawal saying that call data record is an important evidence for the regulator's investigation, especially in cases relating to insider trading and frauds.

Source : Economic Times

Sebi to align private placement norms with Companies Bill

The government has asked Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to set up a committee to look into compatibility of market watchdog's regulations for private placement of securities with the proposed measures in this regard in the new Companies Bill.The suggestion has been made by the Corporate Affairs Ministry amid rising instance of private placement being misused by various entities for raising of funds from public.Private placement of securities -- a relatively faster way to raise funds -- is governed by both the Companies Act and the Sebi regulations.While the existing Companies Act has been in place for decades, the new Companies Bill, currently awaiting Rajya Sabha nod, provides exhaustive changes in the way that future private placements can be carried out and regulated.

Source : Profit NDTV

Twenty-five essential drugs to see 90% decline in prices

Barely a month after reducing the maximum retail price (MRP) of 151 packs, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is set to slash prices of another 25 essential medicine packs by up to 90.26 per cent. The latest price revision includes mostly cardiovascular drugs, anti-bacterials, anti-herpes, contraceptives and gastrointestinal medicines, said an official. For instance, the MRP of Clopidogrel 75 mg, a cardio vascular medicine used to inhibit blood clots in coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease, will drop from Rs 88.77 a tablet to a mere Rs 1.36 per tablet. Similarly, the price of Isosorbide 5 Dinitrate 10 mg, another cardio vascular drug, will reduce by 19 per cent. The price of anti-herpes injection Acyclovir 250 mg will drop by 41 per cent to Rs 460.05 from Rs 672 earlier.

Source : Business Standard

Sebi set to overhaul insider trading rules; to form a committee led by former SAT chief

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will carry out a comprehensive review of rules seeking to punish insider trading - the first such exercise in a decade - in order to align them with global practices.The rewriting of India's insider trading regulations will involve professionals such as investment bankers and securities market lawyers, who will be part of a committee to be headed by NK Sodhi. Sodhi till recently headed the Securities Appellate Tribunal, or SAT, a forum to appeal against the rulings of the regulator.Two people familiar with the proposal said a total revamp was on the cards, similar to the comprehensive changes in the takeover code carried out last year. Darius Khambata, advocate general, Maharashtra, will also be a member of the committee, they said. The committee will be announced soon, maybe as early as next week.

PMO expedites direct cash transfer process

Even as the Opposition escalated its complaint against the Government’s direct cash transfer scheme to the Election Commission, the Prime Minister’s office has expedited the process of direct cash transfer of subsidies. The Government intends to start this process in 51 districts from January 1.In this regard, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji has written a letter to nine Secretaries belonging to Central Government Ministries and Departments. These ministries include Petroleum and Rural Development. This move follows the first meeting of the National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) chaired by the Prime Minister on November 26.

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Sebi rejigs primary market advisory panel

Capital market regulator Sebi has reconstituted its Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC), which advises it on issues related to regulation and development of IPOs and other primary market segments. The panel would be chaired by T V Mohandas Pai, formerly a senior executive at IT giant Infosys aThe other members of the 18-member panel include BSE interim CEO Ashish Chauhan, Tata Steel Group CFO Koushik Chatterjee, Morgan Stanley India CEO P J Nayak, Crisil Managing Director and CEO Roopa Kudva and Kotak Mahindra Bank chief Uday Kotak. The panel would also have three representatives from Sebi, Executive Directors S Ravindran and J Ranganayakulu, Ministry of Finance Director (Primary Markets) Ramesh Krishnamurthi and RBI Chief General Manager K K Vohra.

Source: Business Standard

FDI in broadcast to spur digitisation

The Cabinet on Friday provided an engine to fund the digitisation drive by raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in broadcast services to 74 per cent across the board. The department of industrial policy and promotion had proposed the FDI limit in broadcast carriage services providers, including Direct-to-Home (DTH), Head-end in the Sky (HITS) and cable television must be uniform. At present, 49 per cent FDI is allowed in cable TV and DTH, while it is 74 per cent in HITS. The move was strongly supported by the industry. However, some operators say the cross-holding restrictions, which do not permit a broadcast company to take more than 20 per cent stake in broadcast service providers in India, might deter investments, especially in areas like DTH.

Source: Business Standard

Will RBI continue what the government has started?

Rate cuts versus inflation? Like his opposite numbers in central banks around the world, Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subbarao knows the fine art of balancing. However, when the central bank meets on Monday (September 17) to review its monetary policy, industry, policymakers and the common man will all be asking one question: will Subbarao continue what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh started? Until now, the RBI placed the onus of pulling the economy out of its slumber on the government. This week, Dr Singh put the ball back in the RBI’s court.

Source: NDTV Profit