The Securities and Exchange Board of India [SEBI] is looking at whether Tata Sons’ plan of becoming a private limited company from a public one would impact shareholders, especially minority shareholders of listed Tata entities that own shares in Tata Sons. Meanwhile, new structure has also been challenged before National Company Law Tribunal [NCLT]. Tata Sons Limited [TSL] is the primary holding company of over US$ 100 billion conglomerate having presence in almost every major sector viz. power, steel, automobiles, telecomm, chemicals, information technology [IT] etc. It has controlling interest in high profile companies such as Tata Motors Ltd [TML], Tata Steel Ltd [TSL], Tata Consultancy Services [TCS], Tata Power Ltd [TPL], India Hotels Co. [IHC], Tata Chemicals Ltd [TCL] [to name a...
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Urea subsidy – price for populism and greed
With pressure building on union budget, it is time to take a re-look at fertilizer subsidy which was allocated Rs 70,000 crores during 2017-18 and is a major factor contributing to high fiscal deficit. Here, we focus on urea – a major source of nitrogen – which accounts for over 70% of total subsidy. Subsidy on each ton of urea produced/imported and sold to farmers is the excess of cost of production/import and distribution over maximum retail price [MRP] controlled by government at a low level. Of the nearly 24 million tons of urea produced in India, over 80% is based on use of natural gas as feedstock/fuel. Of the total gas requirement, 2/3rd comes from domestic production and 1/3rd...
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Is India prepared for next oil shock?
The hike in price of diesel to a record Rs 61.74 per litre [Delhi] and petrol to a three year peak of Rs 71.18 per litre [Delhi] is a warning signal that the honeymoon period that India enjoyed for about three-and-a-half year beginning June 2014 may have come to an end. The prices of diesel and petrol broadly follow the movement in the international price of crude oil which India imports to meet around 82% of its requirements. The international price of crude oil declined from the peak of US$ 117 per barrel in June 2014 to a low of US$ 27 per barrel in February, 2016. During 2016, it increased slightly but still kept low at around US$ 40...
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Regulator for hydrocarbon sector – what is holding back?
At a FICCI seminar on ‘Unleashing India’s Domestic Exploration and Production Potential’, minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan ruled out giving statutory powers to upstream oil and gas regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons [DGH]. He was responding to a suggestion made in a presentation by McKinsey that DGH should be given powers similar to the Securities and Exchange Board of India [SEBI] – an independent body which regulates the activities in securities market. DGH is a technical arm of the oil ministry which currently manages hydrocarbon resources, assists the government in auctioning oil and gas exploration fields and monitoring production sharing contracts [PSCs] – those are signed with private contractors who get the fields under the auction process....
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Are credit institutions helping poor farmers?
Even as elections in India have turned into a day-in-day-out affair, two issues that political parties invariably focus on are (i) alleviating farmers distress and (ii) promoting inclusive development taking all sections of farming community on board. Yet, what is happening on the ground is the reverse of what is proclaimed. The more parties promise addressing farmers’ plight, the more the latter end up getting further impoverished. The more they harp on ameliorating the conditions of farmers from backward classes, the more they get entrenched in backwardness. A vivid manifestation of this dichotomy between what is preached and what is in practice is available from a research paper by Chirala Shankar Rao [an assistant professor at the Council for Social...
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Fiscal slippage real worry, not growth
At this critical juncture when the next general election is just about a year away and in a month from now, Modi – government will be presenting its last full fledged budget, prime minister faces two major challenges viz: deceleration in GDP [gross domestic product] and slippage in fiscal deficit. After registering fairly impressive growth during the first three years of its stint [2014-15: 7.5%/2015-16: 8.0%/2016-17: 7.1%], the current year is expected to end with a significantly lower growth of 6.5%. Though, according to the chief statistician, the figure may be revised a bit upward [on receipt of more data], that may not alter the position drastically. However, the government is not unduly perturbed. In fact, from its perspective, the...
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Free power to farmers – a sham, nothing to glorify
The government of Telangana has decided to give 24×7 free power to all farmers in the state from January 1, 2018. A member of parliament [MP] from Telangana Rashtra Samithi [TRS] – the ruling party in the state – wanted the prime minister, Modi to recognize this singular achievement that has never been seen before in any other state. The union minister for railways and coal, Piyush Goyal even while respecting the decision of state government [in deference to the federal character of the constitution] nonetheless advised the latter to make adequate provision in its budget to subsidize the losses resulting from its decision to supply free power. What Goyal was alluding to requires elucidation. Assume that the power consumed...
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Correcting imbalance in fertilizer use – SHC alone won’t help
In 2015, prime minister, Modi had launched National Soil-Health-Card [NSHC] scheme with the objective of galvanizing farmers to replenish seriously degraded soils caused by excessive fertilizer use over several years. It seeks to promote a more judicious mix of fertilizers by testing soil samples of each farm household across the country on 12 parameters and prescribing recommendations on use. To test soil, the country’s cropped area is divided into grids of 10 hectares (ha) for rain-dependent farms and 2.5 ha for irrigated land. One soil sample from each grid is taken and test results are distributed to farmers whose lands fall under the relevant grid. These show which ingredients are depleted or are present in excess. Their soils need to...
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GST – flip flop over inclusion of oil and gas
Once again, there are reports alluding to the possibility of the GST Council – all powerful body mandated to decide on tax rates, inclusions/exclusions, exemptions etc – taking up for consideration inclusion of natural gas within the ambit of GST. The prefix ‘once again’ has a loaded connotation. Even prior to launch of the Goods and Services Tax [GST] on July 1, 2017, finance minister, Arun Jaitely had given a hint that this would be considered in the 18th meeting of the Council to be held just before the launch. But, that was not to be. Six months since then, we are still hearing about its likely consideration! The issue needs to be seen in a much larger perspective. Natural...
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Removing judicial hurdles to accelerate growth
Recently, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Specific Relief Act, 1963, and a Bill viz. The Specific Relief [amendment] Bill, 2017 was introduced in the parliament on December 22, 2017. It deals with specific fulfillment of a contract as part of the Government’s ease of doing business policy. The amendments proposes that after two parties enter into an agreement and one of them breaks the contract, the affected party will have the freedom to get the contract executed by a third party. Also, the affected party can get costs and other expenses recovered from the party which broke the agreement [under the existing law, the courts grant monetary compensation in exceptional circumstances]. In case, the contract relates to infrastructure...
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