Dwelling on the success of demonetization [announced on November 8, 2016], Prime Minister Modi informed the nation from the ramparts of historic Red Fort on August 15, 2017 that the government had cancelled the registration of over 200,000 shell companies [nick name for entities which are engaged in laundering black money]. He reiterated this on October 5, 2017 in his speech at the annual function of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India [ICSI] alluding to the axe falling on another about 100,000 such companies. These companies were identified while examining data on deposits made post-demonetization using advanced data analytics technique. Taking the process forward – in its all out war against black money and corruption – the government had...
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Category: Regulatory environment
Want subsidy reforms – hold simultaneous elections
Recently, Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi vehemently opposed the hike in fare for travel by Metro Rail and even offered to sharing the financial burden equally with union government to ensure that commuters are not penalized. About 3 years back, he had decided to give heavily subsidized power to households consuming up to 400 units a month. Then, also he vowed to bear its financial burden from the state government budget. Kejriwal is not alone in giving freebies using tax payers money. During the last 5 decades of governance – be it at the center or states – successive political establishments have built a super-structure of subsidies such as on fertilizers, food, kerosene, LPG, irrigation, power, credit, seeds etc. When given...
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NPAs – crack the whip on defaulters
Union finance minister, Arun Jaitely during press conference held on October 24, 2017 announced a massive recapitalization of public sector banks [PSBs] to the tune of Rs 211,000 crores in two years viz. 2017-18 and 2018-19. Of this, Rs 135,000 crores will come from so called ‘recapitalization bonds’, Rs 58,000 crores via raising capital from the market and Rs 18,000 crores as budgetary support. Under the project ‘Indradhanush’ launched in 2015, Jaitely had provided for Rs 70,000 crore over a 4 year period viz. Rs 25,000 crores each during 2015-16/ 2016-17 and Rs 10,000 crores each during 2017-18/2018-19 . As per that road-map, the provision for third and fourth year being Rs 20,000 crores – already factored in budget calculations...
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Corporate governance – challenges and way-forward
In June 2017, the Securities and Exchange Board of India [SEBI] had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra Bank to advise it on issues relating to corporate governance in Indian companies. In its report submitted on October 5, 2017, the committee has recommended (i) more active ‘role’ and greater ‘autonomy’ for independent directors; (ii) at least half of the board of a listed entity be constituted of independent directors and increase in their number in the board to a minimum of six in every listed entity, with at least one woman independent director; (iii) promote ‘transparency’ in their functioning via listing ‘competencies’ of every independent director and disclosure of the detailed ‘reasons’ for their resignation; (iv)...
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KYC norms – soft on jewelers, harsh on economy
The 22nd meeting of the GST [Goods and Services Tax] Council on October 6, 2017 was held in the backdrop of decline in the GDP [gross domestic product] during the first quarter of current fiscal to 5.7%, several glitches in the implementation of GST and subdued business sentiment across various industries especially the small and medium enterprises [SMEs] and exporters. Even as the Council has sought to address the concerns of SMEs and exporters by substantially easing the compliance burden on the former and lessening the liquidity problems facing the latter under the GST dispensation, it has dropped a bombshell by doing a volte face on a path breaking decision it had taken only two months back in regard to...
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India’s growth story is intact, under Modi
The deceleration in economic growth from an already low of 6.1% during the last quarter of financial year 2016-17 to 5.7% during the first quarter of current year 2017-18 has prompted critics [this time, including Yashwant Sinha, former union finance minister in erstwhile NDA government under Vajpayee] to say Modi’s economic policies are responsible for what they allege ‘as loss of 2% in the GDP [gross domestic product] growth. The growth during January-March 2017 at 6.1% was 1.8% lower than during January-March 2016 at 7.9%. Likewise, the growth during April-June, 2017 at 5.7% was 1.4% lower than during April-June 2016 at 7.1%. Thus, even on quarterly basis, the decline is lower than 2% mentioned by critics. Even so, to formulate...
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Telecomm – incumbent operators assaulted yet again
Ever since Reliance Jio entered the fray about an year ago, telecommunication industry has plunged into a state of turbulence that shows no sign of receding. The turmoil has been aggravated by a recent decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India [TRAI] to reduce interconnect usage charges [IUC] – termination charge paid to the network operator on whose network calls terminate by the network from which the call originates – from the current 14 paise per minute to 6 paise per minute. From January 2020, the IUC will be zero. Even as the decision is in sync with the demand of Reliance Jio [RJ] for bill and keep [BAK] model – a jargon for zero IUC – this has...
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Tata Sons – oppression of minority shareholders continues
Tata Sons – the primary holding company of over US$ 100 billion conglomerate – is planning to convert itself from existing ‘public limited company’ status to a ‘private limited company’. It has also sought change in the name of company from Tata Sons Limited [TSL] to Tata Sons Private Limited [TSPL]. For this purpose, it proposes to amend its Memorandum of Association [MoA] and Articles of Association [AoA] and has convened its AGM on September 21, 2017. Tata Sons is a closely held entity controlled by family owned trusts. Tata family owned trusts alone hold 66% shares. The family of Cyrus Mistry holds 18.4 per cent stake [through Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investments], while the remaining shares are held mostly...
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FDI in food retail: To draw in investors, do away with restrictions
Every year, farmers are forced to sell their produce, especially perishable items such as fruits and vegetables, at throwaway prices, causing loss of income and even suicides. A major bottleneck that forces them to do so is the lack of infrastructure for handling and storage of these items, which results in the loss of output worth Rs 1 lakh crore annually, a fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi alluded to while addressing a conclave of young CEOs]. The problem has been festering for decades despite both the Union government and states recognising the dire need for setting up the infrastructure and umpteen committees making recommendations in this regard. Even domestic private companies have hardly taken any initiative despite being allowed...
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Corporate India – promoter has the last laugh
Less than two weeks back, Infosys – one among the top three IT companies of India [Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology Solutions being the other two] – got a big jolt when its chief executive officer [CEO] and Managing Director [MD], Vishal Sikka submitted his resignation. After being run by promoters for over three-and-a-half decade, in June, 2014, he was brought in as the first ever professional to commandeer the ship. The change was driven by the compelling need to leverage new technologies viz. data analytics, automation, cloud computing and artificial intelligence for driving growth under a competitive environment which Sikka was best positioned to do. Pertinently, his induction was orchestrated by Infosys founder and the iconic figure Narayana...
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