SEBI wants to shift focus from promoters to controlling shareholders or the so-called ‘person in control’ (PIC), but is the new breed willing to take charge? Paving the way for a major change in the way the promoters and over 4,700 listed corporates function in the country, in a consultation paper, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed doing away with the concept of promoters and moving to ‘person in control’ (a three-year transition is recommended for the switch over). It has also suggested doing away with the current definition of promoter group with a view to rationalize the disclosure burden. The other proposals include (i) reducing the minimum lock-in period(the time period an investor can hold on...
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Category: Pioneer
Patent waiver alone won’t help
There are three ways to overcome the issues facing us in our anti-COVID fight Amidst exponential increase in demand for vaccination, Indian policy makers are looking for all possible options to ramp up supplies. A major hindrance in the way is the intellectual property rights (IPRs) associated with new drugs which are mostly discovered and developed by multinational pharmaceutical companies. For instance, Covishield was discovered and developed by Astra-Zeneca in collaboration with Oxford University; a license for its manufacture has been given to Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII). The most crucial of these rights relates to patent. The patent granted to an innovator company for a new drug gives a period of ‘market exclusivity’ during which no other firm can...
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NEP: A bundle of pious intentions
The Government should avoid overambitious targets that will result in gross underutilisation or even scrapping of the assets already created In yet another attempt to improve the power sector, the Modi Government has come up with a new draft National Electricity Policy (NEP), the major objectives being to promote clean energy such as power based on renewable and gas without debunking coal; revitalise power distribution companies (discoms) and developing an efficient market for electricity distribution. All the three objectives are laudable. These are crucial to development of an efficient, competitive and sustainable power sector to meet the needs of the economy on a high growth trajectory while at the same time, meeting the environment goals (especially India’s commitments under the...
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Make the COVID jabs free for everyone
There is a dire need to vaccinate at least one billion people within a short time and, given the pitfalls of differentiated pricing, the Centre should opt for inoculating everyone free of cost Under the ‘Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy (LPANCVS)’, announced on April 19, which was kicked off from May 1, the Centre has plans to vaccinate all adults above 18 years of age. Before this, the inoculation drive that was launched on January 16, covered healthcare and frontline workers and people above 50 years of age and those with comorbidities. In the second phase of the drive the age limit was brought down to those above 45. Vaccine manufacturers were giving all their supplies to...
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A flawed idea that the US must abandon
Imposing a global corporate minimum tax will interfere with the right of a country to determine its tax policy and impair its ability to galvanise the policy to achieve certain objectives The Joe Biden Administration is pushing for a Global Corporate Minimum Tax (GCMT) rate under the new international tax rules being coordinated by it with G20 countries. In 2017, the erstwhile Donald Trump Administration had introduced the US corporate offshore minimum tax called the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI). It is applied on the offshore incomes of US multinationals (MNCs) having subsidiaries in low-tax countries, at 10.5 per cent, which is half the Domestic Corporate Tax Rate (DCTR) of 21 per cent. US President Biden wants to double GILTI...
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Export subsidies face WTO challenge
The leeway to withdraw subsidies was meant for those developing nations which in 1995 had GNI in excess of $1,000 per capita. It can’t be availed by India, which is in a different category The Coronavirus pandemic played havoc with the economy of the country during the first half of last year. However, exports were beginning to look up in March — touching a record $34 billion which was higher than $33 billion in March 2019 — and signalling a sharp increase during the current fiscal. But now, the exporters face a triple whammy. First, they have not received export benefits worth approximately Rs 35,000 crore under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS). Under the MEIS, which was withdrawn...
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Nix sovereign guarantee clause for the NaBFID
To bail out an entity majority-owned and controlled by private parties using the taxpayers’ funds is a bad idea In her Budget speech, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed setting up of a new Development Financial Institution (DFI) termed the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID). The Government passed a Bill to establish the NaBFID, its objective being “to coordinate with the Centre and States, regulators, financial institutions (FIs), institutional investors and other relevant stakeholders, in India or outside India, to facilitate building and improving the relevant institutions to support the development of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India, including the domestic bonds and derivatives markets.” The NaBFID will also be involved “in lending or investing, directly or indirectly,...
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Bank fraud: No fetters on CBI, please!
A sweeping order that the CBI will look only at frauds involving a certain amount, or higher, will send out a wrong signal. It is tantamount to glossing over the wrongdoings Even as the Government is making all efforts to ensure that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — after witnessing 8 per cent contraction during 2020-21— returns to a high growth trajectory, it is concerned about the tepid recovery in credit availability which is considered to be the sine qua non of growth. According to the latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the annual non-food bank credit growth in January this year was at 5.7 per cent compared to 8.5 per cent in the same period last...
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Vehicle scrapping needs more incentives
If the owner goes for scrapping, he is promised a total benefit of 11per cent, including scrap compensation of nearly five per cent, discount five per cent and one per cent rebate in road tax On March 18, 2021, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced in the Lok Sabha a “voluntary” vehicle scrapping policy which will lay the foundation for what he termed the “Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme” and enable the Indian automobile industry to more than double its turnover from the current Rs 450,000 crore to Rs 10,00,000 crore in a few years. Besides, it will have a salutary effect on environment due to the mitigated vehicular pollution. Apart from it, other benefits are...
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Hobson’s choice on farm subsidies
The Government may consider DBT to farmers; India can give it without any cap and yet remain compliant with its commitment under the WTO At the Trade Policy Review (TPR) meeting held at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January, India insisted that a permanent solution for public stockholding to serve the food security objective special safeguard measures (SSMs) to prevent import surges and elimination of unfair farm subsidy entitlements of some members should be taken up on a priority basis for any farm deal that may be worked out at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC-12) scheduled to be held from November 29. For about two decades, India has been taking up at the WTO these core agriculture issues that are...
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