Non-banking-financial institutions (“NBFCs”) face a serious setback after the judgment of the Supreme Court this Monday (11 January 2010) in Southern Technologies Ltd. v. JCIT. This blog has discussed a long-standing controversy in Indian law on the treatment of “sticky” advances. It is useful to briefly recapitulate the contours of this controversy before considering the impact of the Supreme...
Relief for Investor Community on “Control” Debate
Background Under the SEBI Takeover Regulations, there are two methods by which an acquirer could be obligated to make an open offer to the public shareholders of a listed target company. The first is when the acquirer acquires shares or voting rights beyond certain defined thresholds (as contained in Regulations 10 and 11, with the initial threshold being 15%). The second is when the acquirer...
Another SEBI Order on Participatory Notes
About a month ago, we discussed SEBI’s order in the case of Barclays Bank in relation to the issue of participatory notes/ offshore derivative instruments (ODIs). Barclays had been prohibited from issuing, subscribing or otherwise transacting in any ODIs until reporting systems are put in place to the satisfaction of SEBI. Close on its heels comes another SEBI order, this time involving Societe...
New Development on Section 14A, Income Tax Act
Several prior posts have discussed the decision of the Special Bench of the Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Daga Capital, on the appropriate interpretation of section 14A of the Income Tax Act. It was also observed that the problem was not so much with the provision per se, as with Rule 8D of the Income Tax Rules, which laid down the computation mechanism for the amount to be considered...
SEBI moves the Supreme Court over SAT order
An order by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in August last year has again stirred the hornet’s nest with respect to the powers of the regulatory bodies, and the resolution of areas of overlap. S. Kumars Nationwide, is a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and engaged in the business of buying selling, manufacturing and marketing of textile products. In a bid to repay loans...
Multiplicity of Stock Exchanges
Usually, stocks are listed on one major stock exchange in a given jurisdiction. For example, a U.S. stock will be listed either on the NYSE or NASDAQ. But, the position in India is different, perhaps for historical and other reasons, where not only there are multiple stock exchanges, but a number of companies are listed on more than one such exchange. In an interesting column in the Business...
Inculcating Business Ethics
Following the financial crisis, there has been a reconsideration of the manner in which business schools have been imparting education. Questions are being raised as to whether alternate methods of business education could have modified some of the ethical and behavioural traits that may have fuelled the crisis. In this scenario, an article in the New York Times provides an interesting...
Relaxation in Short Selling Norms
SEBI has introduced changes to the securities lending and borrowing (SLB) framework which may help uplift the market for short sales. The contract tenure for SLB has now been increased to 12 months. The Economic Times notes the rationale: SLB was introduced in April 2008, starting with a contract tenure of seven days. With hardly any interest from market participants in the product, the regulator...
Internal Audits for Credit Rating Agencies
The role of credit rating agencies has been the subject-matter of discussion ever since the sub-prime crisis erupted, and the industry has been subjected increased scrutiny and regulation. However, much of that has not affected India, and there has been no serious overhaul of the system regulating rating agencies in India. SEBI, in its recent annual report observed as follows (on page 18): The...
Rationalizing the Absence of an Indian SWF
Nearly two years ago, we had debated (here and here) the pros and cons of India’s establishment of a sovereign wealth fund (SWF), when that topic was the flavour of the day. Since then, the global financial crisis and receding stock markets at least partially eclipsed the increasing appeal of SWFs. Nevertheless they continue to capture the attention of regulators and commentators. In a paper...
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