In a judgment delivered last Friday, the Supreme Court came down heavily on “market abuse” not just on the case at hand but more generally on the practice to the extent prevalent in India. The case, N. Narayanan v. Adjudicating Officer, SEBI, arose in the form of an appeal from the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in relation to the appellant who was the whole time director of Pyramid Saimara...
The Exportation of Indian Capital Markets
Reuters has a report indicating that the volume of trading in Indian derivatives in the Singapore market is almost as robust as that in the Indian market. This suggests that the Indian capital markets are being exported overseas. Investors are able to enjoy the investment benefits in Indian underlying assets or investments without actually investing in India. Usually, this phenomenon occurs for...
Regulatory Reforms in the Capital Markets
SEBI has taken steps in the last few weeks to bring about reforms in the capital markets, particularly in the primary market segment. The first set of reforms essentially gives effect to decisions taken at SEBI’s board meeting on August 16, 2012. These include matters relating to both the equity markets, where the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2009 have been...
Relaxations on IDR Redemption
Last year, SEBI issued a circular that imposed some curbs on redemption by holders of Indian depository receipts (IDRs). Under that circular, redemption was permitted only if the IDRs are infrequently traded on the stock exchanges in India. This was a method of limiting exit options to investor exclusively to the Indian markets, except where they are illiquid (in which case conversion into...
The Changing Nature of Public Listed Companies
During the week that the Facebook IPO has captured the attention of market observers, the Economist has carried a couple of pieces (here and here) that raise questions regarding the interest and viability of public listed companies with diffused shareholding (epitomized by the Berle and Means corporation). The statistics shown by the Economist are quite stark: The number of public companies has...
India’s Contribution to the Global IPO Activity
Since economic liberalization in 1991 and following SEBI’s efforts in spearheading the primary capital markets, IPO activity of Indian companies has witnessed significant growth. A recent study that compares global IPO activity with the US domestic markets provides key comparative data that help assess India’s performance. In a paper titled “The U.S. left behind: The rise of IPO activity around...
Supreme Court on Tainted Securities
In Varghese Joseph v The Custodian, the Supreme Court was called on to clarify the approach to be adopted in relation to tainted securities under the Special Court (Trial of Offences relating to Transactions in Securities) Act, 1992. Although there is not much by way of company law principles of even statutory interpretation to be gleaned from the decision, it is of importance due to the investor...
Changes to Capital Markets Regulations
On October 25, 2010, SEBI announced a number of changes to regulations governing capital markets. 1. Public offerings. A new regime is being established for IPOs by insurance companies. Rather than issue a new set of guidelines for that industry, SEBI has decided to apply the ICDR Regulations, 2009 along with additional industry-specific disclosures such as specific risk factors, overview of the...
Unlawful Distribution of Capital: The Question of Intent
Five judges of the United Kingdom Supreme Court are scheduled to hear an exceedingly interesting case on October 5 and 6, 2010, on what the Court of Appeal describes in the impugned judgment as a “short, but quite basic company law point”. The judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case – Progress Property v. Moorgarth Group, [2009] EWCA Civ 629 – is available here, and the point of...
DEMAT Account for Religious Deities
An interesting issue recently fell for the consideration of the Bombay High Court- whether DEMAT accounts could be held in the name of deities. The Court answered this question in the negative, relying on largely practical and partially moralistic reasons in coming to its conclusions. The decision was pronounced by a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in Ganpati Panchayatan Sansthan Trust v...
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