I have posted a working paper tentatively titled Investment Agreements in India: Is There an ‘Option’?, the abstract of which is as follows: Put and call options are ubiquitous in modern investment agreements, such as those involving joint ventures as well as private equity and venture capital investments. The enforceability of put and call options in Indian companies has been the...
Regulating Offshore Derivative Instruments
Over the last few years, SEBI has been adopting various strategies to regulate the use of offshore derivative instruments (ODIs) such as participatory notes that enable foreign investors to participate in the Indian markets without actually owning the underlying securities. The strategies include restricting the use of ODIs, and also requiring the application of know-your-client norms (KYC) by...
RBI’s Draft Guidelines on CDS
Following its draft report released in August 2010, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued draft guidelines on credit default swaps (CDSs) for corporate bonds. One of the principal objectives of this effort is to boost the corporate bond market. As RBI notes: The objective of introducing Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on corporate bonds is to provide market participants a tool to transfer and...
Barclays Order: ODI Restrictions Lifted by SEBI
In December 2009, we had discussed SEBI’s order whereby Barclays was found to have failed in complying with certain disclosure norms while issuing offshore derivative instruments (ODIs) under the SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995. For this, SEBI had prohibited Barclays from issuing, subscribing or otherwise transacting in any ODIs until reporting systems are put in place to...
Further Measures to Boost Infrastructure Financing
In continuation of previous measures, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken additional steps to enable financing in the infrastructure sector. First, the proposed introduction of credit default swaps on corporate bonds (discussed here) covers corporate bonds issued by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) of rated infrastructure companies “keeping in view the need for development of the...
RBI Proposes Credit Default Swaps on Corporate Bonds
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a draft report that proposes the introduction of credit default swaps (CDS) for corporate bonds. Comments are due on the proposal by October 4, 2010. The move to create a market for CDS in India has been delayed for the last few years due to a lack of adequate risk management systems and lessons learned from the financial crisis (where CDS is alleged to...
Physical Settlement in Derivatives Trading
Over a decade ago, when trading in derivatives was commenced on Indian stock exchanges, it was decided that such instruments must be introduced in a phased manner. This was following the recommendations in the L.C. Gupta Committee report. Consequently, various types of derivatives were introduced at different points in time – index futures, futures in specific securities, options and so on...
More Controversy over Forex Derivatives
Over the past two years, forex derivatives have generated substantial legal controversy in India, perhaps because of the relatively recent rise in the use of these instruments in India. We have discussed the challenge to the legality of derivatives as wagering agreements, their regulation, taxability and other related issues. The latest addition to this chapter of uncertainty is a report that the...
Taxation of Derivative Transactions by FIIs
(The following post has been contributed by Ravichandra S. Hegde of J. Sagar Associates) Profits earned from derivative transactions are business income, not liable to be taxed in India at the hands of the FII: AARThe Authority for Advance Rulings (“AAR”), Income Tax, in its recent decision dated March 22, 2010 has held that the special provision in the Income Tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”) cannot be...
SEBI Decisions on Public Offers and Derivatives
SEBI has made some regulatory pronouncements at its board meeting yesterday that concern public offerings of securities and the derivatives markets. As regards public offerings: (i) SEBI has decided that all investors in public offerings (including retail investors) “would be required to bring in 100% of the application money as margin along with the application for securities”. This creates a...
Recent Comments