[Hardeep Singh Chawla is an Advocate practicing in the M&A & PE Tax Department of a Big4 in Gurgaon, Haryana. Views expressed are his own. The author may be reached at [email protected]] “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets” – Will Rogers Recently the Finance Minister tabled the Finance Bill, 2018 (‘Bill’)...
Side-pocketing: A plausible liquidity management tool for the Indian mutual fund industry
[Param Pandya is a Research Fellow in the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation vertical at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The author is thankful to Prof. Jayanth R Varma, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for his valuable comments. Views are personal. This post was first published in the Oxford Business Law Blog] An illiquid asset may lead to reduced returns and increased redemptions in...
SAT Affirms SEBI’s Power to Lift the Corporate Veil
In an order passed yesterday in Sahara Asset Management Company P. Ltd v. Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (“SAT”) considered an appeal from an order of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) in which SEBI had found that Sahara India Financial Corporation Ltd. (“Sahara Sponsor”) is not a “fit and proper” person and hence the Sahara Mutual Fund...
The Quest for Liquidity – Recent Measures to Curb Discretionary Restrictions on Redemptions of Mutual Fund Units
[The following guest post is contributed by Arka Saha, who is a 4th Year B.A.LL.B. (Hons) & Executive Student in CS (ICSI) at National Law University Odisha (NLU-O)] One of the key objectives of mutual fund investments, along with returns and security, is liquidity – the ability to liquidate holdings and withdraw investments in units as per the needs of the holder. Even closed-ended...
Investment Funds and the Concept of “Side-Pocket”
[The following guest post is contributed by Pavit Singh Kochar, an advocate practicing in New Delhi] A popular concept abroad that is yet to be practised extensively in India is a “Side-Pocket”, which means the segregation of the portfolio or funds to separate the illiquid investments from the more liquid assets in the portfolio. This concept is used when a part of the portfolio is not performing...
SEBI Proposal for Infrastructure Investment Trusts
Recognizing the deficit in financing infrastructure development in India, SEBI has floated a proposal for a separate investment vehicle for infrastructure investments. Last week, it issued a Consultation Paper on Infrastructure Investment Trusts, on which comments are invited from the public by January 20, 2014. SEBI’s rationale is to ensure that the lack of an effective investment framework does...
Mutual Fund Scheme: Change in Fundamental Attributes
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has ruled in a matter involving the HSBC Mutual Fund. In that case, HSBC had issued a scheme with two plans, viz. a long term plan and a short term plan. The relevant investors had invested in the short-term plan. However, HSBC wound up the long-term plan, and changed the term of the short-term plan by increasing the tenure. This resulted in a fall in the...
Bits of Interest
1. Mutual Funds and Unit Premium The Law-In-Perspective Blog uses the analogy of Ponzi schemes to explain a March 2010 circular of SEBI that prohibits mutual funds from using the unit premium reserve to pay dividends. If one would prefer to avoid the negative connotation associated with a Ponzi scheme, the post also looks at another parallel, being the restrictions under the Companies Act, 1956...
Mutual Funds as Activist Investors
On several occasions, discussions on this Blog have pointed to the inadequacy of shareholder activism (spearheaded by institutional investors) in India, and have therefore called for greater participation of institutional investors in governance processes. A circular issued by SEBI on March 15, 2010 addressed to mutual funds and asset management companies represents an important step towards...
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