Sebi to overhaul governance norms for stock exchanges

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking to increase its oversight of the boards of stock exchanges by having a greater say in the appointment of public interest directors, said three people aware of the matter, including an official with the regulator.
To this end, the Sebi board, when it meets on Saturday, will propose amendments to the Stock Exchange and Clearing Corporation (SECC) regulations pertaining to appointment and remuneration of these directors and also ownership and governance norms, these people said.
“This is in the wake of exchanges getting listed and certain governance lapses that have come to notice,” one of the three said on condition of anonymity.
Currently, SECC rules mandate the boards of exchanges and clearing corporations to appoint public interest directors and fix their fees in line with the Companies Act.
To be sure, the regulator played an active role in appointment of the chairman and public interest directors at the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) last year.
Bloomberg Quint reported on 4 January that five public interest directors on the board of NSE—Ashok Chawla, former chairman, Competition Commission of India (CCI); Dinesh Kanabar, founder of Dhruva Advisors Llp, former Infosys Ltd director Mohandas Pai; Dharmishta Raval, former executive director, Sebi; and Naved Masood, former secretary at ministry of corporate affairs—were Sebi appointees and entrusted with the task of improving governance standards at India’s largest stock exchange, where some officials allegedly allowed unfair algorithmic trading access to some entities.
Now, the regulator is looking to institutionalize its oversight.
“Sebi has always been on top of vetting independent directors at exchanges though it may not choose them from the start,” said Raval. “The issue currently important for stock exchanges is on governance front to address conflict of interest when they (exchanges) are getting listed.”
Secondly, Sebi is considering setting up a panel to comprehensively review SECC norms, especially those related to ownership and governance, said the regulatory official cited earlier. This person didn’t reveal details of what the review will cover.
“The accountability of exchanges needs a massive overhaul. Currently, the exchanges accountability is limited and that doesn't bode well for governance. Regulator should also consider removing the 5% investor cap to increase competition in exchange space,” said Sandeep Parekh, founder, Finsec Law Advisors.
Sebi’s review comes at a time when the BSE has listed on its rival NSE. The latter filed a share sale prospectus with the regulator.
The Sebi board will also discuss reforms in the commodity derivatives market such as finalizing price settlement for commodity options, guidelines for warehouses and so on.
Separately, the board of the market regulator will meet with finance minister Arun Jaitley to implement announcements in the Union budget such as a proposal to integrate the commodity spot and derivatives markets.
“Sebi will initiate consultation with various stakeholders—spot market participants, commodity derivatives exchanges and electronic national agriculture market (e-NAM) platform,” said the second person cited earlier.
The government will form an expert panel to draft a bill to integrate the two markets and Sebi will offer its comments on the bill, this person added.
Sebi will also create a framework to list security receipts created from the stressed assets. “For selling stressed assets on stock exchanges, Sebi will create a framework where these would be sold as receipts on stock exchange’s debt platform with a high ticket size of Rs25 lakh,” said the first person.
In the Union budget, the government announced that securities receipts issued by asset reconstruction firms would be allowed on exchange platforms to help resolve the bad loans and increase capital flows to this sector.
Indian banks were sitting on a Rs6.7 trillion bad loan pile at the end of September.
Additionally, in its meeting with the finance minister, Sebi is going to clarify its position on the Rs5,548-crore National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) payments crisis and what actions it has taken on NSE giving unfair trading access to some brokers.

Lok Sabha passes Wages Amendment Bill

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which allows for digital payment of salaries or through cheque. The bill will now go to Rajya Sabha and following its passage in the upper House, the amendments will be notified.
The move will enable employers to pay wages of less than Rs 18,000 a month by cheque or digitally to bank accounts, besides in cash, by doing away with the requirement of employees' written consent for the same.
At present, wages can be given through cheque or transferred to a bank account only after a written authorisation from an employee. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 15, but it could not be taken up for discussion amid din over demonetisation.

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare constitutes a committee to achieve the target of doubling of income of farmers by March 2022

New Delhi: To understand the impact of demonetization on farming sector, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP) conducted a short survey of farmers in few villages around Delhi under Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (MGMG) initiative. Survey findings could not establish any significant adverse effect of demonetization on input availability, market arrivals of produce and area sown in Rabi season. As per preliminary reports received from the States, the total area sown under Rabi crops as on 27th January, 2017 stands at 637.34 lakh hectares as compared to 600.02 lakh hectares this time in 2016 indicating no significant impact of demonetization on Rabi sowing.

In order to achieve the target of doubling of income of farmers by March 2022, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary, for the following aspects:
To study the current income level of farmers/ agricultural labourers
To measure the historical growth rate of the current income level
To determine the needed growth rate to double the income of farmers/agricultural labourers by the year 2021-22
To consider and recommend various strategies to be adopted to accomplish (iii) above
To recommend an institutional mechanism to review and monitor implementation to realise the goal
To examine any other related issue.
The Committee has held five meetings so far to evolve a suitable strategy.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Govt doubles highways target to 15,000 km in next fiscal

New Delhi: The government has set a target of constructing 15,000 km of highways in the next financial year, 50 per cent more than that in the current fiscal.
The road transport and highways ministry expects to construct a record 8,000 km of highways this fiscal, even as that will be 2,000 km short of the target.
Officials said 5,000 km of highways were constructed between April and December 2016, at 18.5 km a day on average.
However, they said, the pace always remains subdued during the monsoon months and picks up during the last quarter. In the last fiscal, the ministry built nearly 6,100 km of highways, higher than 4,410 km in the previous year.
The budget for 2017-18 has earmarked nearly Rs 12,000 crore more for the ministry for the next fiscal, compared to the revised allocation of Rs 52,446 crore for the current year.
Besides, the ministry has been allowed to raise another Rs 59,000 crore through National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) bonds during the next fiscal.
For the current year, NHAI was allowed to raise Rs 50,000 crore, of which it has already raised Rs 25,000 crore. Two more tranches of Rs 5,000 crore will be raised in the coming days.
"The target for the next year is ambitious. But given the availability of funds through budgetary allocation and extra budgetary sources such as bonds, we could still meet it. Our capacity to undertake projects has also been enhanced in last two years," said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified.
The official further said, "If you put together our budgetary allocation and the amount permitted to be raised through bonds, it comes out to be around Rs 1.24 lakh crore. Given that the average cost of construction per km ranges between Rs 8 crore and Rs 10 crore, we'll comfortably be around the target.
" From the budgetary allocation of Rs 64,900 crore for the next year, the ministry plans to construct projects worth Rs 24,000 crore under the National Highways Development Programme while other national highway projects have got allocation of Rs 21,543 crore.
Highways in the North East have got an allocation of Rs 5,765 crore, whereas Rs 7,300 crore has been kept aside for development of roads owned by states and Rs 3,000 crore will be spent on maintenance of highways.
Through the funds to be raised by NHAI, the government has planned to undertake construction of 2,000 km of coastal expressways. These highways will come up in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Digital transactions rose to 3 crore a day in 2016: Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said that digital transactions had risen to 3 crore a day in 2016 from only 66 lakh a day in 2013.
Saying that 'Digital India' would lead to an empowered and inclusive nation, Prasad exhorted entrepreneurs to develop more technologies for education and social inclusion.
Here are the key points on Digital India from Ravi Shankar Prasad's speech:
Digital transactions a day were 66 lakh in 2013, 96 lakh in 2014, 1.3 crore in 2015 and 3 crore in 2016.
India has 35 crore smartphones.
India is being developed as the biggest destination for telecom manufacturing.
78 smartphone makers have approached the government to set up operations.
Digital India is meant for the poor and the underprivileged.
India's talent + information technology = India's tomorrow.

Railways plans massive track expansion in Arunachal Pradesh, connect Tawang

Guwahati: Union ministry of Railways is readying for building massive railway infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh, state bordering china. Railways will start survey of three railway tracks linking Tawang.
Railways are anticipating these projects will require investment of around Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000 Crore.
China has often claimed Arunachal as part of its territory. Union minister of state for Railways, Rajen Gohain on Saturday said, “Together with ministry of Defence we are developing border communication. We will initiate survey for three new railways lines.”
These railways tracks include Bhalukpung to Tawang, Silaphatar to Bama and Murkongselek via Rupai to Pasighat.
General Manager of North East Frontier Railway (NFR) (Construction), H.K Jaggi told said that the elevation of a track my range to 500 to 9000 feet. “We will first study the soil conditions and other geological conditions.”
Railways planned to cover the length and breadth of Arunachal by railway network. The union budget 2017-18 has sanctioned survey of construction of new lines from Doom Dooma to Wakro via Simalguri, Namsai and Chowkham (96km), Dangri to Roing (60km), Lekhapani to Deban via Nampong (75 km),
Besides Tinsukia to Pasighat via Deomali Lekhapani Jairampur Kharsang Miao, Roing and Dambuk (300km).

iPhone SE to be assembled in India

Bengaluru, New Delhi: Apple is looking to produce lower-cost iPhone SE at its upcoming facility in Bengaluru as it looks to gain a price advantage in the market in which it has been a fringe player so far.
While the plant in Bengaluru, owned by partner Wistron, is already being upgraded to support assembly of Apple’s iPhones, the Cupertino company continues to engage in talks with the central government over full-scale manufacturing of its flagship devices in the country.
For this, Apple is seeking a 15-year tax exemption from the government to make India a hub for exporting the devices rather than just producing devices for the local market, according to officials at the commerce ministry. Apple is facing a challenge of rising input costs in China, apart from the government increasingly cracking down on foreign companies.
Wistron, which will assemble iPhones in Bengaluru, is one among the few original design manufacturers Apple employs to build its iPhones. The company has previously won contracts abroad to manufacture lower-cost iPhone 5c, 5s, and SE devices, while larger partners such as Foxconn have handled production of flagship iPhone models.
“Wistron manufactures low-cost devices for Apple, the iPhone 5c, 5s, and SE. So the chances are high that only those are going to be manufactured at first. It also makes sense for them to save that extra 12.5 per cent on low-cost devices where margins are slim,” said Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research.
The iPhone SE, which was launched in March 2016, was seen as Apple’s weapon to win in emerging markets. However, the device saw slow sales in India after being priced close to Rs 40,000, a market where seven out of 10 smartphones sold cost less than Rs 10,000.
"Winston has begun upgrading infrastructure at the Peenya location, indicating Apple is keen to make iPhones here. An agreement is yet to be signed," a government official said. "More details will emerge once Apple's talks with the central government are over."
In a statement on Thursday, the Karnataka information technology minister said that Apple representatives had met the state’s ministers and officials on manufacturing devices here. Apple’s delegation was led by Priya Balasubramaniam, vice-president of iPhone operations.
“Our pitch to Apple was that they have the entire ecosystem ready here in Bengaluru. No other place in India can offer the pool of hi-tech talent, researchers and app developers,” said minister Priyank Kharge in a telephonic interview.
Currently, Apple controls just three per cent of the 100-million-plus smartphone market in India.
In the quarter that ended December, Apple said it had posted record revenue in the country despite a slowdown in consumption due to demonetisation. In the September quarter, the company had said sales of its iPhones grew 50 per cent in the 12-month period, signalling a positive environment.
Apple continues a two-pronged attack in India, wooing customers with its latest iPhones and simultaneously pushing older models at more affordable costs.
Nearly 45 per cent of Apple’s iPhone sales continue to come from models like the iPhone 5s that cost under Rs 20,000 on popular online retail channels in the country.

Baring PE Asia raising India-dedicated credit fund

Mumbai: Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) is raising a new India-dedicated credit fund of Rs500 crore with a greenshoe option of Rs250 crore, two people familiar with the plans said on condition of anonymity.
The private equity firm had recently set up its lending business in India.
A greenshoe option allows a firm to retain the extra money in case it receives more investment than originally planned.
According to the people cited above, the first close of the new fund is expected in the March quarter, following which it will start investing money from the new fund.
BPEA is also planning to raise a new offshore credit fund of around $500 million which will co-invest with the India fund apart from making independent investments of its own, the persons cited above added.
BPEA declined to comment.
BPEA is one of the largest and most established independent alternative asset management firms in Asia, with total investments and committed capital of over $10 billion. The firm has been investing in Asia since it was formed in 1997 and has over 100 institutional investors which includes sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance firms and family offices.
Last year, BPEA acquired Fund I, a dedicated credit fund of Religare Global Asset Management’s, and hired the entire team managing it. In November, it also appointed Kanchan Jain, CEO and principal managing partner, Religare Credit Advisors LLP, to head its credit business in India.
Fund I has made 21 private debt investments till date with a total transaction value of $160 million. The BPEA Credit team will continue to manage Fund I throughout its remaining life, according to the people cited above.
The entry of BPEA into credit business marks the growing interest of global and domestic PE funds into the private debt business keen to tap the lending space between conventional bank funding and debt capital markets.
One of the early movers to the structured credit business in India, global PE giant KKR & Co. in its recent report titled Outlook for 2017: Paradigm Shift said, “As we look ahead towards 2017’s investment opportunities, we are most excited by what we see in private credit. Despite the threat of future regulatory changes, the illiquidity premium still feels appealing, a feature we do not expect to shift in the near to medium term.”
In India, KKR India Alternative Credit Opportunities Fund (with a corpus of Rs1,500 crore), the first alternative investment fund raised by KKR India in 2013, has seen an average internal rate of return (IRR) of approximately 18%, Mint had earlier reported.
KKR has invested close to $3.5 billion through structured financing in about 62 companies in India, including GMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Avantha Group and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. It is also in the process of raising its second credit fund worth Rs1,500 crore. Others who have ventured into structured credit business in India include AION Capital Partners (a joint venture between Apollo Global Management Llc and domestic private equity firm ICICI Venture) which has raised $825 million in committed capital.
In India, BPEA has so far been focused on buyout opportunities.
In 2015, it acquired a controlling stake in CMS Info Systems Ltd, one of India’s largest cash-management companies, from Blackstone group for $301 million.
In 2013, it acquired a majority stake in software and IT services company Hexaware Technologies for Rs1,687 crore in one of the biggest transactions in India’s information technology (IT) sector in recent years.
Till recently, the PE fund was also among the top contenders to acquire ICICI Home Finance Company; the talks, however, were not successful.

Budget 2017 gets a thumbs up from Moody's, Fitch

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s fourth budget has emphasized fiscal prudence while pushing for higher public investment—a “credit positive” for India’s sovereign ratings, Moody’s Investors Service said on Friday.
Rating company Fitch also reacted positively to the continued commitment to fiscal consolidation and a broad reform agenda displayed in the 2017-18 budget presented on Wednesday.
“We view the (budget) speech as consistent with the government’s commitment to gradual fiscal consolidation and balanced growth, a credit positive for the sovereign ratings,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a report.
Jaitley chose to only marginally deviate from the fiscal consolidation road map by targeting a fiscal deficit equivalent to 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP); he aims to bring it down to 3% in 2018-19.
The initial road map required the finance minister to contain fiscal deficit at 3% of GDP in 2017-18 from 3.5% in 2016-17.
“The revised fiscal consolidation path is not materially different from the previous road map and our projections. We expect the government will meet its deficit targets, based on achievable budget assumptions and demonstrated commitment to fiscal prudence. However, given significant spending commitments and structural hurdles to rapid increases in revenue collection, there will be limited room for slippage,” the Moody’s report said.
The credit assessor also favoured the recommendations of a panel led by former revenue secretary N. K. Singh that reviewed the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.
The panel favoured making the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio the new metric. It suggested targeting a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60% by 2023—40% of GDP for the central government and 20% for the states.
To achieve these targets, the panel has recommended a fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP for the next three years. But it included an escape clause for deviations up to 0.5% of GDP, based on triggers including far-reaching structural reforms in the economy with unanticipated fiscal implications, acts of war and farm distress.
“We consider the committee’s targets to be achievable. They imply gradual medium-term fiscal consolidation, driven largely by higher nominal GDP growth and bolstered by improvements in government revenue collection. High and sustainable nominal GDP growth will depend on the recovery of the private investment cycle, which will in turn be contingent upon the successful implementation of current and future reforms,” Moody’s said.
The report also said the government’s revenue projections are realistic though it cautioned the divestment targets appear ambitious. “The administration has budgeted gross tax revenue to rise by 12.2% year-on-year. This implies a tax buoyancy of about 1.04, which we consider to be realistic,” it said.
The divestment target set by the government for 2017-18 is Rs72,500 crore, as against a budgeted target of Rs56,500 crore for 2016-17, which was revised down to Rs 45,500 crore. “A shortfall in disinvestment receipts could pressure the government to cut back in other areas of spending, including capital expenditure,” it said.
The report also cautioned the government risks a slippage in expenditure projections because of uncertainty over compensation to be paid to states for potential shortfalls in revenue after the goods and services tax (GST) comes in, and outgo on account of 7th Pay Commission suggestions.
Moody’s said the states’ fiscal deficit targets may be missed because of uncertainty surrounding the final impact of demonetization and the impending GST on their revenues.
Fitch said: “The government’s fiscal deficit to 3.0% of GDP has been pushed back by another year, but the general goal of addressing relatively weak public finances over the medium term is still in place.”

IndiaPost becomes 3rd entity to receive licence to start payment bank operations

New Delhi: IndiaPost has become the third entity to receive a final license last week from the Central Bank to start its payment bank operations. Country’s largest telcom service provider Bharti Airtel and digital payments firm Paytm are the other two to have received the license while only Airtel has started operations so far.
The government has also appointed AP Singh has interim MD and CEO of the India Post Payment Bank. A 1986 Indian Postal Service Officer he was earlier Joint Secretary in the department of disinvestment, ministry of Finance and Deputy Director General incharge of financial inclusion and payments systems at Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Singh was one part of the founding team that launched Aadhaar and was stationed at the department of Post prior to UIDAI.
As per the initial road map, each post office in the country will offer the post bank services. The department of post has an existing network of around 1,55,000 post offices currently. ET had reported earlier that IndiaPost plans to open 650 new branches for the payment bank. The branches will be co-located with the existing post offices. The idea is that the 650 branches will be in located in postal district headquarters and all the branches under that particular head post office will be enabled by the payment bank services. This will cover the entire network of 155,000 post offices in the country.
Earlier this month, Airtel Payments Bank launched nationwide operations, offering 7.25% interest on savings bank balances, which is more than the maximum 7% paid by SBI on its fixed deposits. Bharti and Kotak Mahindra, which holds a 20% stake in the payments bank, would invest Rs 3,000 crore in the venture.
Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses of up to Rs 1 lakh per account. And RBI had set a condition that formal license has to be obtained before 31 March.
Alibaba backed Paytm also said early in January that it has received the final license from RBI and the company hopes to launch operations in February with the first branch coming up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
While operation of Payment Banks such as Paytm are likely to be focused on technology based differentiation, IndiaPost is banking on its huge reach especially in the rural areas to be successful.