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Budget 2020 : Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) has requested the Union Government to bring in tax parity for the listed and unlisted shares and allow the category 1 Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) to invest in Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFC). The association said that currently there is a considerable benefit on investing in listed shares than unlisted shares in terms of taxes levied. In order to further channelize domestic and foreign risk capital, there is a need for complete tax parity for investments in listed and unlisted securities. As compared to domestic investors, Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) earned by foreign investors in private companies attract taxation at a concessional rate of 10 per cent while domestic VC & PE investments taxed at 20 per cent (for LTCG) with an enhanced surcharge of 37 per cent. Here you can also read Budget2020 News

FPIs get no relief from FM Nirmala Sitharaman on ' super-rich ' tax The controversial super-rich tax on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) that are organised as trusts will stay undiluted as Parliament passed the Finance Bill, 2019, on Thursday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed the argument of the Opposition that the tax would lead to a flight of FPIs. Sebi tightens disclosure framework for listed banks; to address issue of abrupt auditor exits Sebi said that all listed banks will have to disclose if their additional provisioning for NPAs assessed by RBI exceeds 10 per cent of the reported profit before provisions and contingencies. Meanwhile, the market regulator has also proposed stricter norms to strengthen audit processes and curb abrupt resignations of auditors in publicly traded companies. On the other hand, it said that recent budget proposals could undermine its role as regulator, particularly with respect to the recommendation that the minimum publi...

Sebi will soon take action against some market operators and senior staff members of about a dozen listed blue-chip firms for their alleged involvement in leak of price-sensitive information through WhatsApp . The companies may also face censure action by the market watchdog for alleged lapses in safeguard mechanism to check leak of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI), including financial results before they were made public for all investors, regulatory sources said. The regulator is close to completing its probe into the matter, including for suspected unlawful gains through insider trading on the basis of leaked information, and is collating the details it had sought from all concerned companies, the officials said. Almost all the companies have replied to Sebi 's queries in this regard. According to top officials, the regulator is taking a tough stand on the companies that fail to fix individual responsibility for any leak of price-sensitive informa...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India will investigate possible leaks of company earnings in social media chatrooms after a Reuters investigation documented at least 12 cases of prescient messages about major Indian companies being posted in private WhatsApp groups. This author explains why Sebi should try to create means of observing this medium and others like it. A recent Reuters news report identifies a dozen messages that accurately predicted Q2 earnings patterns (and a bonus announcement in one case) for specific listed stocks. In each case, the messages were being passed around, just before the results were officially announced. These messages were being circulated in private Whatsapp groups frequented by equity traders. These were all big companies - in fact, more than half of the stock concerned are members of the Nifty-50. ALSO READ: Predictive messages about Indian cos results circulate in WhatsApp groups WhatsApp, an instant messaging service owned by Fa...

It is not just domestic investors but also foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who are grappling with the Securities and Exchange Board of India ’s (Sebi’s) diktat mandating linking Aadhaar with “all demat accounts”. In August, Sebi had directed the stock exchanges to cease the accounts of all the clients who failed to submit Aadhaar details by December 31. Prima facie, the circular appeared to be aimed at domestic investors. However, ambiguous wording has spooked FPIs, who have sought clarity from Sebi on whether the circular would be applicable to them too. “ FPIs, through their custodians, have written to Sebi, seeking clarity on the Aadhaar issue. The instructions issued by Sebi in this regard are not clear. We want the regulator to provide explicit exemptions so that there are no last-minute surprises,” said a source who has a direct knowledge of the development. Aadhaar is a unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demo...

The Reserve Bank on Monday amended the statutes making it possible for lenders to invest in Reits and InvIts capping such exposures to 10 per cent of the unit capital of such instruments, and also to regulate their commodity derivatives play. In amendments to the Master Direction- Reserve Bank of India (Financial Services provided by banks) Directions, 2016, the central bank said banks should not invest more than 10 per cent of the unit capital of a real estate investment trust (Reit) or an infrastructure investment trust (InvIt) subject to overall ceiling of 20 per cent of its net worth. The master directions first issued in May last year did not provide for investments in the Reits and InvIts, both newly introduced instruments. The RBI also prohibited banks from becoming a professional clearing member of commodity derivatives segment of Sebi-recognised exchanges unless it satisfies certain prudential criteria. These include bank satisfying membership criteria of th...

Given the performance of stocks over the past few months and the mounting cash pile in their books, most information technology companies - Infosys , TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies - have announced a buyback to reward shareholders over the past few months. Also Read: India Inc's buyback party: A Rs 25,000-crore splurge in first half of 2017 The buyback in most cases was through the tender route, under which repurchases were executed using a fixed price tender offer. TCS board, for instance, approved and completed its proposal to buy back up to 56.14 million equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 crore at Rs 2,850 per equity share. Besides TCS, HCL Technologies, too, has completed the buyback process. On a year-to-date basis, Infosys has lost over 3% at the bourses as compared with around 20% rally in the Nifty50 index, ACE Equity data show. Also Read: Buyback offers: What should traders do if a company offers one? Surprisingly, I...

SBI Life Insurance , a joint venture (JV) between the State Bank of India (SBI) and BNP Paribas Cardif, filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the capital markets regulator, for an initial public offering (IPO) of equity shares, on Monday. The two JV partners are planning to sell up to 120 million shares of a face value Rs 10 each through an offer for sale, which will help them garner well over $1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore). The SBI, the country’s largest bank, is selling up to an 8 per cent stake, or 80 million shares, in the unit as part of the IPO. BNP Paribas group is selling up to 4 per cent (40 million shares). According to the offer document, the SBI holds 70.1 per cent and BNP Paribas 26 per cent in the life insurance company. Value Line Pte. Ltd, an affiliate of KKR Asian Fund L.P., and MacRitchie Investments Pte. Ltd., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, hold a 1.95 per cen...

State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) executive committee of the central board has given the final approval for divestment of 80 million shares in SBI Life through an initial public offering (IPO), at a meeting on Monday. The shares being offered for sale by the country’s biggest lender will be available at a price that would be fixed and determined by SBI Life, SBI, and BNP Paribas Cardiff, in consultation with the book-running lead managers, the lender said in a statement to the BSE. Last week, SBI Life had submitted its draft papers to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) for listing, which has been approved in principle by the regulator. It is still awaiting final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India. SBI Life will become the country’s second private insurer to go for an IPO after ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which was valued at Rs 48,000 crore and sold shares worth...