Page 2 - Street Food

The maze between promoters and foreign vehicles

The value of assets held through P-notes, Rs 2.16 lakh crore, seems small in relation to the overall market capitalisation (around Rs 100 lakh crore on the BSE) and assets held by foreign portfolio investors (Rs 25 lakh crore)

Raining ex-babus in Dalal Street

Past evidence shows that just appointing a former IAS officer is neither a guarantee for governance standards nor an insurance against life-threatening crisis

Death of a family man

B K Bansal is dead. The twin-suicides that rocked the capital last week came on the back of the similar suicides of the corporate affairs ministry official's wife and daughter

Some old cases and some new

The week gone by has been one of the most hectic news weeks this year, at least from the Street's perspective. It started with an evening announcement of the commencement of the selection process for the appointment of the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Next morning, the controversial decisions of the Sebi in dealing with the MCX Stock Exchange (now known as Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India) came under scrutiny of federal investigators. The sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided several premises, including that of some serving and former Sebi officials, and arrested Jignesh Shah. Then, The Economic Times broke the news of the regulator's move directing the National Stock Exchange to investigate allegations of wrong-doing in its co-location facilities and directed the deposit of revenue generated from these segments in an escrow account. Friday saw much drama as the Supreme Court terminated the parole of Sahara chief Subrata

Achhe Din for some in PSB boards

It would turn out to be the last day at Yogakshema, the curvaceous Nariman Point central office, for Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) chief S K Roy. Hundreds of miles away in the quaint educational hub of Manipal, some 1,077 shareholders of Syndicate Bank had gathered for an extraordinary general meeting.On the agenda was the election of a shareholder director. Non-promoter shareholders were to cast their vote as two candidates were in the fray. First was S Rajagopalan, a professor at IIIT Bangalore, who had "extensive experience of working with technology and innovation systems within and outside government organisations. He was the chief executive officer of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology from 1982 to 1993 and was involved in managing innovations that addressed the problems of Karnataka," according to his official profile.Second was Sunil Vashisht, a Delhi-based chartered accountant. One of his public profiles said he was the national co-convenor of the Commer

Street Food: Of investor and for investor, but by who?

The regulator, the government, the institutions, and the intermediaries: Nobody's an exception

Wanted: Some sports giants on the Sensex

For an investment of Rs 2,400 crore, it took Britain to Number 2 on the medals tally at Rio

Audis, BMWs, Jaguars: Sebi is selling; Are you buying?

The difficult part is selling off assets such as land parcels, buildings and other properties, which lie scattered across the country. The regulator is staring at a multi-year process

Algo, Colo and a smoking whistle

The paper reiterates that "fair, transparent and non-discriminatory access" is one of the key pillars of a safe and vibrant capital market

No rule holy for big daddy

Recapitalisation of PSU banks shows how SEBI rules are flouted by the government openly through exemptions and relaxations

Sebi and some 'inadvertent' officers

How 'inadvertent' errors by some ITC executives put them under regulator's lens

Credible face, a key in big money race

On Monday, when the initial public offering (IPO) of Larsen & Toubro's subsidiary L&T Infotech hit the markets, the executive chairman of the parent was all over the front pages of business papers. Smart investors waking up to Business Standard would have found a smiling A M Naik on the front page panel saying "L&T Infotech to grow with the sector". On front page of The Economic Times, he was looking into the distance saying "L&T Infotech will focus on specialisation". The Mint quoted the 74-year-old predicting the IPO will excite employees and put them under pressure. Not just these. Last week, Naik was out allaying concerns over top-level attrition. The veteran seems to understand the psychology of investors as good as anybody else. It was a ~1,200-crore issue. Any of his battle-hardened lieutenants could have probably carried it home. But, Naik decided to put his weight behind it and did not leave things to chance. The Street likes a familiar face. Another entity to

Street Food: The difficulties of achieving ease

Not many among policy makers & the govt paid attention to the Ease of Doing Business ranking and its components

Street Food: Much ado about Brexit and a quiet little Prexit

The date of Brexit referendum also marked the departure of 'incorrigible optimist' Prashant Saran, a wholetime member of Sebi for seven long years

The many premature obituaries of P-notes

In April 2012, notional value of P-notes on equity was Rs 81,647 cr and that on derivatives was Rs 43,227 cr. In April 2016, the numbers were Rs 131,627 cr and Rs 50,852 cr, respectively

Politics, private funds and disclosures

Recent raids by central agencies on the offices of some private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds, and their alleged connections to politically connected entities, have put a focus on the quality and colour of the money coming into the country through this route.Thousands of crores of PE/VC money have flown into and out of Indian companies over the past years. While the regulatory oversight of these funds is, at best, patchy. Data in the public domain is hazy.This is not to suggest that all these investments are questionable or all of these are round-tripped Indian money, escaping the eyes of tax officials. A large part of these investments could be legitimate, coming in to take advantage of the interesting business opportunities in a fast growing economy.But, is it possible for a local entity to get its ill-gotten wealth abroad and route it back to friendly Indian companies at suitably 'astronomical' valuations? Not only politicians. Film stars, sports people, businessmen, bu

Pallav Sheth case: A quarter century for closure

Sheth's case is a stark reminder of how banks struggle to recover dues and why India ranks so low in Ease of Doing Business