CORPORATE UPDATES 30.04.2019

MCA UPDATES

Form DPT-3 is likely to be revised on MCA21 Company Forms Download page w.e.f 1st May, 2019 Stakeholders are advised to check the latest

version before filing.

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MCA UPDATES

eForm MSME (Form for furnishing half yearly return with the registrar in respect of outstanding payments to Micro or Small Enterprises) will be available on MCA21 Company Forms Download page w.e.f 1st May 2019.

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ICSI REQUESTS FOR STANDARDIZED FORMAT FOR REPORTING UNDER RULE 9A OF COMPANIES (PROSPECTUS AND ALLOTMENT OF SECURITIES) RULES, 2014

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India has submitted a representation to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) requesting a standardized format for the reporting under Rule 9A of Companies (Prospectus and allotment of Securities) Rules, 2014 Recently, the Ministry had amended the Companies (Prospectus and Allotment of Securities) Rules, 2014 and inserted Rule 9A pertaining to Issue of securities in dematerialised form by unlisted public companies mandating that Every unlisted public company shall issue the securities only in dematerialised form; and facilitate dematerialisation of all its existing securities in accordance with provisions of the Depositories Act, 1996 and regulations made thereunder. Furthermore, pursuant to sub-rule (8) of rule 9A of the abovementioned rules, The audit report provided under regulation 55A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 1996 shall be submitted by the unlisted public company on a half-yearly basis to the Registrar under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the company is situated. The Regulation 76 of LODR (erstwhile Regulation 55A(1) of the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 1996)states that Every issuer shall submit audit report on a quarterly basis starting from September 30, 2003 to the concerned stock exchanges audited by a qualified chartered accountant or a practicing company secretary, for the purposes of reconciliation of the total issued capital, listed capital and capital held by depositories in dematerialized form , the details of changes in share capital during the quarter and the in-principle approval obtained by the issuer from all stock exchanges where it is listed in respect of such further issued capital. The representation submitted by the ICSI said that it is important to provide a standardize a format of Audit report to the stakeholders and businesses. For this, the ICSI has also submitted a draft of the Format for Reconciliation of Securities Capital Audit Report by Unlisted Companies according to the rules. The Institute also requested the Ministry to not to reject the filings made under rule 9A made in e-form GNL-2 till the time the Government notify the GNL-2.

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ICSI WARNS MEMBERS ON UNSCRUPULOUS PRACTICES ADOPTED FOR E-FORM INC 22A ACTIVE COMPLIANCE

As per Rule 25A of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014 inserted through the Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2019 and further amended through the Companies (Incorporation) Fourth Amendment Rules, 2019, Every company incorporated on or before 31st December, 2017 shall file particulars of the company and its registered office, in e-Form ACTIVE (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification) on or before 15.06.2019. The above initiative of the Ministry can very well be considered as a move to strengthen the existing governance structure thereby bringing in greater stability in the corporate scenario. However, it has been noticed that the compliance of the same is not being undertaken in true letter and spirit and that some of the corporates and professionals are resorting to unscrupulous practices by undertaking multiple appointments and resignations, solely for the purpose of compliance pertaining to e-form INC 22A (ACTIVE) without understanding and realizing the significance of this compliance. For us as professionals, it needs to be understood that the wrongdoing of a few members shall portray the entire profession in a bad light and raise concerns regarding the integrity and ethics of governance professionals. In light of the above as well as the long-term impact of such activities, members of the Institute are advised to ensure complete integrity in their conduct and pursue the profession in an ethical manner. It may please be noted that disciplinary action against such erring member(s) will be initiated under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980.

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MERELY 24% RECOVERY FROM CORPORATE INSOLVENCY CASES IN MARCH QUARTER

Banks would realise just about a quarter of their claims from 12 corporate debt resolution cases in the January-March period, dashing hopes for higher bad loan recovery in the last quarter of the fiscal. The lenders will receive merely 17% of the Rs 29500 crore dues from Alok Industries, raising doubts over the future realization. This is a matter of serious concern. This shows that either there are no tangible assets to back the loans or the assets were overvalued, Ashok Kumar Pradhan, said. The overall bad loan recovery through bankruptcy courts has remained dismal in the first two years of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Banks could realise 43% of the claims in 94 loan default cases that have been resolved after the corporate insolvency resolution process came into effect from December 2016, data from Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India showed. However, the extent of recovery has been a concern ever since. JSW Steel offered about Rs 19,300 crore for Bhushan Power & Steel which was saddled with debt of Rs 47300 crore, while Electrosteel Steels’ Rs 13300 crore debt was resolved at Rs 5300 crore. About 1858 corporate debts have been admitted into National Company Law Tribunals by end of March, 2019. Of these, 152 have been closed on appeal or review or settled, 91 have been withdrawn; 378 have ended in liquidation. Just about 94 cases have been resolved or 13% of the total cases admitted for resolution. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India said 75% of the companies ending in liquidation (283 out of 378) were earlier with BIFR or defunct with no economic value in most of them. In the March quarter, the realisation by banks was 24% of their claims, in comparison to 43% overall. The 24% does not mean banks had to write off 76% of their claims, explained Vinod Kothari, a senior chartered accountant. In fact, he said, a large part of the claims might have been provided for by way of bad loan provisions over time. Most banks have provided 75-100% for bankruptcy cases and therefore recovery against such cases would add directly to their profitability to the extent of provision made. Once the deadwood of the past is cleared the rate may improve, Kothari said.

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359 CASES ADMITTED FOR INSOLVENCY RESOLUTION IN Q4; HIGHEST SINCE ROLLOUT OF IBC

With Indian banks reeling under rising piles of bad loans every year, the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was seen as an avenue for higher recoveries and quicker resolutions. However, as per the latest data, the trend does not suggest so. In its report, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) said that 359 cases had been admitted for corporate insolvency, while only 14 got resolution plan approvals and 73 went into liquidation in the January-March quarter. The process has seen more liquidations than resolutions since inception. So far, 378 cases went into liquidation and only 94 got resolution plans in place, out of the total 1858 cases that were admitted in December 2016. IBC has helped to a great extent but there have been significant delays from a timeline perspective and more cases have gone into liquidation than resolution which raises concerns that were these companies really worth of resolution or were these willful defaulters and are now looking at liquidation, said Vikram Babbar. It needs to be analyzed closely whether a company has been under genuine losses, has intrinsic value and can be turned around. A wilful default or fraudulent case should be treated separately, he added. About 53 percent of the cases that were closed went into liquidation, and 13 percent ended with a resolution plan. However, 75 percent of the cases that went into liquidation were earlier with BIFR and/or defunct, and the economic value in most of these had already eroded before they were admitted, IBBI said. It was also the first time that cases invoked by financial creditors (FCs) were higher than those by operational creditors (OCs). The cases invoked by FCs jumped to 172 from 98 and 84 in the previous two quarters while OCs initiated insolvency in 168 from 161 and 138 cases in the same period. In the cases that were liquidated till March-end, FCs realised 43 percent of the claims in 300 days on an average and at a cost of 0.5 percent, the report said.

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AXIS BANK REFERS TWO MORE LANCO GROUP COMPANIES TO NCLT

Axis Bank has dragged two more Lanco group companies to the bankruptcy court for defaulting on their loans, intensifying an ongoing legal battle between the private sector bank and the Hyderabad-based infrastructure and energy group, two people familiar with the development said. The two companies collectively owe banks around Rs 4,000 crore, with Axis Bank accounting for a major portion of the loans disbursed to them, said the sources cited earlier.

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IDBI BANK SEEKS MORE TIME FOR JAYPEE INFRATECH RESOLUTION

IDBI Bank, the debt stressed Jaypee Infratech’s lead lender, has approached the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to seek an extension to insolvency proceedings beyond the current deadline of May 6, even as the voting for Suraksha Realty’s bid begins from Tuesday. Two people familiar with the development said that the NCLT’s bench heard IDBI’s plea on Monday but scheduled a hearing on May 6 which also happens to be the deadline to complete the insolvency process for debt-hit realtor. Home buyers and lenders’ e-voting is expected to continue for three days starting Tuesday and the outcome will be known by Friday, said one of the persons mentioned above. The Sudhir Valia-promoted Suraksha Realty-led consortium is the only bidder left in the fray after bankers rejected the bid of state owned NBCC for lack of approvals from government authorities.

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TRIBUNAL ADJOURNS SBI'S CASE AGAINST RUIAS FOR RECOVERY OF DUES TILL MAY 15

The State Bank of India (SBI), which had filed debt recovery suit against Prashant & Ravi Ruia, before the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) Ahmedabad, has been adjourned to 15th May. On Monday, a hearing was scheduled for debt recovery suit filed seven months ago by SBI seeking attachment of global assets of Ruias to recover its balance Essar Steel dues, through debt recovery proceedings at the DRT. However, as per the SBI’s petition filed at DRT Ahmedabad, SBI wants to recover Rs11000 crore, as per the lawyers at the court said. Essar Steel lenders led by the SBI have saddled with dues of over Rs 63000 crore, including overdue interest and penalties. As per Arcelor Mittal’s Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC) resolution plan, SBI will receive only a part of its dues (Rs 42000 crore), leaving lenders with balance dues, which includes principal, overdue interest and penalties. He further said that personal guarantees were extended for only part of secured loans (approximately Rs 11,000 crore). Considering recovery as above from the approved resolution plan, there may not be any shortfall and guarantees are not at risk.

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SOLVE ISSUES OF COS UNDER DEBT: NCLAT

The chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Justice SK Mukhopadhaya, stated on Sunday that functional companies boost the economy and are a source of income for families. He called upon the authorities and professionals to try to resolve the crisis at debt-ridden companies. Justice Mukhopadhaya said that a company can escape liquidation before filing an application and admission. Even after filing, it can exit before it is admitted. After admission too, the company can withd-raw before the CoC is formed. In the fourth method, even after the CoC is formed, the company can invoke Section 12-A of the Companies Act and clear dues. The fifth way involved the company preparing its own resolution plan approved by a third party. In the sixth stage, he cited an example where firms were allowed to make arrangements under Sec 230 of Companies Act. The seventh stage was liquidation.

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GOVT MAY DEBAR DELOITTE FOR FIVE YEARS OVER ALLEGED MISCONDUCT IN IL&FS CASE

Even as Deloitte Haskins and Sells remains perched precariously on the high wire over its questionable role in the IL&FS audit process, it appears that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs may invoke section 140 (5) of the Companies Act to debar the firm for alleged malpractice in IL&FS accounts. This extreme action is being warranted after Deloitte's alleged misdemeanours and conduct in the IL&FS case. This Section essentially looks at the following:

_(5) Without prejudice to any action under the provisions of this Act or any other law for the time being in force, the Tribunal either suo motu or on an application made to it by the Central Government or by any person concerned, if it is satisfied that the auditor of a company has, whether directly or indirectly, acted in a fraudulent manner or abetted or colluded in any fraud by, or in relation to, the company or its directors or officers, it may, by order, direct the company to change its auditors._

If this were to happen, it will be the second such instance after Price Waterhouse was nailed in the Satyam scam. In January, 2018, nine years after the Satyam scandal stunned corporate India, SEBI banned Price Waterhouse (PW) from providing audit services to listed companies and market intermediaries for two years in the Satyam fraud. Two PW partners were banned for three years. The regulator also imposed a disgorgement of Rs 130.9 million on Price Waterhouse, and two of its chartered accountants - S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri. The three entities also have to pay 12 per cent interest on the disgorgement amount since January 7, 2009, in 45 days from the date of the order. Further, it said that no listed company or intermediary registered with SEBI to be engaged with any audit firm associated with the PW network for issuing any certificate with respect to compliance of statutory obligations which SEBI is competent to administer and enforce, under various laws for a period of two years. These entities were charged under SEBI prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (FUTP) regulation. Deloitte spokesperson told IANS: The investigations on the company IFIN are in progress and we are cooperating fully. We reaffirm that we have conducted our audits in accordance with the Standards on Auditing and applicable laws and regulations.

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NCLAT TO HEAR 63 MOONS’ BOARD SUPERSESSION ISSUE

The Centre, seeking to supersede 63 Moons’ board, has told an appeals court that it would examine the dwindling of a dedicated fund used to square trades on the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) before the mothballed platform was hit by a Rs 5,600-crore scam six years ago. NSEL is a subsidiary of 63 Moons and its settlement guarantee fund (SGF) had a corpus of Rs 790 crore. In an affidavit, the Centre also said that it would look into the affairs of a former 63 Moons’ subsidiary NBHC, and find an untainted buyer (for 63 Moons) to replace the original promoter if the NCLAT allowed it to take management control of 63 Moons. All these actions could be expedited in 18 months if management control is granted, reads the Centre’s affidavit. There is no provision in Indian law that authorises suspension of the rights of shareholders of a listed limited company in the absence of findings of gross illegalities arrived at after a detailed judicial trial, said the 63 Moons spokesperson.

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SHARE PLEDGING CURB STUMPS COMPANIES, PROMOTERS

A seemingly innocuous clause in the new, tighter insider trading regulations that took effect on April 1 is giving Indian companies a hard time in the ongoing earnings season. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has extended the period during which management and promoters aren’t allowed to trade in their company’s shares before earnings announcements. What had gone unnoticed was that the regulator also included share pledging by promoters in this window. Company promoters looking to raise money by pledging shares have been caught off guard in the current earnings season, said experts. According to the new rules, trading restrictions for company insiders start from the end of every quarter and are lifted 48 hours after the declaration of results. That could mean an extended period for companies that report late in the season. It closes about 200 days for trading and possible fund raising through pledge of shares (leaving aside other corporate action days) every year, said Ankur Jain. All listed companies are required to specify the period in which the trading window is closed for promoters, directors and employees when they are in possession of unpublished price-sensitive information. The trading window is also applicable to auditors, accountancy firms, law firms, analysts and consultants who are assisting or advising the company. It stays closed during announcements such as financial results, dividends, mergers, takeovers, buybacks, public and rights issues and major expansion plans. Previously, only buying and selling of shares by these individuals or entities constituted insider trading, not pledging. Most companies announce results within 15-20 days of the end of every quarter and about 45 days of the full year. That also restricts about four months for trading and fund raising, Jain said. This will have farreaching impact for company promoters and its employees. With the new rules, compliance has gone up, said a member of the committee. There is lot of suspicion that lot of trading takes place during results. Results are fairly critical information. People who are involved in result preparation are privy to unpublished price-sensitive information.

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SBI STEPS UP HIRING TO HANDLE INSOLVENCY CASES

In a bid to step up its efforts to control non-performing assets (NPAs), the State Bank of India (SBI) is hiring more bankruptcy and legal firms to strengthen its stressed assets team to handle cases of above Rs 100 crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The bank seeks to empanel advocates/law firms for handling cases of above Rs 100 crore, the SBI said. Though cases under the IBC are delayed, it will still be the preferred mechanism as compared to other tools. In the third quarter of the last fiscal, the SBI had posted a profit of Rs 3,955 crore while its asset quality improved with gross NPAs falling to Rs 1.87 lakh crore from Rs 2.05 lakh crore recorded in the previous quarter.

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IBC SUCCESS STORY: RESOLUTION PLANS HELP CREDITORS, SICK FIRMS BOTH

The resolution plans under the insolvency and bankruptcy code or IBC have yielded 200% of the liquidation value for creditors, highlighting the efficiency of IBC mechanism. The plans also helped to rescue the viable firms from bankruptcy, M S Sahoo said. The creditors are able to realize 45% of their claims under IBC, which takes on average 300 days compared with a recovery of 25% under the previous regime which took up to 5 years for resolution. With the enactment of IBC, tolerance for default has disappeared and now it has become an obligation to repay the loan unlike earlier when repayment was just an option, Sahoo said. A stakeholder may initiate CIRP( corporate insolvency resolution process) to recover its dues from the firm which failed to repay its debt for the first time. If the resolution process is initiated, the code shifts control from the debtor to creditors for resolution of insolvency cases, Sahoo said while further adding that through the process of resolution, the ownership often shifts to third parties. While acknowledging the support of Judiciary, Government and the Regulators in facilitating the implementation of the Code, Sahoo said the stock market regulator SEBI has exempted acquisitions under resolution plans from making public offers under the takeover code and Reserve Bank of India has allowed external commercial borrowing for resolution applicants to repay domestic term loans. He further added that competition commission of India has devised a special route for speedy approvals for combinations envisaged under resolution plans.

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SEBI REDUCES MINIMUM NET WORTH REQUIREMENTS FOR CLEARING CORP IN IFSC

Clearing corporations operating in international financial services centre should have at least Rs 100 crore net worth from three years of commencing operations, Sebi said Friday as it reduced the minimum requirement level. This net worth requirement in the form of liquid assets has been brought down from the earlier Rs 300 crore. However, the minimum net worth required to be held in liquid assets for clearing corporations on the commencement of operations remains the same as Rs 50 crore or the capital determined as per the Sebi norms.

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HOW BANKRUPTCY REGULATOR HARD SELLS STRESSED ASSETS TO GLOBAL FUNDS

The Indian insolvency watchdog has stepped on the gas to resolve the bankruptcy crisis by seeking to rope in more global investors. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) chairman MS Sahoo earlier this week led a 10-member team to Hong Kong to individually meet over a dozen investors with dedicated focus on stressed assets. This is the first such occasion where IBBI went abroad to meet investors individually. The next round of stake sale in troubled companies would be an opportunity for PE funds, said a participant investor. Most of the assets available now are from the steel or power sector. The next round could be interesting, he said.

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BAD DEBT NORMS: RBI TO SEEK ELECTION COMMISSION NOD

After much deliberation, the RBI is expected to approach the Election Commission to put in place a new circular on bad debt resolution, paving the way for smooth implementation of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code and loan restructuring by banks. It is now coming to the view that an explicit approval from the Election Commission is required as it is a new policy decision. The EC code of conduct specifically exempted the conduct of monetary policy, which is considered crucial for the economy. The circular issued in February 2018 had caused consternation among banks and corporates for three reasons. First, it did away with all the debt restructuring scheme. Second, it forced lenders to arrive at a resolution acceptable to 100% of creditors within 180 days of a default failing which they had to initiate bankruptcy proceedings. It made the process of resolution tougher as the plan had to certified by a rating agency and required a fifth of the principal to be repaid within a year. If the promoter was not in a position to repay within a year, the lenders would have to take the borrower to NCLT. Lenders were expecting that the RBI would dilute a condition requiring 100% of approval among lenders. They were also expecting that it would relax restructuring norms so that banks are not forced to drag borrowers like power companies to NCLT where the scope of recovery would be dim given the nature of the projects which had little liquidation value. The quashing of the circular also makes it difficult for lenders to enforce their original plan of Jet Airways where they would convert one rupee of debt into 50% of the company’s equity.

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RBI'S REVISED GUIDELINES FOR RESOLUTION OF STRESSED ASSETS LIKELY BEFORE MAY 23

The Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha polls is unlikely to have any bearing on issuance of a revised framework for resolution of stressed assets by the Reserve Bank and the guidelines are expected to be announced before May 23, sources said. The model code of conduct exempts RBI's monetary policy. It is unlikely to attract any action if the RBI issues the revised (February 12) circular, sources said. They said the central bank is in very advanced stage and the revised circular should be out before declaration of general elections result. The RBI is looking into all the concerns raised by various stakeholders including banks and power sector companies and may look to tweak the circular without diluting it completely so that the momentum towards resolution of stressed assets is not affected, sources said.

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JAYPEE INSOLVENCY CASE: LEAD LENDER IDBI SEEKS DEADLINE EXTENSION

Debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech's lead lender IDBI Monday approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking extension of insolvency proceedings beyond the May 6 deadline as the process is still underway to find a buyer for the Jaypee group's realty firm. The bank has approached the Allahabad bench of the NCLT court to extend the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) as the deadline expires on May 6, sources said. The NCLT has posted the matter on May 6 for the next hearing.

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AXIS, STANC CEOS GET NCLT CONTEMPT NOTICES

The NCLT on Friday issued contempt notices to the heads of Axis Bank and StandardC for allowing the former head of ILFS Financial Services Ramesh Chandra Bawa to withdraw money and access the lockers in breach of its orders, and directed them to reply in two weeks. The tribunal posted the matter for further hearing on June 7. The Mumbai bench of NCLT issued contempt notices to Axis Bank CEO Amitabh Chaudhry, Standard Chartered Bank India CEO Zarin Daruwala and Bawa after the corporate affairs ministry alleged that the banks facilitated Bawa to withdraw/transfer money from their accounts to his wife Ashakiran and daughter Akansha, apart from letting him access the lockers. Ministry’s counsel Sanjay Shorey, in a separate petition, also sought to implead Ashakiran and Akansha as they are the beneficiaries of these funds.

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JAYPEE INFRATECH INSOLVENCY: NBCC WANTS ITS BID TO BE CONSIDERED ON MERIT

As its bid to acquire debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech got rejected by the lenders panel, state-owned NBCC has written to interim resolution professional (IRP) that the company is interested in taking over Jaypee group’s realty firm and its offer should be considered on merit. Anuj Jain, said it would soon get the approvals of various government departments on its revised offer submitted on April 24. The public sector unit emphasised that its resolution plan to revive Jaypee Infratech safeguards the interests of bankers as well as home-buyers. A committee of creditors (CoC), in its meeting on April 26, decided not to consider NBCC’s bid as it was subject to the approval of various government departments. To protect financial creditors that has an exposure of nearly ₹ 9,800 crore in the Jaypee Infratech, NBCC said it has offered ₹ 5,000 crore worth of land as well as 100 per cent equity in Yamuna Expressway. The Expressway, which connects Noida to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, is the only cash generating asset (₹ 350 crore annually as toll income) lying with the Jaypee Infratech.

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RCOM AGAIN MISSES SPECTRUM PAYMENT

Reliance Communications (RCom) has missed the deadline of paying the telecom department spectrum dues worth Rs 492 crore, a government official said, making this the Anil Ambani-owned carrier’s third default in a row. The debt-laden operator, which has decided to file for bankruptcy protection, said it does not have to pay the dues because of an earlier appellate order. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on its part, said it will wait for the tribunal’s order before sending a show cause notice or withdrawing the spectrum of the operator. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will next hear the case on April 30. The tribunal on that day will also hear RCom’s application to be allowed to file for insolvency in the designated court. The last date for paying the government Rs 492 crore was April 19 which includes the 10-day grace period, said a person aware of the development. The operator had earlier missed paying DoT Rs 281 crore that was due on April 5 and Rs 21crore which fell due on March 13. The March dues were for the Mumbai circle, after which the DoT sent a show cause notice to the telco, seeking reasons why its licence and spectrum shouldn’t be withdrawn. However, the government faced a roadblock when the appellate tribunal stayed DoT’s show-cause notice. The telco argued in court that it should be exempted from paying the dues because it was under a payment moratorium from an earlier appellate order related to a separate filing for insolvency, and therefore, its licence cannot be revoked. RCom also said the department was yet to return Rs 2,000 crore of bank guarantees despite a separate appellate court order. It added the DoT had encashed an excess of Rs 750 crore of bank guarantees over the past few years, which must be returned as well.

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DELHI HIGH COURT TO HEAR NSE CO-LOCATION SCAM PIL ON APRIL 30

The controversy over the NSE co-location scam refuses to die down. The Delhi High Court will Tuesday hear a public interest litigation (PIL) related to the over Rs 50,000 crore NSE co-location scam, which shocked the Indian financial system few years back. The PIL came from a CBI complaint filed in August 2017–which sought apex court’s directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for increasing the ambit and scope of its investigations in the NSE co location scam. The petitioner has in the PIL contended that National Stock of Exchange had abused its market position and helped deviant brokers and politicians make unlawful and illegal gains, thereby rendering the institutional set up of exchanges itself at risk. It has also been alleged that SEBI has not taken any action against such brokers from NSE, it’s concerned officers and other culpable persons.

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ESSAR STEEL: SBI MOVES TO ENCASH RUIAS’ ₹15,000-CR GUARANTEE

With the debt recovery process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code getting delayed, State Bank of India has moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) to encash personal guarantees worth ₹15,000 crore extended by the promoters of Essar Steel. In one of the largest-ever personal guarantee cases filed in India, SBI has moved the tribunal in Ahmedabad with a suit against Prashant and Ravi Ruia — Essar Steel’s promoters — to recover the amount. An Essar official, who did not want to be named, said the promoter guarantees are not at risk because the ongoing debt resolution process will repay at least 92 per cent of the debt to the secured financial creditors. Under the insolvency process, admitted claims of secured financial creditors of Essar Steel amounted to ₹45,000 crore.

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SEBI SLAPS RS 70 LAKH PENALTY ON 14 ENTITIES FOR FRAUDULENT TRADE

Sebi levied a total fine of Rs 70 lakh on 14 entities for fraudulent and manipulative trading in the stock options segment on the BSE. The probe found that the entities were among those that had bought and sold option contracts with the same counter parties and also reversed their trades in less than few minutes from its earlier buy or sell trades, at substantial price difference, Sebi noted in separate orders. The said reversal trades are non-genuine as they are not executed in normal course of trading, lacks basic trading rationale and lead to false or misleading appearance of trading in terms of generation of artificial volume, hence are deceptive and manipulative, Sebi said in similarly worded separate orders.

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FOREX RESERVE FALLS BY $739 MILLION TO $414.14 BILLION

After rising for the past many weeks, the country's foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 739.2 million to USD 414.147 billion in the week to April 19, RBI data showed Friday. In the reporting week, foreign currency assets, which are a major component of the overall reserves, fell by USD 728.6 million to USD 386.033 billion. Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 23.303 billion, according to the data. The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund was down by USD 3.2 million to USD 1.455 billion.

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BANK OF BARODA GOES IN FOR NEW ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Bank of Baroda—the recently created banking behemoth post its three way amalgamation with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank—is going in for organisation structure revamp to improve the overall efficiency of operations and have better control and monitoring mechanisms in the combined entity. For this purpose, this bank—which now in all has 9447 branches—-has decided to introduce a new layer in the organisational hierarchy by creating a position of General Manager—-Chief Coordination. The position of General Manager—Chief Coordination will be a rank above the General Manager and one level below the Executive Director and will be responsible for and drive multiple areas of operation instead of a single function, P.S.Jayakumar, said. All the 9447 branches will now report to an unified Regional Office/Zonal Office structure of the bank and there will not be any separate ROs/ZOs of the individual three entities running in parallel. The domestic retail network of branches is now being organised under 18 zones and five field heads of Retail Distribution who in turn will have overall responsibility for driving business of 2 to 5 business under them. In the revised structure, apart from the 18 zones, there will now be a total of 108 regions. It is also proposed to gradually move to a city vertical structure in 5 cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai, to start with, according to Jayakumar.

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AS GILL SHINES SUNLIGHT ON YES BANK’S PAST, INVESTORS GET READY FOR PAIN

Looks like Yes Bank’s new boss Ravneet Gill is taking a chapter out of the American litigator Louis Brandeis’s philosophy. Brandeis had famously said, Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman. Gill has thrown sunlight on every nook and corner of the private bank, which was until January headed by founder Rana Kapoor. Kapoor was ousted by the regulator after it found that corporate governance practices were compromised, leading to a sharp divergence in bad loan assessment during his tenure. What Gill found out was nasty. The lender hadn’t recognised all defaulting accounts as bad and had grossly under-provided for them. Ergo, Gill made a choice to report the largest quarterly loss in the bank’s history and provided ₹3,661 crore, which is understood to be largely towards exposure to Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and Jet Airways. IL&FS is already a defaulter and Jet Airways shut operations a week ago. But these two accounts are just a part of a series of other bad decisions in the past. The above-mentioned two accounts were responsible for only 31% of total slippages. Gill’s move to mend past ways and come clean on digressions means two things to investors. One, there will be no nasty surprises in the future similar to what happened during Kapoor’s reign. This is good news as investors love a clean image and loathe uncertainties. But there is no gain without pain and the promise of a strong and stable balance sheet comes with some sacrifices as well. Investors will have to give up the hopes of phenomenal growth, a promise made by Kapoor. Gill has promised a more modest growth rate of 25% for Yes Bank henceforth, a far cry from the 40-50% gallop in the previous three fiscal years. For FY19, the bank had to settle for an 18% growth in advances.

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JAN-MAR PE INVESTMENT DEAL VALUE TOUCHES USD 8,451 MN: REPORT

Private equity investments worth USD 6,198 million were announced last month, taking the total deal value during the January-March quarter to USD 8,451 million, largely driven by big ticket investments, says a report. According to Grant Thornton's PE Dealtracker, 69 PE investments worth USD 6,198 million were announced in March, registering a significant jump from USD 1,382 million in the year-ago period. In January-March period, there were 182 PE deals worth USD 8,451 million, recording a twofold jump in the investment values on account of increased big-ticket deals that saw 11 investments attracting funds in the range of USD 100-500 million. On the other hand, 118 transactions in the startup and e-commerce sector and 15 transactions in the banking and financial sector, led the PE volume chart.

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BANK OF MAHARASHTRA POSTS NET PROFIT OF RS 72 CRORE IN MARCH QUARTER

State-owned Bank of Maharashtra Monday posted a net profit of Rs 72.38 crore in the quarter ended March 31. The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 113.51 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Its total income during the January-March quarter of 2018-19 stood at Rs 3,160.79 crore in the March quarter, up from Rs 3,094.46 crore in the year-ago quarter, the bank said in a release. On the assets front, gross bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank came down to 16.40 per cent of the gross advances as on March 31, 2019, from 19.48 per cent a year ago. Net bad loans came down sharply to 5.52 per cent from 11.24 per cent a year ago. In respect of IL&FS group accounts, performing as well as non-performing, the bank has made 100 per cent provisioning amounting to Rs 387.53 crore during the year ending March 31, 2019, it said.

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PACL CASE: DEADLINE FOR INVESTORS TO SUBMIT CLAIMS EXTENDED TILL JULY 31

Investors of PACL can submit their applications seeking claims till July 31, with R M Lodha committee extending the deadline. The deadline for submitting applications was to end on April 30. However, in view of representations received, the committee has decided to extend the last date of receipt of applications from April 30, 2019 to July 31, 2019, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a release on Friday.

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RATING CUT FOR TWO RELIANCE GROUP COMPANY PAPERS ALARMS MARKET

Mutual funds and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are getting the shivers over possible adverse investor reaction to sharp downgrades of Reliance Home Finance (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance (RCFL) debt instruments stemming from the financial status of the indebted Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group. The market has been jittery since the shock default by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in September last year sparked a liquidity crisis that hit NBFCs. One of the ripple effects has been the inability of some mutual funds to make payments on time to fixed maturity plans subscribers after investing in unsecured corporate debt. Borrowing costs may rise and liquidity may shrink in the debt market with key investors such as mutual funds holding back on investments. Fund houses may also raise their cash position, expecting a surge in redemptions as in the aftermath of the default by IL&FS. Whenever there is a default, lenders tighten norms of lending, said Ramesh Iyer. Two things will happen — first money becomes costly and second it may not be available for all. Lenders may characterise risks differently and some people might find it difficult to raise funds. NBFCs with good ALM (asset and liability) norms are able to borrow based on fresh disbursement needs, he said. The differential between triple-A NBFCs and non-triple A ones is now in the range of 60-100 basis points compared with 20-40 basis points before August last year, traders said. The gap may widen further by 20-30 basis points. One basis point is onehundredth of a percentage point. RHFL and RCFL have delayed bank loan repayments.

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NCLT REJECTS MAINTAINABILITY PLEA FILED BY KIRLOSKAR BROS

In a relief to brothers Rahul and Atul Kirloskar, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed the maintainability petition filed by their sibling Sanjay Kirloskar-controlled company Kirloskar Brothers (KBL). BSE-listed KBL has challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the petition filed by Kirloskar Industries (KIL). Maintainability petition decides whether a case can be legislated in a court of law. Atul Kirloskar-controlled Kirloskar Industries had initially filed a petition at the NCLT in 2017 to oust sibling Sanjay Kirloskar as chairman and managing director of Kirloskar Brothers, alleging oppression and mismanagement in the group’s flagship company. The petition also sought the removal of the rest of the current board members and appointment of their own nominees on the board. The petition also sought to highlight the difficulties Rahul and Atul had over either purchasing or selling shares of KBL. KBL argued that the contention raised by Atul and Rahul over shares can be contested before Sebi as the market regulator has the sole jurisdiction to look into the matter, and not the NCLT. It is pertinent to mention that the main relief sought in the petition under Section 241 and 242 of the Companies Act are the relief based on the alleged act of irregularities of the compliance officer of the respondent the company, observed the division bench presided over by VP Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy. The tribunal, in its 14-page order, while dismissing the maintainability application filed by Kirloskar Brothers also observed that the jurisdiction of NCLT regarding the alleged act of oppression and mismanagement under section 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013 is exclusive. The genesis of the dispute in the 130-year-old group lies in the deed of family settlement (DFS) that happened in 2009. The Kirloskars had entered a DFS in 2009 to distribute their assets in the form of shares of various companies of the group and cash held in trust and investment companies, among them, signatories of DFS, to avoid a potential dispute within the family.

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MCNALLY BHARAT ENGINEERING RECLASSIFIES EMC AS ITS PROMOTER SHAREHOLDER

McNally Bharat Engineering (MBEL), an associate company of the Williamson Magor Group (WMG) has reclassified its former promoter EMC Ltd as a public shareholder in the firm even as MBEL faces insolvency proceedings before the NCLT's Kolkata bench. The company will seek approval from its shareholders in the next 2-3 months via postal ballot over this reclassification. EMC said it doesn’t participate directly or indirectly in any of MBEL's activities or exercise any control over the affairs of the company. EMC doesn't hold any managerial position at MBEL that prompted it to seek a reclassification of its shareholding. A source in MBEL said that although the company had narrowed down on this decision in November 2018. On the other hand, EMC's stake in MBEL has been on a steady decline. EMC's director, Manoj Toshniwal said, The shares of EMC were pledged and the lenders are invoking their pledge. This is the reason behind decline in stake. Sources close to EMC said that the overall business sentiment in engineering, procurement and construction business had been muted in the country over the past few years which affected EMC’s business.

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SC RULES AGAINST 63 MOONS-NSEL MERGER

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against the government decision to merge 63 Moons with crisis ridden and loss making National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). The apex court allowed an appeal against a Bombay High Court order that upheld the merger decision. We have allowed the appeal, said a bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran in their judgment setting aside the High Court order. Justice Nariman said that the bench has set down certain norms that includes the objective criteria and public interest for taking recourse to such a merger. The 63 Moons had moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's verdict giving nod to the government decision to merge it with its loss making subsidiary NSEL.

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DEFAULT IN DEBT MUTUAL FUNDS PROMPTS SEBI TO LOOK AT TIGHTENING RULES

In light of recent defaults by various companies on their debt papers, to which several mutual funds had sizeable exposure, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to revisit regulations relating to mutual funds to safeguard investor interests. Finance Ministry sources said the move comes after recent defaults in various fixed maturity plans (FMPs) by several mutual funds. Closed-ended fixed maturity plans pose serious risk to investors as there is no real time monitoring and investors are dependent only on the fund manager. We are discussing these issues and how regulatory loopholes can be plugged, a senior official said. The market regulator is expected to review investment restrictions imposed on funds at the issuer level and sector level. The limits on the exposure that funds can take in debt securities issued by a single company and a corporate group could be reduced to provide higher diversification, sources said. As per existing SEBI rules, asset management companies need to ensure that the total exposure of debt schemes of mutual funds in a group does not exceed 20 per cent of the net assets of the scheme. This can extended to 25 per cent of net assets of the scheme with the prior approval of the Board of Trustees of the respective fund house. These limits, however, do not apply to investments in securities issued by public sector units, public financial institutions and public sector banks. With total investment in a single group capped at 20-25 per cent at present, a debt mutual fund can pass the regulatory test even if it has only four to five securities in its portfolio. This kind of concentration risk can be avoided by going for higher diversification, the source said. The regulator is also learnt to be closely watching the process followed by rating agencies in assigning credit ratings to some of these securities. Regulatory norms for investment in unrated debt papers are also expected to be tightened further, the sources said. Over the last month, there has been a debate on mutual fund exposure to illiquid debt papers. Though MF exposure to IL&FS Group companies in 2018 came as a setback to investors, missives from Kotak Mutual Fund and HDFC MF to their investors, earlier this month, resulted in a scare in the market. Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund acknowledged that its FMP Series 183 had almost 27 per cent of the scheme corpus invested in IL&FS Transportation Networks Limited and two Essel Group companies – Edisons Utility Works and Konti Infrapower & Multiventures. It said that as on September 9, 2018, the scheme had 7.37% of AUM invested in papers of ITNL and as on March 29, 2019, the scheme had 19.24 per cent of AUM invested in papers of Konti and Edisons. While the fund house had already written off investment in ITNL, it looked to assure the investors that it said that the fund house is working towards optimal recovery from two Zee Group companies.

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PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK, UNION BANK, BANK OF INDIA IN TALKS FOR MERGER: REPORT

Some public sector banks may soon receive an invitation from the government to discuss another round of mergers in the sector, official told. These may include Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank of India (UBI) and Bank of India (BoI). We wouldn't like to wait for too long. If the banks are not able to provide options, then the alternate mechanism (AM) group can make suggestions, the official told the newspaper. He hinted there could be a merger in the second or third quarter of the current fiscal. The merger process of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank had started in October last year. On April 1, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged into Bank of Baroda to form the third-largest bank in the country. However, the official said the second merger does not have to involve three parties. We will be looking at various combinations. It has to be organic. Besides, we will like some of these large banks to further consolidate their balance sheets in the first two quarters, the official told.

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SEARCH TO FIND BIDDER FOR APPU GHAR EXTENDED BY 69 DAYS

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has granted an additional 69 days to the internal resolution professional (IRP) appointed to find a competent bidder to address the financial problems of the International Recreation Amusement Limited (IRAL), better known as Appu Ghar, in Sector 29. IRP Pramod Kumar Sharma said he has been given time till July 8 to address the problem. My 270-day (nine months) tenure ends on April 30 and during this period we could not find a suitable bidder, but the process is underway and we hope it will be decided in a week or two. We requested the NCLT to grant us some more time. The NCLT gave us 69 days, Sharma said, adding that a few bidders have been shortlisted and the matter will be discussed in a meeting with investors on May 6. At least 1,200 investors were offered investment opportunities in Appu Ghar with a proposed mall and food court. According to sources, the IRP has shortlisted two bidders, and the matter will be discussed at a meeting of committee of creditors (COC) on May 6.

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NCLT ORDERS INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST KARUR KCP PACKKAGINGS

The Chennai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered insolvency process against Tamil Nadu-based publicly-listed packaging company Karur KCP Packkagings on a petition moved by Karur Vysya Bank (KVB). The bank moved the NCLT alleging default of 121-crore debt and sought insolvency proceedings against the company. Claiming that the outstanding amount was 121.22 crore as on September 2018, apart from $18.33 million (131.976 crore) standby letter of credit limit with the packaging firm, KVB said the packaging firm has been a long standing customer of the bank and it had sanctioned various types of loans to the company. The loans sanctioned include 52.75 crore under a consortium arrangement, another 39.99 crore outside of consortium, a standby letter of credit to the tune of $30 million and an inland letter of credit and foreign letter of credit exceeding and a deposit loan to an extent of 5.80 crore. The company had provided various documents as collateral security to the bank and the consortium of banks. The NCLT order observed that after availing various loans under various heads and executing the documents in favour of the bank, the company did not maintain financial discipline. Its borrowal accounts remained continuously irregular despite repeated requests and several reminders by the bank.

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TREAT OUR JAYPEE OFFER ON MERIT: NBCC

The state-owned NBCC has written to the interim resolution professional (IRP) that the company is interested in taking over Jaypee group firm and its offer should be considered on merit. Even IDBI, the lead lender for Japyee, has approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to extend the insolvency proceedings beyond the May 6 deadline as the process is still on to find a buyer for the group’s realty firm. NBCC has approached the IPR after its bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech was rejected by lenders. NBCC, which is also completing some projects of Amrapali group on Supreme Court's direction, said its offer safeguards the interests of bankers as well as homebuyers. In its meeting on April 26, a committee of creditors (CoC) decided not to consider NBCC's bid as it was subject to approval of various government authorities. NBCC had in the meeting sought some time to take all the necessary approvals. However, the lenders decided to put on vote on April 30 the offer of Suraksha Realty-led consortium and not that of NBCC. Anuj Jain, NBCC has said it is very much interested in acquiring bankruptcy-bound Jaypee Infratech and its resolution plan should be considered on merit. NBCC had informed to the lenders during the meet on April 26 that the company was in process of seeking government approvals and it should be given some time before the voting could be carried out, the letter said. Meanwhile, IDBI has approached the Allahabad bench of the NCLT to extend the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) as the deadline expires on May 6. NCLT has posted the matter on May 6 for hearing. Earlier, NCLT had granted extension to lenders and IPR to complete the CIRP.

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AMRAPALI CASE: DHONI MOVES SC SEEKING PROTECTION OF OWNERSHIP RIGHTS

Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has moved the Supreme Court seeking protection of his ownership rights on an over 5,500-square feet penthouse he booked 10 year ago in a project of embattled Amrapali Group. Dhoni filed an application in the court through his lawyer, after receiving a notice from apex court-appointed forensic auditors seeking clarification on certain aspects of the purchase.This application is being moved by the applicant (Dhoni) to protect his rights qua his ownership and possession of Penthouse apartment in Amrapali Sapphire phase-1 which was agreed to be sold to him vide agreement dated August 31, 2009, Dhoni said in the application, filed through advocate Shekhar Kumar. The apex court is scheduled to hear the Amrapali matter on April 30. Dhoni said the apex court had on December 5 last year directed the forensic auditors to issue individual notices to home buyers who booked the flats on a paltry sum. The former team India captain said his authorised representative has given a detailed reply to the notice sent by the forensic auditors. Dhoni said he has paid Rs 20 lakh for the property but only some work for the penthouse has been done and he has not been given the possession.

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UTTAM VALUE, GALVA LENDERS IGNORED HIGHER BID

Within days of CarVal Investors securing the support of lenders to Uttam Value and Uttam Galva Metallics, it has been learnt that the bankers to the distressed steel companies had ignored a higher bid from a consortium led by SSG Capital. The higher offer of Rs 3,300 crore made by SSG Capital Management and Synergy Metals and Mining Fund contained an upfront payment of Rs 1,000 crore against Rs 625 crore offered by CarVal, said two persons in the know. Additionally, the consortium was putting in Rs 250 crore for the operational improvement of the assets against Rs 100 crore committed by Car-Val. It also had a shorter repayment period of 3.5 years against 5 years put down by the winning bidder. It throws up an important question — why a higher offer wasn’t chosen by the banks? wondered one of the persons. Nithia, a mere £1,000 company in terms of assets, had also named Johannes Sittard (another former ArcelorMittal executive) as part of the management team in the resolution plan. The offer is being executed through a trust set up by Asset Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil) and will cause the banks to take a 60% haircut. SSG Capital had sweetened its earlier offer of Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 3,300 crore on April 15, but the lenders, primarily State Bank of India that has the maximum exposure to the assets, chose to keep it aside, the persons said.

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308 RERA PROJECTS IN AP, SAYS REPORT

Two years after the enactment of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, (RERA), the Act is gathering momentum in different states according to Anarock Property Consultants, a real-estate consulting firm. Andhra Pradesh, which notified the RERA rules in March 2017, currently has 307 RERA-registered projects Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock, said in a statement on Monday. RERA intended to cover developers as well as real estate agents seamlessly across the country. As it stands now, 22 states and six Union Territories have already notified their RERA rules, out of which 19 states have active online portals. West Bengal too has an active portal for its own real estate law. Maharashtra still leads with 20,718 projects and about 19,699 RERA-registered real estate agents, followed by Gujarat with 5,317 RERA-registered projects and 899 registered agents and agencies, and Karnataka with 2,530 projects and about 1,342 RERA-registered real estate agents, the statement said. If we look closely into each of the states with active portals, project and agent registrations have been on the rise since November 2018. More so, even while buyers have been continuously fretting about the dilution of the rules notified, they are bestowing their faith in the law and coming forward in bulk to raise their complaints against faulty developers for myriad reasons including project delays. However, there are also cases wherein despite RERA notifications to defaulting builders who have been summoned to pay penalty to buyers, they are delaying payments or not attending hearings, Puri said. Nevertheless, things are changing for the better. Generally, players are far more accountable and cannot easily get away with breaking the RERA rules, he said.

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STATE SECOND IN NUMBER OF WORKS UNDER RERA

Gujarat has left behind all other Indian states except Maharashtra in registration of projects under the new realty law — Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) — which had come into effect almost two years ago. As many as 5,317 real estate projects have so far been registered with Gujarat’s real estate regulatory authority, the number being the second highest in India after Maharashtra, shows data compiled by ANAROCK Property Consultants. Apart from this, 889 real estate agents and agencies have registered themselves with the RERA authority in the state. Maharashtra tops the list of states in RERA compliance with 20,718 registered realty projects and about 19,699 real estate agents. According ANAROCK, project and real estate agent registrations have been on the rise across most states from November 2018 to April 2019. Maharashtra leads the race followed by Gujarat. The compliance in Gujarat is very strong due to the laying of a well thought-out regulatory regime. There were technological and transitional issues, but the state regulator proactively provided handholding support to promoters and professionals, said a real estate industry expert. Banks would realise just about a quarter of their claims from 12 corporate debt resolution cases in January-March 2019, dashing hopes of higher bad loan recovery in the last quarter of the last fiscal. In the March quarter, the realisation by banks was 24% of their claims, in comparison to 43% overall. The lenders will receive merely 17% of the Rs 29,500 crore dues from Alok Industries, raising doubts over future realisation. This is a matter of serious concern. This shows that either there are no tangible assets to back the loans or the assets were overvalued, United Bank of India chief executive Ashok Kumar Pradhan said. The overall bad loan recovery through bankruptcy courts has remained dismal in the first two years of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Banks could realise 43% of the claims in 94 loan default cases that have been resolved after the corporate insolvency resolution process came into effect from December 2016, data from Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India showed. However, the extent of recovery has been a concern ever since. JSW Steel offered about Rs 19,300 crore for Bhushan Power & Steel which was saddled with debt of Rs 47,300 crore, while Electrosteel Steels’ Rs 13,300-crore debt was resolved at Rs 5,300 crore. About 1,858 corporate debts have been admitted into the National Company Law Tribunals(NCLT) by end of March, 2019. Of these, 152 have been closed on appeal or review or settled, 91 have been withdrawn; 378 have ended in liquidation. Just about 94 cases have been resolved or 13% of the total cases admitted for resolution.

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MAHARERA ORDERS PROMOTER TO COMPENSATE INVESTORS

Any aggrieved person can file a complaint against the promoter of the registered project, if the promoter contravenes or violates any provisions of RERA, this is what Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) said when one of the top developer JVPD Properties Ltd had taken a stand that the complainants are investor's, therefore, they are not entitled to file the complaints. Not only this MahaRERA ordered the developer to refund the amount paid by the complainants with interest. A bunch of complainants approached MahaRERA stating, they booked flats in the project Bhagtani Serenity, Powai. The developer had issued the allotment letter stating that he shall complete the construction within the period of 42 months from the receipt of final commencement certificate from plinth level. The complainants claimed that the developer failed to bring the clearances within the period of nine months plus a grace period of the next three months from the date of booking and complete the construction to date. They further alleged that developer by their letter dated July 24, 2017, showed their inability to complete the construction and give possession as agreed. The developer in his reply to MahaRERA contended that complainants are investors and they are not allottees because in para 11 and 18 of the provisional allotment letter they have admitted that they are investors. The letter also was subject to approvals and permissions to be granted by various authorities for construction. It was a contingent contract and therefore it cannot be enforced as the approvals and permissions required for construction have not been granted, hence the developer requested to dismiss the complaint. The advocate for the developers submitted that the complainants did not insist on the execution of an agreement for sale only because, they were investors. Kapadnis, stated that the facts proved that respondents made either incorrect or false statement at the time of collecting money from the complainants that they would complete the project. Hence, the respondents are liable to refund the amount of complainants with interest. He ordered the developer to return the money with simple interest at the rate of 10.05 % per annum from the dates of payment till they are refunded. He awarded the complainants Rs 20,000 each towards the cost of the complaint. And finally, the charge was put on the property until the complainants' claims are satisfied.

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IRDAI FORMS PANEL TO REVIEW MICROINSURANCE FRAMEWORK

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has set up a committee to review the regulatory framework on microinsurance and recommend measures to increase the demand for such products. Comprising officials of the IRDAI, insurers and NGOs, the committee has been formed in the backdrop of a less- than-desired offtake of microinsurance products despite their inherent benefits. With IRDAI Executive Director Suresh Mathur as the chairman, the 13-member panel has been tasked with suggesting product designs with customer-friendly underwriting, including easy premium payment methods and simple claims settlement procedures. The committee has representatives from life, general and health insurance companies in the public and private sectors. A circular from IRDAI said India was seen to be a very exciting market and a pioneer in the microinsurance sector in the world. Specifically intended for the protection of low-income people, with affordable insurance products, microinsurance promises to support sustainable livelihoods of the poor. However, its market penetration remains low. While reviewing the regulatory framework on microinsurance in the country and abroad, the committee will suggest changes in the distribution structure, if any, including mobile-based and technology driven solutions. Setting a three month timeframe for submission of the recommendations, the circular said the committee would also suggest creating effective awareness programmes.

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MACQUARIE SAYS MEA CULPA FOR YES BANK RATING, CUTS STOCK PRICE TARGET BY 40%

Macquarie Capital Securities said it got its assessment on YES Bank wrong – a stock which they have been ‘constructive’ on for the past eight years. It has double downgraded the stock to underperform and slashed the target price by 40 per cent to Rs 165 – the second lowest on the street after Morgan Stanley which has a target price of Rs 125. Macquarie said it has been constructive on YES Bank’s ability to thrive in a risky business segment like structured finance. Suresh Ganapathy, termed the call on YES Bank as the biggest mistake of his professional life as analyst. We must eat humble pie today and admit we underestimated risks in structured finance. We got the call wrong, said analysts at Macquarie led by Ganapathy. Macquarie had an ‘outperform’ rating on YES Bank earlier. YES Bank on Friday posted a loss of Rs 1,507 crore for the March quarter compared to a profit of Rs 1,180 crore a year earlier. The bank made total non-tax provisions of Rs 3,662 crore, more than nine times the Rs 400 crore reported a year earlier and nearly seven times the Rs 550 crore reported in December 2018, even as gross NPAs rose to 3.22 per cent of loans from 2.10 per cent in December. The loss was amplified by provisions against bad loans to an infrastructure conglomerate and an airline as the lender’s first non-founder CEO Ravneet Gill began a cleanup act. The new CEO’s flag of a sequential increase of three times BB and below rated accounts, despite aggressive slippages in the fourth quarter of the financial year ended March, comes as a material negative surprise, said Macquarie. Flagging off of aggressive accounting practices in fee income and weakness in retail franchise further dampen fundamental view on the robustness of the business model, added Macquarie. The stock has declined 11 per cent in the last two weeks ahead of its result, ending down 0.1 per cent at Rs 237.4 on Friday. YES Bank shares have fallen 32.6 per cent in the last one year, underperforming the Bank Nifty which has gained 17.5 per cent during the same period.

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BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE APPOINTS FIRST INDEPENDENT WOMAN DIRECTOR JAYSHREE VYAS TO BOARD

BSE, formerly known as the Bombay Stock Exchange, has finally appointed its first independent woman director Jayshree Vyas last week, though still late by at least a few weeks from the deadline of April 1 given to all top 500 listed companies based on their market capitalisation for appointing an independent woman director on their board. BSE already has two non-executive women directors namely Usha Sangwan and Rajeshree Sabnavis on its Board. The delay happened as the country’s largest stock exchange was awaiting market regulator Sebi’s approval on the appointment, according to at least three persons who are privy to the development.

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BUSINESSES NEED TO REINVENT WITH A HUMAN FOCUS, SAYS DELOITTE HUMAN CAPITAL REPORT

According to the Global Human Capital Trends survey, titled ‘Leading The Social Enterprise: Reinvent With A Human Focus’, the report provides actionable insights to businesses everywhere, and is based on responses from nearly 10,000 respondents in 119 countries including 225 HR professionals and business leaders who participated in the survey from India. Across its three categories of future of workforce, future of organisations and future of HR, the report brings out 10 major trends on alternate workforce, redesign of jobs, leadership, employee experience, teams, rewards, accessing talent, learning, talent mobility and HR technology. The survey finds that on all the trends, the importance the organisations give outstrips their readiness on them. The report not only confirms accelerating growth in the role of social enterprise but also supports the social enterprises’ positive link to financial performance. Increasingly, organisations need to focus on purpose – both at the organisational level, and the individual level. We need to reinvent our structures around creating a meaningful employee experience, Gaurav Lahiri, partner and leader - human capital at Deloitte India, told. For organisations within India, there are significant implications as they seek to drive stronger business results while focusing on skilling and reskilling large workforces, retaining employees through cutting-edge employee experience designs, winning the war for talent by acquiring and keeping top talent, and leveraging technology to solve for people issues. Paradigms around leadership are changing and overwhelming 93% respondents agree that 21st century leaders have unique and new requirements, which include managing the human-machine interface, dealing with more complexity and exerting a higher degree of influence. A higher number of Indian organisations (45%) measure the correlation between employee engagement and productivity through various tools and surveys, as compared to global organisations (37%). However, the area that most needs focus is the creation of a positive work environment. Interestingly, a higher percentage of Indian companies (22%) as compared to global companies (19%) believe that they are industry leaders in terms of being social enterprises.

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CFOS PAID THE MOST IN 50 COMPANIES: ETCFO ANALYSIS

Traditionally Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have been known to draw the heftiest salaries and the biggest perks. Not anymore. Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have begun to overthrow CEOs as the top earners in companies as the increasingly volatile world puts CFOs centrestage. An ETCFO analysis of the compensation structure of the top 1600 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reveals this rising trend. Our study found that CFOs of 50 companies in the list, or about 3%, were paid higher compensation for the 2017-18 period. Half of these organisations have their finance chiefs drawing higher income than the business heads. A couple of reasons could explain the higher pay: 36% of these finance heads joined the company earlier than the business heads; 41% of them are a promoter in the company. The remaining 23% of the finance chiefs neither joined ahead of their MD and CEO, nor are they a promoter director. Surprisingly, most of the companies that house the latter 23% of finance chiefs have their promoters working as MD and CEO. This anomaly can be explained. Sometimes promoters take less salary, and they earn through dividends, says Amit Agarwal. In the case of the other 25 companies that see the finance chiefs taking home the most pay, it turns out that the MD and CEO of these firms is also the Director Finance. The research shows that infrastructure and manufacturing firms tend to pay the top bucks to retain their finance heads. The top five companies who pay their CFOs the highest are JSW Steel, Rural Electrification Corp (REC), Oil India Ltd, National Aluminium and Jyothy Laboratories. JSW Steel’s Sheshagiri Rao is the highest paid CFO. He drew Rs 21.10 cr last fiscal, almost 72% higher than the compensation paid to the steel maker’s CEO, Vinod Nowal. He is followed by Ullas Kasaragod Kamath, joint MD and CFO of Jyothy Laboratories, who earned Rs 7.29 cr while his Chairman and Managing Director, Ramachandran Panjan Moothedath, earned Rs 4.02 cr. Recent changes like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax has only served to dramatically change the business environment in India. As compliances increase, this trend of CFOs earning the most is likely to grow.

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SOCIAL MEDIA FRAUD INCREASED 43% IN 2018: REPORT

In a sign that platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp are emerging as new public square for criminal deception, a study has found that social media fraud increased 43 per cent in 2018. The results suggest that cyber criminals are increasingly relying on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other legitimate social media and messaging platforms to communicate with each other and sell stolen identities, credit card numbers and other ill-gotten gains. Trade in stolen identities would gain greater momentum with more stores likely opening on legitimate platforms to sell this type of data, the study said. According to researchers, fraud in the mobile channel has grown significantly over the last several years, with 70 per cent of artifice originating in the mobile channel in 2018. In particular, fraud from mobile apps increased 680 per cent between 2015 and 2018, said the study, adding the use of rogue mobile applications to defraud consumers was on the rise.

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GOVT PLANS CRITERIA FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PURCHASES

The government may soon have a standardised procedure and criteria to hire and pay agencies for uploading its official videos on YouTube and posting its messages on Twitter and Facebook. At present, most government agencies have their social media handles managed by third parties, and these contracts vary due to lack of uniform criteria and purchase procedures. We are evolving benchmarks for buying social media services like making movie clips and posting them on various social media platforms. These are at a preliminary stage, an official aware of the development told. The increasing social media requirement is likely to be met through the national public procurement portal, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), as the online purchase platform plans to host such services which need to be constantly evaluated while billing. The Singapore government has one such plan to purchase social media services. GeM is in talks with various government agencies, including departments and public sector units, to host project procurement such as social media services and consultant services, which are long gestation and require continuous assessment. We are trying to get the requirements from various government agencies to develop a standard process and key performance indicators which they want to be measured, such as the number of likes and shares, the official said. No such standards exist today due to which the users (government departments) go for third-party agencies.

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SOON, ANDROID ALERTS WILL SHOW UP ON WINDOWS 10 PCS

In its new Insider Preview Build for Windows 10, Microsoft is working on a feature as part of its Your Phone software that would display notifications received on Android smartphones on PC screens. Launched in 2018, Your Phone is an app for Windows 10 that allowed users to see recent photos taken on a Android phone directly on a Windows 10 PC and to send SMS messages from a computer. If you allow apps to display alerts on PCs, you can find out about an important message or status update without reaching for your handset, Engadget reported on Sunday. The new preview build is allowing insiders to see incoming phone notifications in real-time, customise notifications and clear notifications individually or all at once. Boost your focus and productivity by seeing your phone's notifications on your PC. You are in control and manage which apps you want to receive notifications from. Dismiss a notification on one device and it goes away on the other, the company wrote in a blog-post.

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FACEBOOK INTRODUCES FACT CHECKING IN MORE LOCAL INDIAN LANGUAGES, PROVIDES ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO PARTNERS

Facebook has introduced fact-checking in more Indian languages and increased the number of posts fact checkers can review in India by 25%, people aware of the development said, as the social media giant clamps down on spread of misinformation amid general elections in the country. The newest languages are Urdu and Punjabi. Before that it was Tamil and Gujarati. So Facebook now has 10 languages in which fact-checking happens in India, one of the persons cited earlier told. Several fact checkers pointed out that there is stuff that surfaces just before polling happens and different types of content that peak after polling happens. Debunked information often gets republished with a fresh narrative, claiming to be from this or that campaign. Spread of fake news is becoming rampant in India and authorities fear that it can influence voting and cause disturbance during the ongoing general elections. There is this big black hole of false news in local languages that no one talks about as it stays in those regions.

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GOOGLE REMOVING 100 APPS BY CHINESE DEVELOPER FROM PLAY STORE

Suspecting malicious cyber attacks and data breach possibilities, Google is removing apps from a Chinese Android app developer - DO Global - which holds roughly 100 apps in the Play Store with over 600 million installs and is partly owned by Internet major Baidu. 46 apps from DO Global have already been removed from the Play Store and the company intends to ban DO Global overall with more app removals that would follow, BuzzFeed News reported on Friday. We actively investigate malicious behaviour, and when we find violations, we take action, including the removal of a developer's ability to monetise their app with AdMob or publish on Play, the report quoted a Google spokesperson as saying on Friday. The search engine giant is further extending the ban to the Internet giant's ad products apprearing on Android as well. DO Global apps no longer offer ad inventory for purchase via Google's AdMob network, the report said. The Chinese company claims to have more than 250 million monthly active users for its apps and the reach of nearly 800 million users through its ad platform on Android.

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HELO REMOVES 1.6 LAKH A/CS IN INDIA FOR VIOLATING GUIDELINES

Social media platform Helo — which focusses on Indian language users — said it has removed about 1.6 lakh accounts and 5 million posts from its platform over the last 10 months after they were found to be violating its guidelines. We started Helo last year in June with the aim of providing users of Indian languages a platform to connect and communicate in a safe environment. It is an India-focussed app and we have seen a strong adoption not only in the country but also among the Indian diaspora in the US, Malaysia, Nepal and other countries, Shyamanga Barooah, head of content operations at Helo, said. He added that platform currently has about 40 million users and supports 14 Indian languages. User safety is a prime focus for us. In the last 10 months, we have taken down 1.6 lakh accounts and about five million posts that were found to be violating our community guidelines, he said.

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TESLA'S MUSK AGREES TO NEW VETTING RULES FOR TWEETS IN SEC DEAL

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has reached a deal with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a dispute over his use of Twitter, agreeing to submit his public statements about the company’s finances and other topics to vetting by its legal counsel, according to a court filing on Friday. If it is approved by a judge, the deal means the Tesla founder no longer faces the prospect of being held in contempt for violating an earlier settlement with the agency, which had required him to submit statements material to investors for prior review. The new agreement, disclosed in a filing in Manhattan federal court, lays out in more detail exactly what kinds of statements must be reviewed. Tesla has struggled with logistics difficulties in delivering its Model 3 to global customers, a declining share price and lingering questions about the sustainability of demand.

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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya