MCA ropes in TCS to help Infosys manage portal
SHIVANI SHINDE
Mumbai, 19 February
In an interesting turn of events, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (
MCA) has roped in Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS) as a consultant for
smooth running of its portal, MCA21.
TCS was in charge of development and management of the portal for
seven years, until MCA decided to hand the work of its IT vendor to
Infosys. The ministry has now asked TCS to extend its services beyond
the usual hand- holding period for the transfer of the portal to
Infosys. This follows some snags that made the portal slow down
considerably.
An Infosys spokesperson said in reply to an emailed query: " Infosys
will be unable to comment on this; we recommend a further conversation
with MCA representatives for any additional query you might have."
Attempts to reach MCA failed but its website said in a notification: "
We thank all stakeholders for support, as MCA21 is functioning
satisfactorily now. The individual issues emanating since January 17
are being looked into and we are striving to resolve all pending
issues by February 22. We solicit your cooperation." TCS refused to
comment on the issue.
Bangalore- based Infosys had bagged the MCA- 21 contract for a five-
year period for about $ 50 million in November last year. The IT firm
had said it would revamp the existing application after the transition
from the incumbent vendor and manage the overall transformation.
However, since January, companies have been finding it difficult to
access the website and upload the mandatory information.
Institute of Company Secretaries of India President S N
Ananthasubramanian said: " The portal has been functional off and on
since January 17. All parties involved are working to make MCA21 run
seamlessly. The ministry has assured us that the portal would be
operational soon." Meanwhile, as part of steps to resolve the issue,
MCA informed stakeholders in a circular that any additional fee for
delayed filing of statutory submission would be waived.
The website, mostly accessed and used by chartered accountants,
lenders and shareholders, contains data and financial details of
650,000 companies registered with MCA. The latest number of filings
the website undertakes was not available, but according to its 2011-
12 annual report, the portal received 31,050 hits on a daily basis.
The highest number of documents filed per day was 71,435.
TCS, which developed the portal, digitised about 45 million paper
documents in MCA's archives, set up a data centre, building the
computing infrastructure, besides setting up 52 facilitation centres.
These were done over a year and a half.
Budget session: 72 Bills, very little time
BS REPORTER
New Delhi, 19 February
The government has released an ambitious list of 72 Bills to be taken
up in the Budget session of Parliament beginning Thursday. However,
the absence of political unanimity on most of these Bills presents
challenges to the United Progressive Alliance government.
At a press conference today, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath
said apart from the general Budget, a host of Bills ranging from the
Food Security Bill to the Lok Pal Bill would be discussed in the
Budget session, traditionally the longest. The ordinance on stronger
laws for rape — the Criminal Law ( Amendment) Bill, 2013 — has to be
replaced with a Bill in 42 days.
However, there is no political agreement on any of these.
While the Left parties feel the Food Security Bill is inadequate,
almost all parties have disagreements on the current draft of the Lok
Pal Bill.
But it is the anti- rape law that poses the biggest challenge.
According to law, an ordinance is valid for six months, subject to
being ratified at the next session of Parliament and within 42 days of
its promulgation.
Parliament would be in recess from March 22 to April 22. The six- week
period within which the ordinance has to be ratified would end in the
first week of April. Therefore, it has to be passed and approved by
the President before the session goes into recess.
The government is in a bind on how to achieve this. During
consultations, most parties had expressed concern on the misuse of
such a draconian law. They have advised the government to send it to a
standing committee. If the government does this, the ordinance would
lapse.
The anti- rape ordinance is not the only one that has to be passed
quickly. The Securities and Exchange of Board of India (Amendment)
Ordinance, 2013 (No. 1 of 2013) and the Readjustment of Representation
of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary and Assembly
Constituencies Ordinance, 2013 ( No. 2 of 2013) also need immediate
attention.
Nath said the Budget session would begin on February 21 and end on May
10. " During this period, the two Houses will adjourn for recess on
Friday, March 22, to reassemble on Monday, April 22, to enable
department– related parliamentary standing committees to examine the
demands for grants relating to various ministries/ departments and
make their reports to the Houses," he said.
The session would have 34 sittings— 21 before the recess and 13 after
it. The session would primarily be devoted to the ' Motion of Thanks'
related to the President's address, business related to the Railway
and General Budgets for 2013- 14 and the Jharkhand state budget.
Sufficient time would also be provided for essential legislative and
non- legislative businesses.
The President would address both Houses of Parliament on Thursday.
Railway Budget 2013- 14 would be presented to the Lok Sabha on
February 26, immediately after Question Hour. While the Economic
Survey of India would be presented on February 27, the general Budget
for 2013- 14 would be presented on February 28.
HOUSE BUSINESS
Some of the Bills to be taken up in the Budget session beginning Thursday
For introduction, consideration and passing
|The Finance Bill, 2013 |The Securities and Exchange of Board of India
(Amendment) Bill, 2013 |The Readjustment of Representation of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary and Assembly
Constituencies Bill, 2013 |The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013
For consideration and passing
|The Companies Bill, 2012, as passed by Lok Sabha |The Whistle Blowers
Protection Bill, 2011, as passed by Lok Sabha |The National Highways
Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2012, as passed by Lok Sabha |The
Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010 |The Pension Fund
Regulator and Development Authority Bill, 2011 |The Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 |The National Food Security
Bill, 2011 |The Lok Pal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, as passed by Lok
Sabha and as reported by Select Committee |The Insurance Laws
(Amendment) Bill, 2008
Source: Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
Cabinet likely to discuss amendments to wages Act
SANJEEB MUKHERJEE
New Delhi, 19 February
As trade unions strike work for two days from tomorrow, the Cabinet is
likely to consider the proposal to amend the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
At present, 15 states and Union territories have fixed wages below ₹
115 a day — the national floor level fixed by the Centre. As the
national floor rate is not binding on state governments and employers,
concurrence of the states is necessary. Also, while 1,679 scheduled
employments are in states' domain, only 45 are with the Centre.
Trade unions are demanding that the floor rate be raised to ₹ 333 a
day and made statutory.
In 2009, the proposal to amend the Minimum Wages Act was taken to the
Cabinet. The proposal was to amend the Minimum Wages Act to bring all
employments under it by deleting the provision that bars state
governments from fixing minimum wages for a scheduled employment where
only 1,000 employees or less are engaged in. It envisaged making the
national floor rate statutory.
Most states have agreed to making national floor rate of wages statutory.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is also likely to discuss a
proposal from the civil aviation ministry to rationalise the payments
and allowances of Air India employees in line with the prevailing
industry practice.
This could link overall payment of pilots to the current industry standards.
According to sources, the civil aviation ministry's recommendations
are in line with the report of the Implementation- cumAnomalies
Rectification Committee, which was constituted to implement the
Justice Dharmadhikari report.
The report had favoured profit or productivity related pay for Air
India employees in place of productivity- linked incentives.
However, officials said that after an internal committee analysed the
payment structure, it was found that in some cases, pilots got flying
allowances as part of the overall pay. These account for 70 to 80 per
cent of their earnings.
Might take up rationalisation of payments, allowances of Air India employees
|₹ 115 a day: Fixed wages at 15 states and Union territories |1, 679:
Scheduled employments in
states' domain, 45
with the Centre |₹ 333 a day: Floor rate demand by Trade unions |In
2009, the proposal to amend the Act was taken to the Cabinet.
Envisaged making the national floor rate statutory |Most states have
agreed to make national floor rate of wages statutory ACT AMENDMENT
Govt may relax rules for PSU ETF manager
NSUNDARESHA SUBRAMANIAN
New Delhi, 19 February
The government is planning to relax rules for selecting a fund manager
to manage the proposed PSU ETF ( public sector undertakings- based
exchangetraded fund) after potential bidders stayed away due to
several structural issues. The department of disinvestment (DoD) is
likely to issue a relaxed Request for Proposals ( RFP) soon. The move
is likely to push the launch of the ETF to the next financial year.
The government is proposing to launch the ETF as an alternative
platform to execute its divestment programme.
Several top Indian mutual fund houses, which Business Standard spoke
to, said they were not particularly keen on the mandate due to
uncertain business prospects. Some chief executive officers (CEOs)
said they had not even seen the original terms and conditions.
"There will be some changes in the (eligibility) criteria," said an
official familiar with the development, requesting anonymity. He,
however, maintained several players had shown interest. The move
follows feedback received from market players recently.
The department, advised by ICICI Securities, had incorporated several
conditions for the ETF manager, including minimum assets under
management (AUM) and mandate to incur marketing expenses, and had also
tabulated the fee chargeable depending on the AUM of the ETF. The
initial deadline for bids was January 24, which was once extended to
February 8.
Dhirendra Kumar, chief executive officer of Value Research, a tracker
of mutual funds, is not very impressed with the idea of a PSU ETF. "
The government seems to have got this idea that it can sell its shares
at the time of its choosing through the ETF mechanism. But, the basic
issue is that PSUs are not an attractive investment. Many of the funds
based on this theme are doing poorly," Kumar said. In the original RFP
floated last month, DoD called for " Sebi (Securities and Exchange
Board of India)- registered mutual funds / asset management companies
( AMCs)" with at least five years experience of fund management, and
average equity / ETF assets under management " of not less than ₹
2,500 crore in India".
DoD also wanted the fund manager selected to provide " inputs on the
various options suggested for structuring the PSU basket including but
not limited to the terms of composition of stocks, weightages, and
methodology followed, etc.
The government also wanted the manager to leave no stone unturned in
marketing the scheme to investors. " The selected AMC/ ETF provider
shall incur marketing / advertising expenses to the extent of at least
₹ 15 crore, under NFO (new fund offering) expenses," it had said. The
manager was also required to incur marketing expenses under NFO
expenses, over and above this stipulated amount. A combination of
technical and financial parameters would determine the winner. In the
financial parameter, funds are asked to specify the percentage of
weekly assets they will charge as expense ratio. While this ratio will
be applicable up to assets of ₹ 5,000 crore, for the next ₹ 10,000
crore AMCs will be able to charge 80 per cent of this ratio. For
assets over ₹ 15,000 crore, the fund can charge 60 per cent.
Plans to issue fresh bid document, launch could be delayed to FY14
TWEAKING TERMS
|PSU ETF planned as an alternative disinvestment mode |ICICI
Securities appointed as adviser |Bid document citing terms floated in
January |Initial bid deadline was January 24 |Deadline extended to
February 8 after poor response |Fresh RFP with relaxed terms to be put
up soon
--
CS A RENGARAJAN,, B.Com ,FCS, LLB, PGDBM
Company Secretary, Chennai
CONVENOR, CHENNAI WEST STUDY CIRCLE ICSI-SIRC
email csarengarajan@gmail.com
http://www.csarengarajan.blogspot.com
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mobile 093810 11200
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