[aaykarbhavan] Business Standard updates 12-1-2014

Sebi may cap positions one can hold as an independent director

REGULATION TALK ON FSLRC "Financial inclusion remains a very high priority for us... FSLRC recommendations are currently being examined for implementation" "The legislative part of FSLRC cannot be done right now; it has to wait for the next govt, but the non- legislative part can be implemented, as some of those are more about procedures and principles" ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE "Hopefully, at the next meeting of Sebi's board, we will take up the proposal for the approval. Once, it is approved, details of the proposal will be announced" ON SEBI's ' ACTIVISM' "We take each of our decisions after active consultations ( with public and other stakeholders) and take measures after that... It hurts when you call us activists (working) to affect your business" "Whether you like it or not, we have to respond to the needs of the society and we have to be guided in longterm growth" UK SINHA Chairman Sebi BS REPORTER New Delhi, 11 January The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will consider the new corporate governance norms for listed companies at its board meeting next month. The new structure, likely to be more stringent, could put a cap on the number of positions a person is allowed to hold as an independent director. Sebi Chairman U K Sinha on Saturday said the market regulator was waiting for enactment of the new companies law and would take up the issue of corporate governance structure for approval at its board meeting in February. "We had put out a discussion paper last year and were waiting for the companies Bill to be passed… The issue of independent directors' cap will be discussed at the board meeting, when we come up with our corporate Exchanges Members of India. Sebi's guidelines will be over and above that specifically mentioned in the Companies Act. According to the companies Act, a person can be an independent director at a maximum of 10 public companies, while in its draft norms Sebi had proposed that the cap should be even lower for listed companies. The new corporate governance models also deal with salaries of CEOs, class- actions suits, compulsory rotation of auditors, a lead independent director, succession planning and the whistle- blower policy at listed companies. Details of the proposals will be announced after the board has approved the guidelines. Asked about Financial Technologies' ( FT's) fit- andproper status to run MCX- SX, Sinha said rules and procedures would be followed and Sebi would take appropriate action. and fraud. He added it funds in the equity Turn to Page 4 > Likely to clear new corporate governance norms next month

 

---

Click here to read more...Turn to Page 4 >

Click: Article continued from…Sebi may cap positions

Sebi may clear new...

"We take each of our decisions after active consultations. But, it hurts when people call us activists to affect your business. We have to respond to the needs of the society and we have to be guided in long term growth," Sinha said, admitting recent scams and misconduct in the market had eroded investors' trust. The Sebi chief also said the market regulator had taken note of the fact that over twothirds of the initial public offerings launched in recent years were now quoting below issue price. Meanwhile, BSE on Saturday said live trading in new interest- rate futures in long- tenure 10- year government bonds would begin on its platform on January 20. It has already received Sebi's approval for this. >FROM PAGE 1

Regulators to amend financial sector rules to aid uniformity

NFSLRC GUIDELINES N VRISHTI BENIWAL New Delhi, 11 January Financial sector regulators will soon make amendments to sector- specific rules to ensure consistency and issue regulations to protect the personal information of customers. However, the proposal to have a unified regulator will not see the light of day until a new government is formed. Regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Forward Markets Commission, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, will start implementing the Indian Financial Code that seeks to harmonise standards and processes across financial the sector. It is learnt the UPA- II government wants the regulators to start working in this direction immediately. The regulators have also agreed to bring out uniform regulations and do not see much of a problem in doing so. This means the same procedure will be followed by all regulators in various areas such as consumer protection, transparency, approvals, investigation and penalty. Sebi Chairman U K Sinha on Saturday said the legislative part of the Code cannot be taken up before the formation of the next government, but the non- legislative part can be implemented as some of the recommendations are more about procedures and principles. "Any regulation a regulator is making will have to be done in atransparent and consultative manner. Sebi has been following it for the last several years. It is keen on implementing the basic principles of the recommendations by the Financial Stability Development Council," Sinha said, adding there was no doubt about its practicality. The finance ministry has released a guidance handbook for the regulators to implement the non- legislative recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission. The ministry will track the implementation of these and continue to provide guidance to regulators on the implementation process. The regulators will take into account the issues in their respective regulated sectors, and specify, by regulations, the processes to be followed in providing redress to customer grievances. They will also create a separate category of retail investors to ensure better protection. Regulators do not carry out systematic cost- benefit analysis before framing regulations. They have been asked to follow international best practices in regulation- making in identifying costs and benefits of each action. Also, comments will be sought from the public for all regulations, after the draft regulations have been approved by the board of the regulator. But proposal to have a unified regulator will not see the light of day until new govt is formed

Organise your paperwork

KIRAN TELANG Raman Khanna invested in a tax- saving mutual fund a few years back. Now when he redeemed the fund, he did not receive the credit in his bank account even after 10 days. When he followed up with the fund house he realised that the redemption proceeds had been sent to his old address with his old bank account number printed on the cheque. It took him more than 20 days before he could get a cheque issued with his new bank details. Such issues are a drain on your time, and can cost you a substantial amount of money. They can be avoided if things are kept organised and handy. Let us look at a few areas where you can get your personal finance paperwork organised. Banking First, reduce the number of your bank accounts. The more the accounts, the more the paperwork. The fewer the accounts, the easier it is to keep track of each of them. Keep only three accounts, one could be your primary account for income, the other exclusively for investments. In the third account both spouses could pool in money for household expenses. That way you have better control over what comes in and what goes out. It also helps you track your investments. In all your bank accounts, check whether your address is updated to your present one; whether signatures with your bank are not very different from your current one ( very old accounts sometimes see rejection of cheques for signature mismatch; surely, your signature has changed a little over the years); whether you have an internet banking facility ( it would help you do your work smartly and save time by automating payments); whether nominations have been recorded. Insurance Collect all insurance policies you have — life insurance, health insurance, home insurance, personal insurance, car insurance, etc. Include papers relating to insurance provided by your employer. Put all original polices in one file segregating them by kind. Keep scanned copies of all policy documents. For a quick and overall glance, your list should contain: the name of the policy, the name of the insured, the name of the nominee, the policy number, the sum assured/ cover available, the premium amount, premium due dates, the premium payment term, the maturity date, the contact person/ agent/ person who can help in case of a claim. In this way you can tell at a glance what you are covered for and how much premium you are paying. This will also show any obvious gaps in coverage. We now have insurance repositories, so eventually all policies will be converted into an electronic form and details available in statements of holdings. This would do away with the hassle of safeguarding physical policy documents while having all information in one place. Investments Many tools and software are available, allowing you to list all your investments. Use one of these or simply list all your investments in Excel. Physical updation of records will be required for investments such as fixed deposits, small savings —postal schemes, PPF, etc. Holdings of shares would be through your demat account. Similarly, your mutual fund- distributor would provide you with a consolidated holdings statement. You would also have your statement of provident fund and other employee benefits. If you have physical gold in the form of coins/ biscuits, etc, retain copies of invoices. A list showing date, rate and quantity of purchase could prove handy. Ensure bank details in your investments are correctly updated along with nominations. In longer duration investments if you are not careful about bank details, your maturity / redemption cheques might contain nonexistent bank accounts. Then you would have more paperwork to get your money back. If you have investments in names other than individual (for example, as an HUF), mention it clearly in your will. If the holder dies, getting monies from investments made in non- individual names proves difficult if not specifically dealt with in a will. All these records can be kept in a file to be updated once every six months or so. Taxation Keep a copy of your tax returns, Form 16, TDS certificates and interest certificates provided by banks. Now you can download Form 26AS from the income- tax website to track taxes deducted on payments made to you. If you pay advance tax or wealth tax, maintain records of challans provided by your bank. Tax- related information is required while applying for for loans, credit cards or to start a business. A summary of each of these can be filed together to see your financial life in a couple of pages. Once you create such asystem of financial housekeeping, you will be more at peace regarding your finances. This will also help when making awill, as you have all records updated and can allocate your assets properly. The author is Chief Financial Planner, ABT capital Advisors Doing so can help save time and money and make it easier to handle an emergency SIMPLIFY YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE insurance repositories to store them in electronic form sheet; update this once in six months or a year certificates, bank interest certificates and tax challan

 

Why  india  needs  to  take  intellectual property seriously ROD HUNTER Dr Reddy's Laboratories' chairman, G V Prasad, called for the Indian pharmaceutical industry to move up the value chain from generics through investing in research and innovation, reported the Business Standard last week. Mr Prasad's aspirational call to action is, however, a sad reminder of how the government's policies create a hostile environment for investment and hobble Indian creativity. A salient example of these counterproductive policies are the attacks on some 15 medicine patents over the past 18 months. While hailed often as victories, these manoeuvres jeopardise the investment India needs to build intellectual capital, foster growth and employment, and develop medicines relevant to Indian needs. The idea underpinning intellectual property ( IP) protections is to encourage innovation. With an assurance of temporary exclusivity, people will invest resources to create new products and technologies, knowing that if they achieve a breakthrough their efforts will be rewarded. ( It typically takes a decade and over $ 1 billion to develop a successful new drug.) Creating incentives for innovation is an idea reaching back hundreds of years. In the 18th century the framers of the US Constitution included a provision that calls on the Congress to grant authors and inventors "the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" in order to promote progress in science and the arts. In the intervening years, robust IP rights have helped spark innovation and growth in countries — both developed and developing — throughout the world. As much as 40 per cent of US growth in the 20th century was a result of innovations, according to Nobel laureate Robert Solow. And one of India's most successful companies — Tata — has prospered on the strength of its IP. As of 2012, Tata Motors held 833 patents and Tata Steel had 1,230 patents. Just as countries with strong IP rights have a foundation for prosperity, countries lacking such protections find innovation and growth more daunting. It is sadly unsurprising that India receives low marks on innovation scorecards. As President Pranab Mukherjee pointed out in his National Technology Day speech in May, " India's innovation bottom line is not very encouraging." He observed that the US and China receive 12 times as many patent applications as India. Regrettably, he did not elaborate on how IP rights foster innovation — nor did he dwell on how these protections encourage foreign direct investment ( FDI). It is well established that such investment brings with it new technologies, higher productivity and wages, and spillovers to other firms that spur modernisation. International businesses also bring R& D to countries that provide supportive environments. That increased R& D is often aimed at unmet local needs, such as drug company investment in tropical disease research. Weak IP protection directly discourages such R& D. While India did revise its IP laws in 2005, enforcement has been inconsistent, at best, and carve- outs for generic drugs have compromised its integrity to the short- term benefit of the owners of generic companies. These shortcomings help explain why India attracts a mere three per cent of global R& D spending. ( China, with its stronger IP law, attracts about 14 per cent and Japan about 11 per cent, reports the Battelle Institute.) These data reinforce the World Bank's findings that multinational firms locate R& D in developing countries with effective IP rights. As noted, corporations consider IP protections when making decisions about where to direct their FDI. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has found that a one per cent change in the strength of a country's IP rights environment is associated with a 2.8 per cent increase in FDI inflows. That's bad news for India. From 2010 to 2012, the United Nations reports, India's stock of FDI totalled just 11.8 per cent of its GDP. The average for all developing economies was 30 per cent. While these data underscore India's failure to attract foreign investment, some argue that IP conflicts with Indian interests. The reality is quite different, as explained by Kiran Mazumdar- Shaw, chairman of Bangalore- based Biocon. " We must understand that intellectual property is important for India to embrace and respect and protect," she told the Press Trust of India. " If you cannot demonstrate that IP is safe in the country, I think you are not sending the right message, you are not going to find people investing in India." Moreover, IP is not the obstacle to access to healthcare that some officials and activists allege. The Supreme Court's recent decision denying Novartis's rights to Glivec, a patent recognised in over 40 countries, has been acclaimed as an advance in patient access. However, Novartis was already ensuring that 95 per cent of the Indians who were prescribed Glivec received the cancer medicine for free. The very real obstacles to medical access in India stem principally from the government's failings. It devotes a mere 1.2 per cent of GDP to health care, a level lower than in Haiti, and India lacks the insurance, doctors, clinics and hospitals necessary to make use of the full potential of modern medicine. These monumental challenges won't be addressed by headlinecatching patent revocations, but will require sustained investment and reform. If India is serious about attracting FDI and becoming an innovation hub, it should reform its IP law to ensure the protections that are a mainstay of the world's advanced economies. Absent such protections, R& D will regrettably go elsewhere, India's " innovation bottom line" will continue to disappoint, and, most troubling, the Indian people will be denied new opportunities, new knowledge, and new medicines. The writer, a senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America, served as a senior director for international economics at the White House's National Security Council under US President George W Bush Shortcomings in India's intellectual property regime explain why the country attracts a mere three per cent of global R& D spending, compared to China's 14 per cent and Japan's 11 per cent. If India is serious about attracting foreign direct investment and becoming an innovation hub, it should reform its intellectual property law Without reform of IP law, Indian companies — and broader economic growth — will remain stunted

 

--

 

CS A Rengarajan

9381011200

CS Benevolent Fund is a collective effort towards extending the much needed financial support to the community of Company Secretaries in times of distress  Let us lend support and join for noble cause.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE SKY IS THE LIMIT

This mail and its attachments (if any) are confidential information intended for persons to whom the email is planned for delivery by the sender. If you have received this mail in error please notify the sender of the error by forwarding the email and its attachments (if any) and then deleting the mail received in error and the relevant email trail in this connection without making any copies or taking any prints.

__._,_.___

receive alert on mobile, subscribe to SMS Channel named "aaykarbhavan"
[COST FREE]
SEND "on aaykarbhavan" TO 9870807070 FROM YOUR MOBILE.

To receive the mails from this group send message to aaykarbhavan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___