SEBI comes out with rules for single regime for FPI, NRI fund flows

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January 3, 2019

Markets regulator SEBI has come out with rules for merger of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and non-resident Indian/overseas citizens of India routes to bring in a single regime for foreign investors and regulate NRI and person of Indian origin fund inflows.

The regulator has also exempted housing finance companies and systemically important NBFCs (non-banking financial companies) from disclosure of increase or decrease in shareholding due to encumbrance or release of encumbered shares, SEBI said in a notification.

A similar exemption is already available to scheduled commercial banks and public financial institutions.

In another notification dated December 31, SEBI said that if single and aggregate NRI/OCI/RI holdings in assets under management of FPI are below 25 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, then such persons will be allowed to be constituents of the FPI.

In case of temporary breach of investment limits, FPI will need to comply within 90 days and in case it remains non-compliant even after 90 days, no fresh purchases will be permitted and such FPI will have to liquidate its existing position in Indian securities market within 180 days.

The final regulation has been put in place after taking into account suggestions of a SEBI working group headed by H R Khan, former deputy governor at RBI.

Further, the regulator has relaxed its norms for clubbing of investment limits by well regulated foreign investors.

Currently, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are treated as part of the same investor group and the investment limits of all such entities are clubbed for deriving the investment limit as applicable to a single FPI, in case of the same set of ultimate beneficial owners investing through multiple entities.

Under the new norm, multiple entities having common ownership, directly or indirectly, of more than 50 per cent will be treated as part of the same investor group and their investment limits would be clubbed, as per the notification.

“Multiple entities having common ownership, directly or indirectly, of more than 50 per cent or common control shall be treated as being part of the same investor group and the investment limits of all such entities shall be clubbed at the investment limit as applicable to a single FPI,” it added.

Besides, the clubbing of investment limit would not be applicable in case of entities having common control, if the FPIs are appropriately regulated public retail funds.

Public retail funds typically include insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds or unit trusts that are open for retail subscriptions.

“In order to appropriately monitor investment concentration where common ownership or control is identified for such public retail funds, the Indian depositories shall maintain details of controlling entities on the basis of name, address, nationality, passport number/ any other identification card issued by government and provide appropriate reports to the board on a periodic basis,” SEBI noted.

Sushant Singh Rajput, Jacqueline Fernandez’s ‘Drive’ to release on June 28

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January 3, 2019

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez-starrer “Drive” will hit the theatres on June 28 this year.

The news was shared on Twitter by filmmaker Karan Johar, who is producing the project through his banner Dharma Productions.

“On your marks, get set & race. See you in cinemas for a pulsating ride on 28th June, 2019 . #DRIVE,” he tweeted.

The film, being directed by Tarun Mansukhani, was earlier scheduled to release on September 7 last year but was delayed.

Jacqueline also shared the news on micro-blogging site and wrote, “On your marks, get set & race!! See you in cinemas for a pulsating ride on 28th June, 2019. #DRIVE.”

“Drive” will also feature Boman Irani, Pankaj Tripathi and Sapna Pabbi.

Prepare to fight LS polls alone if needed: Shah to Maha MPs

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January 3, 2019

BJP president Amit Shah has reportedly asked the party’s Maharashtra MPs to be prepared to contest the ensuing elections alone in the state.

Shah gave this message at a meeting with Maharashtra BJP MPs in Delhi Wednesday, said an MP who was present.

“Shah asked us to prepare for the possibility of contesting elections alone in the state if needed,” the MP said.

“The BJP president told us that efforts are on to have an alliance with the Sena but if that did not materialise, we should be prepared to fight the polls alone,” he said.

BJP is in alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and at the Centre. The Sena has been critical of BJP and its leaders have spoken of contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Thursday wondered when would the Ram temple be constructed in Ayodhya if not during the tenure of the BJP-led government.

Shiv Sena has also backed the opposition’s demand for a JPC probe in the Rafale fighter aircraft purchase deal.

“Shah said that if need be, we should be prepared to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra,” the MP said.

A senior Maharashtra BJP leader told PTI that Shah was “very clear” in telling the party MPs from the state to “be prepared for going it alone” in case no tie-up happens with the Shiv Sena.

Sabarimala protests: 266 held, 334 taken into preventive custody

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January 3, 2019

As many as 266 people have so far been arrested in connection with the violent protests staged by right-wing groups in the last two days after two women of menstruating age entered into the Sabarimala temple, police said on Thursday.

A group of 334 people were taken under preventive custody, they added.

As the state continued to witness massive violence due to the hartal called by Hindu outfits, the police launched a special drive, ‘Operation Broken Window’ to take action against those indulging in violent protests, they said.

The special branch would prepare the list of those indulging in violence and hand it over to the district police chiefs for further action, the police said in a release.

A photo album of the perpetrators of violence would also be prepared, the release said, adding that special teams would be set up to arrest those agitators involved in violence.

Mobile phones of suspected persons would be confiscated and sent for digital examinations and raids would be carried out at their homes, to unearth arms, if any, it said.

Cases would also be registered against those involved in alleged hate campaign on social media, it added.

The state is on a boil since Wednesday when two women– Bindu and Kanakadurga in their forties trekked the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and offered prayers on early Wednesday, taking everyone by surprise.

The dawn to dusk shutdown called by Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation of various pro-Hindutva groups, and the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad on Thursday led to violent protests, never seen in the state’s recent history.

Parliament approves NCTE amendment bill

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January 3, 2019

Parliament Thursday approved a bill to provide retrospective recognition to central and state government funded institutions offering B.Ed and related courses that are not recognised under the National Council for Teacher Education Act.

The National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill would help over 17,000 students who have obtained B.Ed degrees from those institutions which do not have NCTE approval for the course under the 1993 law, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said in Rajya Sabha.

The bill would rovide post-facto approval to the students from several state and central universities, whose degree have no recognition under the 1993 law, the Minister said replying to the debate in the Upper House where it was passed on Thursday.

Lok Sabha has already passed this bill on July 23, 2018.

Javadekar said this amendment would help several central and state universities that were running Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and related courses without having any recognisition.

The Minister said that the government would ensure that the quality of institutes offering B.Ed courses is maintained.

Javadekar said the ministry has asked them to submit affidavits and video recording of the facilities they offer.

Moreover, the minister said that from 2020, the government proposes to start integrated course in B.ED as in Law and other courses.

“I hope, like law, integrated course in this would also be successful,” he said adding the Centre is enforcing strict standards for the institiutes offerings teacher’s training courses.

According to him, in the last three years, the government has not given any permission for new B.ED colleges.

Supporting the bill, JD(U) member Kahkashan Perween said this was the need of the hour.

K K Ragesh of CPI(M) said NCTE should not be filled with only bureaucrats.

Saibaba temple gets Rs 14.54 cr donation in 11 days

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January 3, 2019

The famous Saibaba temple at Shirdi in Maharashtra received donations worth Rs 14.54 crore over the 11-day period starting before Christmas and ending on the New Year day, an official said.

The devotees, from the country as well as abroad, donated Rs 8.05 crore in donation boxes kept in the temple premises between December 22, 2018 and January 1, 2019, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust’s vice chairman Chandrashekhar Kadam told reporters on Wednesday.

The temple trust also received Rs 6 crore through online donations, debit/credit cards, cheques, demand drafts and at its donation counters, he said.

Gold and silver items worth Rs 19 lakh were also donated, he said.

In addition to this, devotees from 19 countries, including USA, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and China, donated foreign currencies worth Rs 30.63 lakh.

Apart from these donations, the temple trust earned Rs 3.62 crore through paid passes issued to visitors and the online darshan facility provided by the temple management, Kadam said.

Nearly 9.5 lakh devotees from different parts of the country and abroad visited the Saibaba temple, located at Shirdi town in Ahmednagar district, during the 11-day period, he added. Saibaba temple gets Rs 14.54 cr donation in 11 days.

If Ram temple can’t be built during BJP govt tenure, when will it be, asks Sena

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January 3, 2019

In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said it wondered when the Ram temple could be constructed in Ayodhya if not during the tenure of the current BJP-led majority government.

It said if the Ram temple cannot be built before 2019 (polls), it will be like betraying people of the country, for which the BJP and the RSS would have to apologise to them.

The Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, slammed Modi for his comment in a recent interview, broadcast by several TV channels, that any government action on the temple construction can happen only after the judicial process is over.

“He (Modi) came to power in the name of Ram, however, according to him, law is not bigger than Lord Ram. The question now is if the temple cannot be constructed in the majority government, when will it ever be,” the Sena asked in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

The Modi government got a magnificent statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel constructed in Gujarat, but the prime minister did not show the courage of ‘sardar’ over the Ram temple issue, it said, asserting that this would be recorded in the pages of history.

The agitation for the Ram temple began in 1991-92 and hundreds of ‘kar sevaks’ lost their lives, it noted.

“Who did this massacre and why? While hundreds of Hindu kar sevaks died, the subsequent (Mumbai) bomb blasts led to the killing of hundreds of people from both sides (Hindu and Muslim communities). If the Supreme Court had to take the decision, why this massacre and bloodshed?” it asked.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party further sought to know whether the BJP and the RSS were ready to take the responsibility for those killings and bloodshed.

“The way the Congress had to apologise for the massacre of Sikhs (after the anti-Sikh riots in 1984), we have to understand the sentiments of those who demand an apology (from the BJP) for the massacre of Hindus,” it said.

Further attacking Modi over his interview in which he defended his government’s decision of demonetisation in 2016, the Marathi daily said if note ban was not a shock and people had been warned a year before it was done, “who exactly were those people”?

“Those who lost their lives standing in bank queues and those who lost employment, were they not citizens?” it further asked.

In remarks laced with sarcasm, the Sena said if according to Modi, the upcoming general elections would be between people and the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (the proposed anti-BJP alliance), “did people of Iran vote for the BJP in 2014?”

“The people of five states who voted against the party (in the recent Assembly polls), are they not citizens of this country,” the Sena queried.

Indrani, Peter wanted Rahul and Sheena to separate: Witness

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January 3, 2019

A former employee of INX Media told a court in Mumbai on Thursday that Indrani Mukerjea and her husband Peter were not happy with the relationship between her daughter Sheena and Peter’s son from an earlier marriage Rahul.

Indrani and Peter, now an estranged couple, are facing trial along with Indrani’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna for allegedly killing Sheena Bora, her daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012.

The witness, an MBA graduate, was working with the Mukerjea company INX Services from 2000 to 2007. Later he was shifted to INX Media, which he quit in 2009.

The prosecuting agency CBI’s claim is that Indrani and Peter were not happy with the relationship between Sheena and Rahul. The agency has also cited financial disputes as one of the reasons for the killing.

The witness told the special CBI court here that he had visited the Mukerjeas’ house in Worli in central Mumbai many times.

Indrani introduced Sheena to him as her sister at the INX office in 2003, he said.

In 2008, he was asked to accompany Indrani and Peter to a place in suburban Khar where Sheena and Rahul were staying together, he said.

“Indrani wanted to bring Sheena back home and even Peter was not happy with the relationship. They wanted Sheena and Rahul to separate,” the witness said.

Peter wanted Rahul to settle down professionally before getting into any relationship, he said.

The Mumbai police arrested Indrani in August 2015 for allegedly killing Sheena Bora inside a car on April 24, 2012, and disposing of the body. The CBI, which took over the case later, arrested Peter Mukerjea for allegedly being party to the conspiracy.

Former Bombay HC Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari dies

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January 3, 2019

Former Justice of the Bombay High Court Chandrashekhar Shankar Dharmadhikari died at a private hospital here in Maharashtra in the wee hours of Thursday.

He was 91.

Justice Dharmadhikari was not keeping well and two days back he was admitted to the private hospital where he suffered a cardiac arrest on Wednesday night, a source said.

He breathed his last around 1 am on Thursday, he said.

He is survived by two sons, senior Bombay HC judge Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and senior lawyer Ashutosh Dharmadhikari, and daughter Dr Aruna Patil.

Justice Dharmadhikari was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003.

He retired on November 20, 1989.

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao expressed grief over his demise and said the state has lost a staunch Gandhian and humanist.

“Coming from the family of freedom fighters, Justice Dharmadhikari had imbibed Gandhian values right from his childhood. He distinguished himself as one of the finest judges of the Bombay High Court who was associated with some of the most important judgements,” he said.

Rao said Justice Dharmadhikari was an outstanding orator and writer, and championed the cause of rural development, dignity of labour and promotion of khadi.

“He had spoken on the theme ‘Gandhian Values’ at the Raj Bhawan in Mumbai barely three months ago on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2). I pay my respects to the abiding memory of late Justice Dharmadhikari and convey my deepest condolences to his family,” the governor said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also condoled Justice Dharmadhikari’s demise, saying he was a stickler for principles and an inspiration for the new generation.

“Justice Dharamadhikari carried forward the legacy of social responsibility of his father late Dada Dharmadhikari. He worked for the spread of Gandhian values till his last. He had also guided the state government from time to time,” he said.

Congress awarding CM post to culprits of anti-Sikh riots: PM Modi

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January 3, 2019

In a sharp attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday raked up the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and asked the people of the country, especially Punjab, to remain “cautious” about the party over the killings of the Sikhs and for making Kamal Nath, an alleged accused, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing a public meeting at Gurdaspur, days after convicted former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar surrendered in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in a Delhi court, Prime Minister Modi also said that it was due to the efforts of the BJP that the victims’ kin were getting justice after all these years.

“The whole country, including Punjab, should remain cautious of those who have a history of killing thousands of innocent Sikhs and award the Chief Minister’s post to culprits of the riots till today,” Prime Minister Modi said, attacking the choice of Kamal Nath as CM, as he was allegedly involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The Delhi High Court convicted and awarded life imprisonment to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for his involvement in the 1984 Sikh riots, which occurred in the national capital after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He surrendered to the court on December 31.

The choice of Kamal Nath as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has been widely criticised by BJP and Sikh leaders.

Praising the efforts of BJP in delivering justice to the victims’ kin of 1984 Sikh riots, Prime Minister said; “It was BJP who formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case and opened files, which were hidden on the signal of one family (Congress) by declaring the culprits as “Sajjan” (good people).”

The Prime Minister further stressed on the Kartarpur Corridor and said that the BJP and Akali Dal were together making continued efforts towards the development of Punjab, including the recent success of building the Kartarpur corridor — a road linking Dera Baba Nanak with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur.

He announced that the Centre has decided to organise worldwide celebrations on the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Slamming Punjab cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his recent two visits to Pakistan that triggered a controversy and Punjab Chief Minister himself wasn’t happy with Sidhu’s visit, the Prime Minister said: “The whole nation has witnessed how Congress leaders gave a chance to Pakistan to speak against India as these leaders did not even pay heed to their own Punjab Chief Minister’s direction.”

He also launched a scathing attack on the Congress’ first family for “playing with nation’s security and spreading lies’ to weaken the strength of the army, and for scrapping the previous BJP Madhya Pradesh government’s decision of reciting the national song Vande Mataram”.

The Prime Minister said, “The family who has been playing with nation’s security and spreading lies to weaken the army’s strength is protesting against Bharat Mata and national song Vande Mataram.”

The newly-elected Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had decided to do away with the 14-year-old norm of reciting ‘Vande Matram’ on the first day of every month in the state secretariat, which was started by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, the Congress government on Thursday in a U-turn announced that the national song will be back, but with the added feature of a police band.

Praising the land of Gurdaspur for inspiring the whole nation, Prime Minister stated: “The land of Gurdaspur has set an example for the country, society and humanity,” and added that Gurdaspur will produce new energy to fulfil the resolution made for developing a New India by 2022.

Talking about the initiative of the NDA government towards people of the state, Prime Minister asserted: “We’re working for children’s education, employment for youth and to provide proper irrigation facilities to farmers. We’ve also facilitated irrigation and soil health cards and right product prices to farmers. It was assured under the Kisan Sampada Yoja that the crop of farmers doesn’t go waste.”

“Our government is building AIIMS in Bathinda, it has provided free gas cylinders to 11 lakh women in Punjab and youths were given a total loan of Rs 28 lakh,” he added.

Highlighting schemes meant for youths and girls, the Prime Minister said: “1.5 lakh youngsters were given training under Skill India Mission and various districts of Punjab have witnessed increasing numbers of our daughters in schools.”

The Prime Minister concluded his speech by appealing to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to complete the projects on time, which were meant for the progress of the state’s citizen.