NL Mar 2021 - Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF)

INR 15A monthly Capital Markets & Lifestyle Magazine by the Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF)

CLOSING THE CRITICAL GAPS TO PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION INVEST IN ETFS TO COMPLIMENT YOUR MUTUAL FUND | |INVESTMENTS TIME TO BLOW THE WHISTLE: CORPORATE VIGILENCE MECHANISM BROKING INDUSTRY REGULATIONS AND

| |POSSIBLE IMPACT ON RETAIL BROKERS BUDGET & SECTOR IMPACT COMPLIANCE TO GOOD GOVERNANCE - SEBI’S |NOTEWORTHY INITIATIVE YOUR SECRET TEACHER TO LIFE & LIVING

|

Volume 9 | Issue 12

IAN RUSSELL

SWARUP MOHANTY

ZERICK DASTUR

TEJAS KHODAY

AYUSH AGGARWAL

DEVDUTTA MODAK

JYOTSNAAHUJA

INVESTMENT INDUSTRYASSOCIATION OF CANADA

MIRAE ASSET INVESTMENTMANAGERS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.

ADVOCATES &SOLICITORS

FYERS

SMC PRIVATEWEALTH

AXAR DIGITALSERVICES PVT. LTD.

THE WHITESPACE

March 2021

MORE

2

UTTAM BAGRI HEMANT MAJETHIA ANURAG BANSAL RAJIV CHOKSEYChairman | BBF Vice Chairman | BBF Secretary | BBF Jt. Treasurer | BBF

BCB BrokeragePvt. Ltd.

VenturaSecurities Ltd.

SMC GlobalSecurities Ltd.

KR Choksey Shares& Securities Pvt. Ltd.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

GOVERNING BOARD MEMBERS

3 FORUM VIEWS - MARCH 2021

BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE BROKERS’ FORUM (BBF)GOVERNING BOARD 2020 - 21

Anup GuptaSykes & Ray

Equities India Ltd.

Cyrus KhambataPaytm

Money Ltd.

Kamlesh JhaveriJhaveri

Securities Ltd.

Ketan MarwadiMarwadi Shares& Finance Ltd.

Madhavi VoraULJK Securities

Pvt. Ltd.

Naresh RanaVishwas Fincap

Services Pvt. Ltd.

Neeraj ChoksiNJ India

Invest Pvt. Ltd.

Nirav GandhiJM FinancialServices Ltd.

Nithin KamathZerodha

Securities Pvt. Ltd.

Paresh ShahP.C.S.

Securities Ltd.

Parth NyatiSwastika

Investmart Ltd.

Pradeep GuptaAnand Rathi Share

& Stock Brokers Ltd.

S. P. ToshniwalSunlight

Broking LLP

Sandeep NayakCentrum

Broking Ltd.

Santanu SyamAngel

Broking Ltd.

Sunil SardaSystematix Shares& Stocks India Ltd.

Vineet BhatnagarPhillip Capital

(India) Pvt. Ltd.

Vivek GuptaGEPL Capital

Pvt. Ltd.

KUSHAL A. SHAHJt. Secretary | BBF

RatnakarSecurities Pvt. Ltd.

LALIT MUNDRATreasurer | BBF

Suresh RathiSecurities Pvt. Ltd.

Ajit SanghviMSS Securities

Pvt. Ltd

Kishor KansagraPragya Securities

Pvt. Ltd.

Purav Fozdar Axiom Share

Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Disclaimer: This magazine is meant for information purposes only and does not constitute any opinion or guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader(s). It is not intended to be used as trading or investment advice by anybody and should not in any way be treated as a recommendation. The information contained in this magazine does not constitute or form part of and should not be construed as, any offer for purchase or sale of any product or service. While the information in the magazine has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith, readers may note that the contents thereof including text, graphics, links or other items are provided without warranties of any kind. Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF) expressly disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, correctness, reliability, timeliness, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, of this magazine. Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF) shall also not be liable for any damage or loss of any kind, howsoever caused as a result (direct or indirect) of the use of the information or data contained in this magazine. Any alteration, transmission, photocopied distribution in part or in whole or reproduction of any form of this magazine or any part thereof without prior consent of Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF) is prohibited.

Printed, Published and Edited by Dr. VISPI RUSI BHATHENA, PhD (h.c.)

& Dr. V. ADITYA SRINIVAS on behalf of Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF),printed at KSHITIJ PRINTERS, 49, Parsi Panchayat Road, Ashok Ind. Estate, 1st, Floor,Andheri (East) Mumbai - 400 069. and published from Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers'Forum (BBF), 808 A,P. J. TOWERS, DALAL STREET, FORT, MUMBAI - 400 001.Editor: Dr. V. ADITYA SRINIVAS | Design by: Harshad Gajera | Photographer: Sanjeev Dubey

Write to us: We would be happy to hearfrom you! Do send in your suggestions,feedback and comments via email [email protected] us: www.brokersforumofindia.com

BBF Steering CommitteeUttam Bagri (Chairman)Hemant Majethia (Vice-Chairman)Anurag Bansal (Secretary)Lalit Mundra (Treasurer)Kushal A. Shah (Jt. Secretary)Rajiv Choksey (Jt. Treasurer)

Follow us on: @bbfindia /bsebrokersforum/brokersforumofindia c/bbfindia/


12YourQuestionsAnswered

06GlobalInsights

CLOSING THE CRITICALGAPS TO PROTECTPERSONALINFORMATION

INVEST IN ETFS TOCOMPLIMENT YOURMUTUAL FUNDINVESTMENTS

ASIA-PACIFIC MARKETSMONTHLY HIGHLIGHTSAND INSIGHTS

18 Insights

2021 BUDGET DELIVERSRESET MODE(ALT + CTRL + DELETE)TO REBOOT AND REENGINEERINDIA GROWTH HORIZON

38 Feature

COMPLIANCE CALENDARREGULATORY PULSECIRCULARS

50 RegulatoryAssistance

Nurturing Lifestyle61

DIGITAL DETOX

YOUR SECRET TEACHERTO LIFE & LIVING

IMMUNITY

RIGHT TO PROPERTYUNDER THE CONSTITUTIONOF INDIA, 1950

CYBERSECURITYIN HEALTHCARE

FAQS ON ATMANIRBHARBHARAT ROZGAR YOJANA

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE

TIME TO BLOW THEWHISTLE: CORPORATEVIGILENCE MECHANISM

FRAMEWORK FORENABLING ANCILLARYSERVICES ATINTERNATIONALFINANCIAL SERVICESCENTRES (“IFSC”)

BROKING INDUSTRYREGULATIONS AND POSSIBLEIMPACT ON RETAIL BROKERS

BUDGET & SECTOR IMPACT

COMPLIANCE TO GOODGOVERNANCE - SEBI’SNOTEWORTHY INITIATIVE

SIP YOUR GOALSAT NEW HIGH

INVESTOR’S FIRST FRONTIER:RISK ASSESSMENTAND ASSET ALLOCATION

WHAT DOES THE RECENTBROAD MARKET RALLY INMARKETS TELLS US?

PERFORMANCE OF INDIANCAPITAL MARKETS IN 2020

THE NEXT PHASE OFECONOMIC REFORM BEGINS:AN OVERVIEW


ceo & coo message

Dr. Aditya Srinivas

next year. The direct tax was kept unchanged. The agriculture cess of Rs. 2 was added to petrol and Rs. 4 to diesel aimed to generate revenue to make up for the fiscal deficit.

RBI monetary policy also echoed the intent that growth is the priority of the

g o v e r n m e n t a n d p e g g e d t h e G D P growth to be at 10.55% for the next year. The outlook for inflation has also been pegged at 5% which is the normal range. The

WelcomeDr. Vispi RusiBhathena,PhD (h.c.)

to magazine.Forum Views

The RBI maintained its

accommodative stand to

ensure that growth is

the vital aspect and

interest rates will move

up only when economy

is completely out of

woods.

RBI maintained its accommodative stand to ensure that growth is the vital aspect and interest rates will move up only when economy is completely out of woods.

The Foreign Institutional Investors have invested Rs. 29000 crores in January and February 2021 (till Feb 10th) as they have appreciated the boldness in the budget for CAPEX which will set the ball rolling for higher economic growth.

The rollout of vaccination has created positive environment for the overall economic growth and spending spirits will be back soon in the economy.

BUDGET GAVE NEW LIFE TO ECONOMY AND MARKETS

The Indian Economy seems to be all guns blazing with the stock markets touching lifetime high. The Budget spelled out clear intention of the government that Growth cannot be compromised. The very fact that CAPEX target has been kept at Rs. 5.54 lakh crores were one of the biggest welcome moves taken by the stock market. The BSE SENSEX gave clear thumps up by moving up more than 5% on the Budget day. The Government stand to make vital expenditure in the field of health care was also vital factor as the health care is going to be prime importance.

The Budget also made road for the fiscal deficit which is pegged at 9.5% for the current year and target of 6.8% for the

On the BBF front:

BBF Seminars and Events

Topic Date

Sexual Harassment of Womenat Work (POSH)NCDEX - Investor ResolutionMechanismNew Developments at CDSL

Monday,22-FebruaryWednesday,17-FebruaryFriday,5-February


IAN RUSSELLPresident and CEO

Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC)

The European Union law on data protection and privacy, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), has become the path-breaking template for protecting personal information in many foreign jurisdictions.


The BBF is a key member of ICSA, the global organization of nineteen securities industry associations. Founded in 1988, ICSA provides a forum for member associations to understand developments, exchange views, and collaborate to work for better global capital markets. (www.icsa.global).

ICSA members have been invited to submit contributions to Forum Views. The following is from the Investment Industry Association of Canada.

CLOSING THE CRITICAL GAPS TO PROTECTPERSONAL INFORMATION

control”. As previewed earlier, new legislation grants individuals rights, including the right to access and amend their information, the right to dispose with their information, the right to transfer personal information among organizations, and the right to be informed of how predictions, recommendations or decisions are made by an automated decision-making system.

The core obligation of the investment dealer firms under the proposed legislation is to implement a “privacy management program” that includes policies, practices and procedures respecting the protection of personal information; how inquiries and complaints are received and dealt with; the training and information provided to staff; and the development of materials to explain firms’ policies and procedures to fulfil their obligations. We anticipate the eventual regulations will be principles-based to enable broad applicability across the corporate sector.

Firms will be required to develop policies and procedures consistent with the sensitivity and volume of personal information under their control. Further, these policies and procedures will be subject to review and approval by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and will be monitored against the approved compliance standard. The new legislation imposes substantial penalties for non-compliance under broader “order-making power” of the Privacy Commissioner, with the Commissioner and new Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal to impose fines and penalties.

For the most cost-efficient regulatory outcome, investment dealers in the financial sector could request to operate under an approved certification program that includes “a code of practice that provides for substantially the same or greater protection of personal information as some or all of the protection provided under the Act”. The dealers would elect the recognized self-regulatory organization, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), with its resources as the regulator of the business activities of the dealer, as the integral part of the certification program. IIROC, in conjunction with member firms, would develop the codes of practice and provide the compliance oversight of the privacy management program and other practices, given its regulatory infrastructure.

The proposed legislation promises an effective protection for personal information, an important guidepost for harmonized rules in the provincial/territorial statutes, and the features for a flexible and efficient regulatory structure. We are hopeful that, as coming discussions unfold, potential will be realized.

Ian Russell has been President and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada since its inauguration in April 2006. Previously, Ian was Senior Vice-President, Industry Relations and Representation, at the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA).

In his more than 20-year tenure with the IDA and the IIAC, Ian has participated actively in many committees and working groups involved in regulatory and tax issues related to the securities industry and capital markets in Canada.

Ian is a past Chairman of ICSA.

espite the intensive public policy focus during the long-standing COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government of DCanada has persevered to release proposed legislation to

update and modernize Canada’s privacy laws and increase Canadians’ control over their data and personal information.

The proposed legislation builds on earlier legislative proposals and will replace the outdated long-serving Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Rapid advances of digitalization, automated or algorithmic decision-making, and recent testimony before the U.S. Congress on the misuse of personal information on the internet suggest much higher standards of regulation of personal information are long overdue.

The European Union law on data protection and privacy, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), has become the path-breaking template for protecting personal information in many foreign jurisdictions. The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) necessitates GDPR compliance (adequacy) for many Canadian businesses that offer goods or services to individuals in the EU.

The Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), representing 115 Canadian investment dealers in the country, has been a strong advocate for renewal of the laws protecting privacy and personal information. Firms in our industry collectively administer 14 million client accounts with extensive personal data and information and, therefore, support comprehensive privacy legislation imposing uniform, transparent and high standards of protection for personal financial information across the country.

Close federal-provincial/territorial coordination is important to ensure the framework is streamlined and simplified to reduce the regulatory burden, minimize confusion and uncertainty, and ensure effective enforcement of standards.

The draft privacy legislation requires valid consent from individuals to collect, use and disclose their personal information, with narrow exemptions, but the validity of the consent is now based upon information being provided in “plain language”, and consent has to be expressly obtained. It removes the burden of having to obtain consent when that consent does not provide any meaningful privacy protection. An organization is accountable for personal information that is “under its

Key findings:

ASIA-PACIFIC MARKETSMONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS

AND INSIGHTS

• M&A Activity By Country, Sector

• Initial Public Offerings

• Private Equity Investments And Buyouts

• Venture Capital Investments

• Market Attributes: Index Dashboard

Contact Information: If you have any questions relating to the content featured in the publication, please contact [email protected]

Disclaimer: Copyright © 2021 by S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.

These materials have been prepared solely for information purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable. No content (including index data, ratings, credit-related analyses and data, research, model, software or other application or output therefrom) or any part thereof (Content) may be modified, reverse engineered, reproduced or distributed in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of S&P Global Market Intelligence or its affiliates (collectively, S&P Global). The Content shall not be used for any unlawful or unauthorized purposes. S&P Global and any third-party providers, (collectively S&P Global Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or availability of the Content. S&P Global Parties are not responsible for any errors or omissions, regardless of the cause, for the results obtained from the use of the Content. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED ON “AS IS” BASIS. S&P GLOBAL PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, FREEDOM FROM BUGS, SOFTWARE ERRORS OR DEFECTS, THAT THE CONTENT’S FUNCTIONING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THE CONTENT WILL OPERATE WITH ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION. In no event shall S&P Global Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of the Content even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s opinions, quotes and credit-related and other analyses are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security. S&P Global Market Intelligence assumes no obligation to update the Content following publication in any form or format. The Content should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions. S&P Global Market Intelligence does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor except where registered as such. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its divisions separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain divisions of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global divisions. S&P Global has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain non-public information received in connection with each analytical process.

S&P Global Ratings does not contribute to or participate in the creation of credit scores generated by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Lowercase nomenclature is used to differentiate S&P Global Market Intelligence PD credit model scores from the credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings.

S&P Global may receive compensation for its ratings and certain analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of securities or from obligors. S&P Global reserves the right to disseminate its opinions and analyses. S&P Global's public ratings and analyses are made available on its Web sites, www.standardandpoors.com (free of charge), and www.ratingsdirect.com and www.globalcreditportal.com (subscription), and may be distributed through other means, including via S&P Global publications and third-party redistributors. Additional information about our ratings fees is available at www.standardandpoors.com/usratingsfees.


GLOBAL INSIGHTSGLOBAL INSIGHTS



M&A ACTIVITY IN ASIA PACIFIC: SELECTED COUNTRIESIn January 2021, China dwarfed the other countries in APAC with 265 M&A deals and US$14bn deal value. Across the region, Taiwan saw the largest YoY growth in total number of deals and New Zealand witnessed the most significant YoY growth in total deal value.

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence as of February 1, 2021. Figures are based on M&A announcement dates. Includes both closed and pending transactions as well as those without transaction values. Charts are provided for illustrative purposes.

Key Threshold (No. of Deals)

0 - 7

>7 - 53

>53 - 106

>106 - 159

>159 - 212

>212 - 265

No. of Deals and Value by

Country/Region (Jan’21)

No. of Deals and Value YTD Activity (20’ vs. 19’)

20 YTD 19 YTD YoY Growth 20 YTD 19 YTD YoY Growth

Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020

YoY ComparisonThrough

Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021

No. of deals Value of Deals ($USDmm)

China 45%

Japan 92 -8% 21%

Australia 76 -17% 2,705 2,651 2%

India 62 -24% 1,417 2,190 -35%

Vietnam 54 43 26% - 87 -100%

South Korea 44 48 -8% 1,588 1,705 -7%

Hong Kong 31 30 3% 1,535 740 107%

Malaysia 23 19 21% 157 172 -9%

Singapore 20 32 -38% 1,177 -87%

Thailand 10 14 -29% 196 1,196 -84%

New Zealand 7 9 -22% 74 1

Philippines 7 10 -30% 3 343 -99%

Indonesia 6 10 -40% 85 147 -42%

Taiwan 6 3 812 - NA

Total 703 658 7% 34,582 36,774 -6%

265 166 60% 14,349 9,862

100 10,483 8,658

92

82

9,022

6924%

100%

Country No. of DealsValue of Deals

($USDmm)

China 265 14,348.70

Japan 92 10,483.30

Australia 76 2,705.10

India 62 1,416.80

Vietnam 54 0.00

South Korea 44 1,588.40

Hong Kong 31 1,535.00

Malaysia 23 156.90

Singapore 20 1,177.10

Thailand 10 195.90

New Zealand 7 73.80

Philippines 7 3.30

Indonesia 6 85.30

Taiwan 6 812.00

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS BY COUNTRYChina led the table with 51 IPOs and US$12,038.6mm raised in January 2021. South Korea observed the highest YoY growth in the number of IPOs and India saw the largest YoY growth in the value of IPOs, followed by Singapore.

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence as of February 1, 2021. Figures are based on public offerings offer date. Includes all closed transactions. Tables are provided for illustrative purposes.



Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021


China 38% 53%

South Korea 8 2 167 18 833%

Australia 5 4 25% 69 21 226%

Hong Kong 5 6 -17% 1,127 174 547%

Singapore 4 3 33% 376 35 971%

India 2 5 -60% 793 4

Indonesia 2 8 -75% 14 56 -75%

Malaysia 1 4 -75% 10 33 -70%

Japan - - NA - - NA

New Zealand - 1 -100% - 9 -100%

Philippines - - NA - - NA

Taiwan - - NA - - NA

Thailand - 1 -100% - 7 -100%

Vietnam - 1 -100% - 3 -100%

Total 78 72 8% 14,595 8,214 78%

51 37 12,039 7,854

300%

18826%




($USDmm)

China 51 12,038.60

South Korea 8 167.00

Australia 5 69.00

Hong Kong 5 1,127.20

Singapore 4 376.40

India 2 792.80

Indonesia 2 14.40

Malaysia 1 9.70

Japan 0 0.00

New Zealand 0 0.00

Philippines 0 0.00

Taiwan 0 0.00

Thailand 0 0.00

Vietnam 0 0.00

Key Threshold (No. of IPOs)

0

>0 - 10

>10 - 20

>20 - 31

>31 - 41

>41 - 51



VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS: NON BUYOUTS BY COUNTRYIn January 2021, China was the most active VC investments market in APAC. China also saw the largest YoY growth in the number of deals, while Hong Kong experienced the most significant YoY growth in the value of deals.

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence as of February 1, 2021. Figures are based on transaction announcement dates. Includes both closed and pending transactions as well as those without transaction values. Non-buyouts will include all features except

for leverage buyouts ( LBO), management buyout or secondary LBO. Tables are provided for illustrative purposes.





Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021


China 416%

India 43 -38% 460 -70%

Japan 29 -37% 94 166 -43%

Singapore 11 21 -48% 346 103 235%

Indonesia 8 10 -20% 161 4 4386%

South Korea 6 14 -57% 63 128 -51%

Australia 4 12 -67% 2,117 182 1066%

Hong Kong 4 3 1,730 1

Taiwan 3 - NA 70 - NA

Malaysia 1 2 -50% 20 9 117%

Philippines 1 - NA 1 - NA

Vietnam 1 2 -50% - 0 -100%

New Zealand - 1 -100% - 5 -100%

Thailand - 2 -100% - 41 -100%

Total 275 252 9% 12,943 3,721 248%

164 70 134% 7,880 1,528

69 1,555

46

33% 207553%


($USDmm)

China 164 7,880.50

India 43 460.00

Japan 29 93.90

Singapore 11 346.30

Indonesia 8 161.50

South Korea 6 63.00



Taiwan 3 70.00

Malaysia 1 20.00

Philippines 1 0.70

Vietnam 1 0.00

New Zealand 0 0.00

Thailand 0 0.00


0

>1 - 33

>33 - 66

>66 - 98

>98 - 131

>131 - 164

PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENTS & BUYOUTS: SELECTED COUNTRIESChina ranked the first in both the number and the value of PE deals in January 2021. Throughout the region, Indonesia saw the highest YoY growth in both the number and the value of PE deals.


0

>1 - 23

>23 - 46

>46 - 69

>69 - 92

>92 - 115Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence as of February 1, 2021. Figures are based on M&A announcement dates. Includes both

closed and pending transactions as well as those without transaction values. Tables are provided for illustrative purposes.



Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2021 -Jan 31, 2021

Jan 1, 2020 -Jan 31, 2020


Jan 31, 2021





($USDmm)

China 115 7,217.60

India 25 374.00

South Korea 15 616.00

Japan 14 503.80

Singapore 6 479.50


Indonesia 3 95.00

Taiwan 3 70.00


Vietnam 2 0.00

New Zealand 1 14.00

Philippines 1 174.60

Thailand 1 0.00

Malaysia 0 0.00

China 322%

India 0% 374 -78%

South Korea 7% 616 332 86%

Japan 14 -53% 504 438 15%

Singapore 6 5 20% 479 97 396%

Australia 4 12 -67% 2,145 226 851%

Indonesia 3 1 95 3

Taiwan 3 - NA 70 - NA

Hong Kong 2 2 1,700 - NA

Vietnam 2 1 - - NA

New Zealand 1 2 -50% 14 3 436%

Philippines 1 1 0% 175 12

Thailand 1 1 0% - 31 -100%

Malaysia - - NA - - NA

Total 192 146 32% 13,389 4,574 193%

115 52 121% 7,218 1,710

25 25 1,723

15 14

30

200% 3066%

0%

100%

1381%



MARKET ATTRIBUTES: INDEX DASHBOARD

ŸAsian equities began 2021 strongly, with the S&P Pan Asia BMI up 1.5% in January. Most single-country indices posted gains, with China in the lead.

ŸMomentum, Growth and Enhanced Value were the leading factor indices, whilst Communication Services and Info Tech were the top performing sectors.

ŸVolatility rose across Asia, particularly for the HSI Volatility Index.

ŸCommodities were mixed, with gains in Crude Oil, Silver and Copper, and declines in Aluminum and Gold.

ŸPerformance for Asian fixed income indices was mostly negative.

Summary

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Data as of January 29, 2021. Index performance based on total return. Numbers in brackets are closing price levels for the corresponding indices. Returns for single country indices and single country strategies are in local currency, otherwise USD. Sector contributions to the S&P Pan Asia BMI are calculated over the prior month. Charts and graphs are provided for illustrative purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. For more information, please visit our website at www.spdji.com

-0.36%

-0.10%

-0.04%

-0.04%

-0.03%

-0.02%

-0.01%

-0.01%

0.00%

0.02%

0.06%

0.13%

0.29%

1.64%China

Taiwan

Hong Kong

Singapore

Thailand

Pakistan

New Zealand

Australia

Indonesia

South Korea

Philippines

Malaysia

India

Japan

S&P Pan Asia BMI Country ContributionJan 2021


SWARUP MOHANTYCEO and Associate DirectorMirae Asset Investment Managers(India) Pvt. Ltd.

INVEST IN ETFS TO COMPLIMENT YOURMUTUAL FUND INVESTMENTS

Going ahead in the domestic market if alpha

continuous to shrink specially in the large-cap segment, we may witness quick adoption of ETFs among the investors.

Further, the pandemic has accelerated the need to diversify one’s portfolio

beyond the home bias. In such cases ETFs become an excellent tool to take exposure in the foreign

market.

What are Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)?Exchange traded funds are passive schemes, which aim to track a particular market index like Sensex, Nifty, Nifty Bank etc. ETFs invest in a basket of stocks which replicate the index. These funds do not aim to beat the index like actively managed mutual fund schemes; they aim to minimize the tracking error. Tracking error is difference in returns of the ETF and that of the index. When investing in ETF you should expect to get the index returns, if any, nothing more and nothing less.

Advantages of ETFs

Growth of ETF Industry in India

• Cost: The biggest advantage of ETFs is cost. The expense ratio of ETFs can be upto 1.5 to 2.25% lower than actively managed funds. Actively managed funds need to beat their benchmark by that margin to match returns of comparable ETFs. Over long investment tenors the cost advantage of ETFs can be of significant advantage to investors.

• Simplicity: Investing in ETF is much simpler than investing in actively managed funds. You do not have to analyze past performance, understand the fund manager’s investment style e.g. Growth, Value or study fund’s performance in up and down markets etc. Simply you may select an index and invest in a low cost ETF, which tracks that index.

The year 2020 witnessed launch of new ETFs across the industry tracking various indices such as IT, themes such as ESG and general broad-based market indices. Industry wide AUM of all the ETFs at the end of Jan 2021 stood at Rs.278,376 Cr. showing rise of 53% from Jan 2020.(Source: AMFI). Though ETFs have been in existence in India for 20 years, the growth in ETF actually can be witnessed in last 5-6 years. Some of the reasons which have contributed to rise in ETF AUM in India are:

• Government’s use of ETFs as a preferred route for disinvestment has increased the participation of retail investors.

• ETFs are being used by EPFO and private Provident Fund bodies to take exposure to the equity market.

• Shrinking alpha in active fund space has made even an average investor aware about the benefit of plain vanilla ETFs like NIFTY, Sensex etc.


• Regulators measures such as categorization of funds along with benchmarking them against Total Return Index variants has improved the performance evaluation significantly.

Further, what is exciting is to see rise in participation of retail investors in ETFs. For instance, no. of retail folio in ETFs other than gold stood at 2,50,034 in Dec 2015. This has increased at an annual rate of 57% per annum to 15,03,033 in Dec 2019. In last one year this has more than doubled to 33,81,776 folio in Dec 2020.(Source: AMFI) . It highlights that investor has adapted ETFs at much faster pace than most of us would have anticipated.

pandemic has accelerated the need to diversify one’s portfolio beyond the home bias. In such cases ETFs become an excellent tool to take exposure in the foreign market. However, with the rise and usage of ETFs it becomes critical for asset managers to facilitate smooth functioning of the ETFs with continuous market making via Authorized Participants on the exchange.

We think ETFs are going to play very crucial role in coming times for an investor’s portfolio. An active investor can form his portfolio with 75% using actively managed fund and the rest 25% he can allocate to ETF as satellite portfolio (the exact allocation will depend on clients risk profile, time horizon etc..). What this 25% will do is that it will reduce his risk of underperforming the benchmark significantly. The investor desires to generate significant excess return but also acknowledges the risk associate with it and to minimize the impact he is using ETF.

On the other hand, an investor can form his core portfolio using large cap ETFs like NIFTY 50 and take exposure in other asset classes using mutual funds.

Apart from forming the portfolio, investors can use ETFs for • Buying and selling on exchange at intraday levels with

an aim to generate additional returns• Taking beta exposure when he or she is unsure in which

fund to invest• Take focussed yet low cost exposure in various

segments of the market

Overall we believe both Active and Passive products need to co-exist for an investors and an ETF is multi-functional product that can supplement existing portfolio of mutual fund investor.

Active v/s Passive Investing: Debate

Swarup is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Associate Director of Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) Pvt. Ltd. He has over 27 years of experience in the field of financial services including 20 years plus experience in Asset Management Sales. He is overall responsible for the India AMC. He has been associated with the AMC as Head - Sales from July 2011. Prior to this assignment, Swarup was National Sales Head - Retail, India with Religare Asset Management Co. Ltd. He has also been associated with organizations like Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd., Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd. & Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Ltd. in sales responsibilities. He holds a degree in PGDBM and B.COM (HONS.).

He is also a director on the following companies:• Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) Private Limited• Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) Private Limited• Mirae Asset Financial Services (India) Private Limited

Overall we believe both Active and Passive

products need to co-exist for an investors and an ETF is multi-functional product

that can supplement existing portfolio of mutual

fund investor.

This shift where investors want to add ETFs in his/her portfolio along with active funds is largely because of consistent underperformance of large-cap funds. While some of the active fund houses have done well, but overall at an aggregate industry level, performance is lagging, which has made investor cautious about the cost that is being levied. The simplicity of the product is what makes ETFs more appealing. Apart from simplicity, the low cost, tradability feature, transparent portfolio, focused exposure and accessibility in terms of an investor sitting in any foreign country taking exposure to Indian markets and vice-versa has contributed to the rise and popularity of ETF. Globally today ETFs are preferred route of investment vehicle if somebody wants to capture and get benefitted from particular theme such as ESG, cloud computing, robotic and artificial intelligence etc. More and more ETFs are being adopted to take smart-beta exposures.

Going ahead in the domestic market if alpha continuous to shrink specially in the large-cap segment, we may witness quick adoption of ETFs among the investors. Further, the


ZERICK DASTUR

Advocates & Solicitors

TIME TO BLOW THE WHISTLE:CORPORATE VIGILENCE MECHANISM

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States

of America is said to have once remarked, “Let the eye of

vigilance never be closed.”

This prescient statement continues to be applicable

even today and applies universally across spheres.

1. Introduction into the whistle-blower mechanism: What is the regulatory mechanism governing whistler blowing in the corporate sector?Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States of America is said to have once remarked, “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed.”

This prescient statement continues to be applicable even today and applies universally across spheres.

The term ‘whistle-blowing’ is a relatively recent entry into the vocabulary of public and corporate affairs, although the phenomenon itself is not new. It refers to the process by which insiders go public with their claims of malpractices by, or within, organisations - usually after failing to remedy the matters from the inside, and often at great personal risk to themselves.

India has recently seen a number of corporate scams and frauds particularly in listed companies. Some of the largest frauds the market has seen have been detected by whistleblower complaints and tip-offs. Hence having an appropriate internal vigilance mechanism which encourages timely reporting of a wrong doing and at the same time provides adequate protection for those who come forward with vital information was felt necessary. Section 177(9) of the Companies Act, 2013 requires every listed company and such other class of company as provided under the corresponding rules, to set-up a vigil mechanism for directors and employees to report bonafide concerns and issues in a specified manner.

Listed companies are also specifically governed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (the “Regulations”), where Regulation 22 provides for the formulation of a vigil mechanism for directors and

2. Who is a whistle blower? Discuss the requirements of company policy in relation to this vigil mechanism.Broadly, a whistle blower is one who reports or discloses to the concerned authorities, any fraudulent or unethical activity or any other activity which he has reason to believe or knows to have a malafide intent. Such information is usually made in writing and shared with the persons as provided by the company on their website.

The Listing Regulations requires that every listed company provide on its website, the policy in relation to this vigil mechanism. The extent of coverage of such whistle-blower policy includes all employees, director and any individual

employees to report genuine concerns. The Regulations further require that the vigil mechanism shall provide for adequate safeguards against victimization of director(s) or employee(s) or any other person who avail the mechanism and also provide for direct access to the chairperson of the audit committee in appropriate or exceptional cases.


associated in any manner with the company including consultants or shareholders. A typical whistle-blower policy covers the following aspects: defines a whistle blower, provides the various types of information that may be reported, the manner of reporting, the kind of information required while making a disclosure, the persons to whom various types of information may be reported to along with contact details including an e-mail address, a phone number or a fax number or a form to directly provide the necessary details along with the steps / process flow to be undertaken once the report is submitted and the type of protection post reporting.

Additionally, with effect from December 2019, SEBI has also introduced an incentive / reward scheme to incentivize persons to report concerns relating to insider trading.

Even Section 46 of the Competition Act, 2002, provides for a leniency regime for any vital disclosure of information. It provides that the Competition Commission may, if it is satisfied that any producer, seller, distributor, trader or service provider included in any cartel, which is alleged to have violated section 3 of the Act dealing with anti-competitive agreements, has made a full and true disclosure in respect of the alleged violations and such disclosure is vital, impose upon such producer, seller, distributor, trader or service provider a lesser penalty as it may deem fit, than leviable under this Act or the rules or the regulations. The CCI has also notified the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009 (the “Lesser Penalty Regulations”) which inter alia provide the procedure, conditions to be met and the corresponding quantum of leniency.

Zerick Dastur is Proprietor of the Law Firm, practicing in the field of Court litigation, Dispute Resolution, Arbitration and Competition Law. He is a triple Gold Medalist from Mumbai University. His practice covers diverse areas of Corporate Commercial and Regulatory disputes, Competition Law and Securities Law. He is representing a number of clients in the Port Sector, Infrastructure and Mining Sectors. He has represented clients in domestic and international, commercial arbitration matters and has acted for clients on mergers, acquisitions and other transactional matters. His practice involves representing clients before various Courts, Statutory Tribunals and Regulators including the Securities Appellate Tribunal, Competition Commission of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Tariff Authority for Major Ports. He was a former Partner at the Law Firm, J. Sagar Associates.

He has litigation experience before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, various State High Courts as well as a number of Tribunals and Regulatory Bodies. He has been involved in a number of matters involving issues of Constitution Law. He has been involved in matters involving defense of Auditors and Corporate clients before various Civil/Criminal Courts/Tribunals and Regulators in connection with Corporate frauds and scams. He has also advised various clients in matters involving shareholder disputes and minority actions before the NCLT and CLB.

He has advised clients in connection with Competition Law issues in everyday business operations including issues relating to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance by enterprises. He also practices Securities Law and appears before the Securities Appellate Tribunal and the SEBI.

He has also written a number of Articles for various national publications on various Corporate, Commercial and Competition Law issues.

He writes for various national newspapers and publications on Corporate, Commercial and Competition Law. He is a regular speaker at events organised by VC Circle, Indian Merchant Chambers, Economic Times, Corporate Knowledge Foundation and the World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce.

He is a Member of the Law Committee of Indian Merchant Chambers.

(Advocate Zerick Dastur and Advocate Harini Subramani)

Views expressed are personal and do not constitute legal advice

The Listing Regulations requires that every listed company provide on its website, the policy in relation to this vigil mechanism. The extent of

coverage of such whistle-blower policy includes all employees,

director and any individual associated in any manner with

the company including consultants or shareholders.

Many a time company policies also provide for allowing a report to be issued anonymously if required subject to providing all necessary documents and any other conditions

The reporting mechanism is also encouraged by SEBI in connection with detection and prevention of insider trading. An ‘Informant’ has been defined under the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 in the following manner:

an individual(s), who voluntarily submits to the Board a Voluntary Information Disclosure Form relating to an alleged violation of insider trading laws that has occurred, is occurring or has a reasonable belief that it is about to occur, in a manner provided under these regulations, regardless of whether such individual(s) satisfies the requirements, procedures and conditions to qualify for a reward.

3. Which are the other laws and regulations where reporting and vigilance is encouraged?


ROSHAN KUMAR BAJAJDirectorJPNR Corporate Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

FRAMEWORK FOR ENABLING ANCILLARY SERVICESAT INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRES (“IFSC”)

This framework shall be applicable to all ancillary

service providers (hereinafter referred to as “service

provider(s)”) engaged in one or more permissible ancillary

services within the IFSC.

This is our thirty-fourth release in the series of awareness articles on IFSC

1.0 Synopsis of the previous release

2.0 Coverage in the current release

3.0 Applicability

4.1 Ancillary services

In our last releases, we had discussed about International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations, 2020 in International Financial Services Centre (“IFSC”).

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) hereby consider the importance of professional and other service providers for the development of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in IFSC, hence IFSCA has provided the framework for enabling ancillary services at International Financial Services Centres vide circular no. F.No. 206/IFSCA/Anc.Aux/2020-21 dated February 10, 2021.

This framework shall be applicable to all ancillary service providers (hereinafter referred to as “service provider(s)”) engaged in one or more permissible ancillary services within the IFSC.

• Ancillary services:Ancillary services shall mean those services which directly or indirectly aid, help, assist or strengthen or are attendant upon or connected with the services, as detailed under sub-clauses (i) to (xi) of clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the IFSCA Act, 2019 i.e.

(I) buying, selling, or subscribing to a financial product or agreeing to do so;

(ii) acceptance of deposits;

(iii) safeguarding and administering assets consisting of financial products, belonging to another person, or agreeing to do so;

(iv) effecting contracts of insurance;

(v) offering, managing or agreeing to manage assets consisting of financial products belonging to another person;

(vi) exercising any right associated with a financial product or financial service;

(vii) establishing or operating an investment scheme;

(viii) maintaining or transferring records of ownership of a financial product;

(ix) underwriting the issuance or subscription of a financial product;

(x) providing information about a person's financialstanding or creditworthiness;

(xi) selling, providing, or issuing stored value or payment instruments or providing payment services.


• Permissible ancillary services:The service providers may engage in any one or more of the following activities:

(i) Legal, Compliance and Secretarial;

(ii) Auditing, Accounting, Bookkeeping and Taxation Services;

(iii) Professional & Management Consulting Services;

(iv) Administration, Assets Management Support Services and Trusteeship Services;

(v) Any other services as approved by IFSCA from time to time.

The following entities are eligible to act as a service provider so as to provide permissible ancillary services pertaining to activities in relation to financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the IFSC:

(i) Any existing or newly incorporated entity set up in the IFSC or

(ii) Any Indian or foreign incorporated entity by establishing a branch or a subsidiary.

Service providers can provide permissible services to any one or more of the following:

(I) Entity(ies) set up in the IFSC;

(ii) Financial services entities from foreign jurisdictions for various activities in the IFSCs in India or other related activities overseas;

(iii) Indian entities who propose to open, set up or carry out operations in IFSCs or foreign jurisdiction, provided consideration is received in freely convertible foreign currency.

• Currency for conduct of business:

Service providers shall transact in freely convertible foreign currency only. However, the service providers may defray their administrative expenses in INR by maintaining an INR account.

• Fees for Ancillary Service Provider

Following fee is applicable for the Ancillary Service Provider:

5.1 Eligibility Cariteri for acting as a Service Provider

6.1 Service Recipients

7.1 Operational Compliances to be complied with

For more information & queries, please contactJPNR Corporate Consultants Private Limited (www.jpnrgroup.com)

Roshan Kumar Bajaj [FCA, CIFRS]

He is a Director in JPNR Corporate Consultants Private Limited which is a business advisory and consultancy company, incorporated under Companies Act, 2013. The company is engaged in providing services related to Goods and

The article isco-authored by

CS Jhalak Jain

Services Tax, advisory services to International Financial Service Centre [Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT)]. During his association with Deloitte earlier, he has gained rich experience in providing Audit and Assurance services to various large Corporate including Telecom, FMCG, Cement, Consumer Appliances, Port, Healthcare, Hospitality sectors, Steel, Mining etc. He has expertise in providing services relating to IFRS and Ind-AS also and has handled domestic and international projects for the same. He also contributes to various articles relating to his domain.

Particular FeeApplication FeeRegistration Fee

USD 500USD 2,000 (for 5 years)

• Maintenance of Books of Accounts, Records and DocumentsEvery service provider shall maintain its books of accounts, records, and documents in such foreign currency, as may be declared at the time of making an application.

• Submissions of Report / Information(i) Every service provider shall furnish the following

information to the IFSCA:

a. Annual financial statements for the entity registered.

b. Confirmation of compliance with the regulations, circulars, guidelines and/or directions as issued by the International Financial Services Centres Authority from time to time.

c. Details of material regulatory action, if any.

(ii) Every service provider authorized by the IFSCA shall submit the financial information to the IFSCA in US Dollar, unless otherwise specified by the IFSCA.

(iii) The IFSCA from time to time may call for any information, documents, or records as it may deem necessary from the service provider.

International Financial Services Centres Authority has widened the scope for the professionals and other service providers for the development of financial products, financial services and financial institutions at IFSC which directly or indirectly aid, help, assist or strengthen or are dependent upon or connected with the primary services.

8.0 Conclusion


he Indian Finance Minister decided to navigate valiantly through global Tpandemic crisis in conjunction with

numerous measures announced since last year of Covid-19 in the form of stimulus package, to confidently present the 2021 Budget after a year long economy slowdown. The Budget was not only aimed for speedy recovery but was designed towards growth trajectory of the Indian economy since the plunge in economic activities in 2020 echoed by various credit agencies, focused to achieve the ambitious target of USD 5 trillion economy since the introduction of medical cure.

The promotion of 2021 Budget by the Indian Finance Minister to deliver a landmark event given the constraints of pandemic since a century, is directionally appreciated considering the incessant efforts made by the Government to overcome challenges by setting high bench mark in adopting counter cyclical expansionary steps as a medieval concept. The measures are expected to boost GDP growth both directly, and indirectly building a cascading effect on private consumption, expenditure and investment thus causing a positive outlook on the Indian economy.

The prominent areas of focus by 2021 Budget addressed by the Government to offer impetus in the Indian economy are:• Adding resources without raising tax• Encouraging spending and savings• Managing fiscal deficit with alternate

resource mobilisation• Creating an investment climate to

become a global manufacturing hub

The economic revitalising package released in phases during lockdown was bespoke to provide cushion to the vulnerable sections of the society and the small businesses hence, with steady unwinding of lockdown restrictions, the

The promotion of 2021 Budget by the Indian Finance Minister to deliver a landmark

event given the constraints of

pandemic since a century, is directionally

appreciated considering the

incessant efforts made by the Government to overcome challenges by setting high bench

mark in adopting counter cyclical

expansionary steps as a medieval concept.

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

demand is likely to boost consumption. The economic recovery inched back on track since normalisation aided by stimulus measures initiated to boost investment climate by introducing Production Linked Incentives, enhancing capital expenditure and other steps also contributing towards Make in India initiative. The change in strategy reflects that the fiscal policy offered flexibility to adjust with an ever evolving situation for a resilient recovery.

2021 BUDGET DELIVERS RESET MODE(ALT + CTRL + DELETE) TO REBOOT ANDREENGINEER INDIA GROWTH HORIZON

By CA Shailendra SharmaAssociate Director, Products (Advisory)Asset Services, Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd.

the Indian Budget, also a barometer of the fiscal and policy reforms to provide an outcome of the steps introduced by the Indian Government over the year. The progressive measure implemented last year, fostered India to retain its 63rd rank in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index supported by strong prediction of economic recovery post March 31 with expectation of revival in real GDP growth in double digit territory by the end of next financial year.

The capital market has always been a substantial contributor to the Indian economy which experienced record high net inflows of ~ INR 2.1 trillion from the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in the capital market since last year up to December compared to investments in the same period in 2019-20. The indigenous institutions were not left behind with their contribution of ~ INR 2.76 trillion by the domestic fund industry. The enhanced FPI and domestic participation triggered Indian capital markets to touch new highs resulting in S&P BSE Sensex benchmark index to rise by 68.9 percent and Nifty 50 index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained by 70.3 percent in January 20, 2021 and reaching its peak as on date.

The performance and potential of the insurance sector is assessed using two indicators-Insurance penetration and Insurance Density. In 2019-20 the year of health care, mobilised gross direct premium of Non-Life insurers at ~ INR 1.89 trillion, as against ~INR 1.69 trillion last year, recording a growth of 11.45 percent. Conversely, Life insurance recorded a premium of ~ INR 5.73 trillion in 2019-20against INR ~ 5.08 trillion last year, registering a growth of 12.75 percent where, the renewal premium accounted for 54.75 percent of the total premium received by the life insurers.

The column aims to elaborate on the capital markets and financial services sector that briefly articulates and provides an insight on the 2021 Budget proposal introduced specifically in the financial service segment that plays a vital role to propel the Indian economy.

The Economic Survey was a precursor to

Brief snapshot of the 2021 Economic Survey


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Interestingly, the Government’s aim to protect the society through social security echoed an overall growth in the Assets Under Management (AUM) of National Pension Scheme to INR ~ 4.94 trillion as compared to INR ~ 3.71 trillion last year, thereby recording a substantial growth of 33.3 percent with maximum growth reg is tered by a l l - C i t i zen mode l CorporateSector and State Government Sector.

The total debt issuance in the primary market rose by 29.7 percent to ~ INR 5.99 trillion during 2020-21 compared to ~ INR 4.63 trillion in the corresponding period of the previous year. Since April- December 2020, the amount raised through private placement of debt increased by 32.2 percent to ~ INR 5.95 trillion where the amount raised through public debt issues declined by 67 percent.

In the lending space, Private Sector Banks exhibited greater transmission of fresh loans however, Public Sector Banks (PSB) reflected greater transmission of outstanding loans for easing the cycle. The NBFC sector witnessed marginal credit growth of 3 percent rising to ~ INR 23.8 trillion in March 2020 compared to 17.7 percent growth in the previous year. Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFCs) also witnessed slowdown in their growth due to isolated credit events in few large NBFCs and challenges in accessing capital. The banks continued to support NBFCs with their offtake expanding by9.2 percent YoY till October 2020, well above the overall bankcredit growth. The sector also benefitted from the liquidity infusing measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during the pandemic.

Besides the focus on financial services segment, the Economic Survey also published the following policy updates on the economy as under:• India’s GDP projection to contract by

7.7 percent in the ongoing financial year due to pandemic, but a strong V-shaped growth recovery of ~ 11 percent is expected in the financial year 2021-22 being in line with IMF’s prediction..

• India remains a preferred investment destination in FY 2020-21 with FDI soring amidst global asset, in equities having strong prospects of quicker recovery in emerging economies reflected by FPI

inflows at record high of USD 9.8 billion in November 2020, as investors’ risk appetite returned. Despite the disruptions being witnessed globally, FDI inflows into India’s services sector grew robustly by 34 percent YoY during April-September 2020 to reach US$ 23.6 billion.• Forex reserves rose to record levels of

USD 586.1 billion as on January 08, 2021 to cover 18 months’ worth of import in December 2020.

• Monthly Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection crossed the INR 1 trillion mark consecutively since last 3 months, reaching its highest levels in December 2020 since the introduction of GST

• India also entered the top-50 innovating countries for the first time in 2020 since the inception of Global Innovation Index in 2007, ranking first in Central and South Asia, and third amongst lower-middle-income group economies.

The preparation of this year Budget has been unique, motivated against all odds under challenging circumstances, owing to global slowdown since last year Budget. Government with an objective to counter effect of pandemic intermittently released 'Aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) Package and other reforms for sustained recovery through 3-4 mini Budgets since May 2020. The concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Make in India) is part of PMs’ vision reflected in 2021 Budgetbased on 6 pillar approach aimed to strengthen the objective of indigenous produce to resolve fiscal deficit expected at 6.8 percent. The contours of Budget proposals and capital outlay arethemed under the following structure:• AtmaNirbhar Bharat programmes• Performance-linked incentives• Boost for domestic manufacturing• Improved credit access for enterprises• Moratorium on interest payments• Thrust on affordable housing

The Budget also contemplated policy for an on-goingemphasis of the Government on administrative ease, transparency, and simplification of legal provisions through policy reforms by introducing liberal expenditure measures like:

Budget conceptualised to Reset,Reengineer and Reboot Indian economythrough counter cyclical steps

• Establish a Development Finance Institution (DFI) to be capitalised with INR 200 billion to launch National Asset Monetisation Pipeline to fund and mobilise new infra projects. The new DFI aims to build a lending portfolio of INR 5 trillion in 3 years

• INR 3 trillion outlay for power sector including power transmission assets of INR 70 billion is to be transferred to Power Grid InvIT

• Eliminate overregulation currently creating impedimentan towards ease of doing business where schemes like PLI Scheme will make India an integral part of global supply chain and Infrastructure development a key role in the overall economic growth

• Allocate INR 15 billion to boost digital transactions and facilitate setting-up a world class Fintech hub in GIFT City IFSC

• Set-up an Asset Reconstruction C o m p a n y ( A R C ) a n d A s s e t Management Company (AMC)to help banks tackle bad loans permitting sale of distressed assets to Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs)

• Separate administration structure to promote ease of doing business including multi-state co-operative for ease of doing business

• Permit One Person Companyto grow without any restrictions on paid up capital and turnover by encouraging start-ups for a structured legal entity recognition to help attract accredited investors

• Rationalise security market regulations under capital one market code being a significant step towards ease of doing business to go a long way in attracting foreign investments in India

• Design investors’ charter to assimilate rights of all financial investors across all financial products

• Increase FDI limits in the insurance sector from 49 to 74 percent and permitting foreign ownership and controls with conditions

In summary, the 2021 Budget is focused to provide clarity regarding the long-standing issues to promote certainty and boost foreign investor confidence. The Budget intends to overhaul the tax

2021 Budget proposals to Reengineer, Refine and Revitalise the financial services sector


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

administrative system to encourage a trust based system for ease of compliance. A high level analysis and brief insight on the Budget proposals are briefly explained.

• The induction of IFSC since 2015 created an enhanced interest for the investors considering multiple activities and amendments to the IFSC Regulations in the form of FPI, AIF, Portfolio Manager, Investment advisers, etc. The implementation of FPI Regulations had an underlying objective to re-domicile Indian administered offshore funds back in India by offering incentives for relocation.

Budget proposes to incentives offshore fund managers on relocation to IFSC, with capital gains tax exemption to such offshore Fund and its investors / shareholders relocating only as an AIF Category I, II or III located in IFSC (Resultant Fund) on or before 31 March 2023 pursuant to such relocation. Other consequential amendments to relocation like carried cost and period of holding of offshore Fund is available to the Resultant Fund without any impact on carry forward losses of Indian company due to change in beneficial voting power pursuant to relocation can prevail.• Relocation of eligible offshore fund

managers qualify for exemption from applicability of business connection in India subject to satisfaction of conditions prescribed under safe harbour rules. It is proposed that safe harbour rules will not apply (or apply with modification) to an eligible investment fund or its eligible fund manager, if the fund manager is located in an IFSC and has commenced operations on or before the 31st day of March, 2024.

• Income of an investment division situated in Offshore Banking Units (OBU) in IFSC shall qualify to claim exemption where such investment division is AIF Category III registered commencing its operations on or before 31 March 2024.

• In line with the Aircraft leasing regulations introduced in the IFSC, it is proposed that aircraft leasing activitiesin the form of royalty earned by non-resident from lease of Aircraft to a unit in an IFSC or income from transfer of Aircraft / Aircraft engine given on lease is eligible for 100 percent tax holiday on

1. International Financial Services Centre (IFSC)

satisfaction of the prescribed conditions.• Income from transfer of non-deliverable

forward contract of non-resident from OBU in IFSC would qualify for tax e x e m p t i o n w h e r e s u c h O B U commenced operations in IFSC on or before 31 March 2024.

Key impact assessment: The Government’s attempt and concerted efforts to onshore the off shored fund activities in India has potentially improved liquidity and is able to draw investors’ attention to attract investments in the Country. 2021 Budget with introduction of tax neutrality on re-domiciliation and other incentives for IFSC entities on Aircraft leasing will renew investor interest to explore India as a comparative destination amongst other global Financial Service Centres for their investment activities. Perhaps an extension of similar benefits to FPIs migrating to IFSC would promote volume and liquidity and go a long way to encourage investment activities from IFSC.

Investments made by SWFs and PFs qualifies for exemption from interest, dividend and capital gains arising from investment in specified infrastructure in India by specified persons, including SWFs and PFs on satisfaction of several conditions. In order to encourage additional participation of SWFs and PFs to invest in infrastructure of India, the Budget proposes to relax conditions like: • Permit investment in Category I or II AIFs

with lower threshold from 100 percent investment in a company or enterprise carrying on specified infrastructure activities to 50 percent investment.

• Allow eligible investments through a holding company being a domestic company, set up and registered on or after 1 April 2021 having minimum 75 percent of investment in infrastructure company(s).

• Permit investment in registered NBFC as an Infrastructure Finance Company notified as Infrastructure Debt Fund-Non-Banking Financial Companies under Reserve Bank Directions, with at least 90 percent lending to one or more infrastructure companies or enterprises.

• All the above situation where the criteria of 50 percent / 75 percent / 90 percent are not satisfied the exemption shall be calculated / computed proportionately.

2. Sovereign wealth fund (SWF) and pension funds (PF)

• Permit Category I or II AIF in which SWFs / PFs have invested, to make investment in InvITs.

• SWFs / PFs can explore specified loans or borrowings directly or indirectly withend use restrictions for the purpose of making investment in India however, assets can be distributed to lenders of eligible loans only in case of dissolution of SWF / PF.

• SWFs / PFs restricted participation in the operational activities of the investee entities, but permitted appointment of directors for monitoring the investment and remove restriction to undertake commercial activity.

• Eligibility for PFs as liable to tax in their home countries clarified to have specific exemption on their incomes is eligible to apply for exemption.

Key impact assessment: The provision of incentivising global SWF / PF introduced in last year Budget for investment in capital intensive sector like infrastructure receiveda dreary response. The budget recognising such impediment to build attractiveness in this category, proposed to liberalise various conditions associated with such investments by SWF / PF, shall potentially appeal investors to explore investment in the infrastructure sector to maximise their returns from India. The recent amendment by the government to bring UAE at par with other eligible country to qualify for privileged FPI license is a step in the right direction to offer SWF / PF diversified investment opportunity in infrastructure projects in India.

• In the last year Budget, dividend income has been taxable in the hands of the investors effective 1 April 2020. The tax provisions on payments to FPI provides for withholding tax on income from securities excluding capital gains and interest at the rate of 20 percent. Unfortunately, the provision prescribes specified tax rates absent application of the tax treaty benefit at the time of tax withholding.

In order to align the withholding tax provision for payments to FPI, the Budget proposed to settle the anomaly by providing withholding tax at a lower taxrate of 20 percent or at the prescribed tax treaty rate where:

3. Dividend tax benefit to investment vehicles and FPIs


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

• Tax treaty exists between India and the respective jurisdiction of the FPI; and

• FPI has furnished a TRC to the payer• The withholding tax on REIT/InvITis

inapplicable where dividend income is credited or paid to eligible investors like insurance companies / insurers. The Budget aimed at counter cyclical approach, proposed to extend relief of non-withholding of tax on payment of dividend to business trusts where dividend income is credited or paid to REIT/InvIT by specified SPV or payment of dividend income to any other person.

Key impact assessment: The proposed amendments for lower or minimal withholding tax on income distribution to the investors either for FPIs or REIT/InvIT shall repose investor confidence by optimising their returns and minimising tax leakage by addressing cash trap considerations of the investors supported by offering certainty for compliance.

• Amount received under Unit Linked Investment Plan (ULIP), a life insurance product including the sum allocated as bonus on such policy is exempt where the annual premium payable during the term of the policy does not exceed 10 percent of the actual capital sum assured. Aimed to provide benefit to small and genuine taxpayers of life insurance, Budget amends to withdraw exemption on proceeds received from such ULIP issued on or after 1 February 2021, where the premium amount payable in any year during the policy tenure exceeds INR0.25 million in respect of one or more than one ULIP.

• ‘Zero Coupon Bonds’ (ZCB) under the given tax guidelines are bonds issued by infrastructure Capital Company, infrastructure capital fund or Public Sector Company or scheduled banks. In order to broaden the scope of capital funds availability in the infrastructure sector, Budget proposed to permit Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDF) to issue ZCB where the income earned by IDFs from such bonds is exempt from tax.

• RBI permitted voluntary migration of primary co-operative bank into a

4. Other amendments

banking company through transfer of Assets and Liabilities. Accordingly, to expand the scope of business reorganisation, transfer of a capital asset by the co-operative bank to the B a n k i n g C o m p a n y t o w a r d s conversion, and allotment of shares of converted banking company to the shareholders of the existing co-operative bank shall be treated business reorganisation and regarded as exempt transfer for capital gain tax purpose.

• Ideally, Goodwill cannot be regarded as a depreciable asset and based on the nature of business, Goodwill would normally appreciate without any depreciation to its value akin to immovable property. Accordingly, it is proposed that Goodwill of a business or profession cannot be regarded as an asset hence, does not qualify for depreciation.

Key impact assessment: The amendment to ULIP can be a dampener in the structured equity product of the insurance company largely targeted for high networth investors but, small refinement to launch ULIP for low income category investors could widen the base and scope of the product given the renewed interest and valuation of the indices. The extended clarifications on other provisions like goodwill, tax neutrality for conversion and ZCB will provide tax certainty and depth in the investment activities in India.

Globally countries have lauded India’s pragmatic approach best suited for a resilient recovery of its economy since the adverse impact of pandemic, converse to the simplist ic st imulus package implemented by many offshore countries. The Indian Budget since health crisis receded has set a benchmark to focus on the growth trajectory considering a year long slow impact on the economy, proposing an array of fiscal inclusion measure of Aspirational, Economic Development and Caring India, targeted to achieve USD 5 trillion economy by recalibrating the financial architecture to help the sectors move from pillar to post.

The Government announced setting-up an institution to address the stressed assets in the banking space through an ARC

Key takeaways

model, areassuringstand for banking sector since the industry was on the cusp of bad loan spurt due to pandemic. Besides, the proposal seems to also support job creation, promoting infrastructure spending and creating equilibrium between demand and supply for improving liquidity and directional utilisation towards development. In the present economic situation, proactive approach of the Government to reset the economy and provide rationalisation of the tax provisions is an encouraging step for recovery and revival.

The proposal to minimise deficit target and improve allocation in identified infrastructure spending should promote impulsive growth in the economy but, may require balancing anyform of decline in global trade, high commodity prices and snugger external financing conditions causing any adverse implications on the cu r ren t account ba lances . The Government has set an ambitious target of developing infrastructure in the country with funding of large scale infrastructure p ro j ec ts backed by s t ruc tu red investments from SWF / PF to minimise the challenge of financial constraints and stress on borrowings.

Apropos, the Budget proposals delibera-ted on providing clarity on some open issues and streamlining legislaturesfor certainty and to boost foreigninvestor confidence. The proposal are concentrated to overhaul the tax administrative framework by introducing faceless tax assessments, developing robust dispute resolution mechanism, and revoking aged provisions to encourage a trust based system for ease of compliances. Although, some questions may still remain unaddressed it will be interesting to explore how, the Budget proposal will support the agile financial service sector poised to interest new investment avenues in India from the investors and acclaim India a preferred investment destination.

Shailendra Sharma is an Indian CPA associated with multinational financial services firm in India. The views expressed in the column are personal in nature based on the professional experience, research and capabilities that does not in any manner represent or resemble or express the views or opinion or facts of the organisation, group, firm or other bodies affiliated with.


BROKING INDUSTRY REGULATIONS ANDPOSSIBLE IMPACT ON RETAIL BROKERS

By Tejas KhodayCEO & Co-Founder, FYERS

rom the debilitating effects of Covid19, to the crazy market Fvolatility during the ensuing

lockdowns, to a slew of sweeping reforms undertaken by the market regulator SEBI and the V shaped recover that led to historic market rally, the year 2020 & 2021 so far have been phenomenal for the broking industry, and will be remembered for times to come.

The retail participation in stock markets, especially by millennials, has increased exponentially since the lockdown of March 2020. Even though new investors’ count increased by the millions during the year, only a few well-established brokerages were able to capture a decent share of the expanding market. Being associated with capital markets for many years, experienced hands find it as one of the fastest-evolving regulatory phases of this generation. Perhaps, an equivalent of the early 1990s when SEBI replaced the Controller of Capital Issues (CCI) to modernize India's markets

For years, unfair & non-compliant practices of several brokerage firms destroyed immeasurable amounts of investors wealthas well as faith in the equity ecosystem. A crisis of public confidence arose as few brokers went off-track and defrauded investors, or went bust due to misplaced risk management priorities. For instance, the recent IL&FS and Allied Financial fiasco, news of a massive scandal at Karvy Stock Broking sent everyone into a tailspin and it didn't stop there! In 2020, around 18 brokers defaulted on NSE & BSE. Witnessing things go from bad to worse from side-lines wasn't making it any better for other brokers. It was time for SEBI to proactively take matters into their own hands and change the approach and regulations, in order to protect retail investors interest.

A quick summary of the regulatory changes and their possible impact on retail brokers.

excessive leverage was detrimental to retail investors. Though many debates and discussions ensued among market participants, SEBI was firm in its decision and restricted intraday leverage bya maximum of 5X for equities and mandatory SPAN margins for derivatives. This totally nullifies any competitive advantage that traditional players enjoyed so far. The phased implementation of this new rule offers sufficient time to all brokerages in adjusting to the evolving landscape.

Further, NSE’s recent circular on 9th February 2021 on prohibiting brokerages from entering into arrangements with NBFCs to facilitate financing for margin requirements or client’s transactions (which is also aviolation of the SEBI guidelines) will impact brokers that mainly differentiated based on levered offerings. This move will create a level playing field for all players, and fintech brokers offering standardized leverage are better positioned to capitalize on the regulation. Having said that, it will impact the industry’s revenues.

To ensure upfront margin collection, a peak margin mechanism was introduced to help stock exchanges monitor fund availability, for trading clients with open positions. This is done by capturing screen shots of the brokers' trading systems at random but 4 times during the day, for surveillance purposes. This enabled exchanges to track intraday activities at brokerages, which wasn’t the norm earlier. They were mainly concerned with End of Day (EOD) positions at a broker level and the subsequent pay-ins/pay- outs & settlements. Brokers’ Risk Management System (RMS) was and still is a pandora 's box to a large extent with no tracking mechanism available. But the current changes will help strengthen risk management

2.Peak Margins to deleverage Intraday Trading:

The retail participation in stock markets, especially by

millennials, has increased

exponentially since the lockdown of

March 2020. Even though new

investors’ count increased by the

millions during the year, only a few well-established brokerages were able to capture a decent share of the expanding

market.

1. Standardizing leverage in a phased manner: Most brokers offer similar market access across exchanges, and a vast majority also use the same platforms provided by a common software vendor(s). To differentiate from others, many brokerages offered margin trading & high-leverage products to maintain high brokerage charges that prevailed until recent times. Traders usually don't worry about incurring additional charges as long as the broker allows trading with lower margin money. However, things changed after SEBI decided to curb this practice by introducing an upper cap on intraday leverage for all segments, believing that

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS


Tejas Khoday is the Co-Founder & CEO at FYERS and is counted among the youngest professionals to get the NSE’s broker license. He has over 10 years of experience in proprietary trading, risk management, and broking. He and his team started FYERS, a technology-focused brokerage in 2015 with an aim to transform the trading & investment ecosystem in India.

In a span of 6 years, FYERS has emerged as a leading tech enabled trading platform in India. His deep domain knowledge has gone a long way in transforming the trading / investment landscape for investors by developing and scaling a world class trading platform at FYERS. Along with his team, he has played a crucial role in setting up and developing unique trading opportunities such as FYERS Free Investment Zone, FYERS 30 day challenge, FYERS Web and thematic investment.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management with a major in Finance from Bhagavan Mahaveer Jain College, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance from Indian School of Business and Finance. He also holds a level 1 finance and investments Grade A certificate from Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute.

As a testimony to his entrepreneurial success in building and scaling FYERS as the most preferred destination by young population for trading and investments, Entrepreneur India has recognised him among Top 35 Entrepreneurs in India - 2021(Entrepreneur India 35U35 2021).

What lies ahead brokers?It is safe to assume that SEBI’s policies to systematically deleverage the brokerage industry will surely impact revenues of all intermediaries including the exchanges in 2021. While many traders and brokers may be livid by SEBI's seemingly harsh policies to restrict retail from trading, there is a positive side to this too. Less leverage insulates investors from the market volatility and thereby increasing their life span in the markets. If clients don’t go bust so often, in the long run, it’s good for business. It helps brokers service clients over a longer period of time and potentially benefit from a steadier stream of brokerage revenues. Apart from this, other sources of revenues have little potential of compensating for loss in brokerage in the near-term. Since trading volumes haven’t reduced in the first phase of the implantation of peak margins, there’s optimism considering the increased market participation. The significant reduction will begin in the subsequent phases starting March and through the month of August 2021. Presumably, this will impact all retail brokerages this year. In the long-run however, brokerages may benefit from the increasing number of investors in India that choose financial instruments and operate in a more organized and transparent ecosystem.

processes, and ultimately reduce the risk of defaults at times of high volatility. Is this good for brokers? In terms of revenues, No. But if looked at from another perspective, it helps reduce the MTM risk that brokers carry at all times. While it is not easy to acknowledge, it is especially beneficial to those who offered very high leverage in F&O. The unhealthy trend of providing unrealistically high leverage on index options selling on expiry days was the most dangerous practice which seems to have come under control due to the peak margins rules. It is also very beneficial for the exchanges because it helps contain the risk of broker defaults as it prevents them/their clients from running massive positions without having sufficient capital to back it up.

SEBI decided that, when it comes to penalties, the buck stops with the brokers. As per new rules, brokers aren’t allowed to pass on the penalties on margin shortfall to clients. They state that if the client doesn't have sufficient margins, he/she should not be allowed to initiate the position in the first place. If allowed, the broker would be liable to pay penalties. This is a highly controversial rule, disputed by almost everyone, for various reasons including the fact that it can make clients ignorant about the implications of violating the regulations as they don’t have to bear the brunt of penalties even if it was caused due to their actions. However, at the moment, SEBI's intention is to curb a brokers' ability to circumvent the upfront margin collection rule by passing on penalties to their clients. All in all, not good news for brokers and there exist genuinely disputable situations, for which the exchanges need to provide additional clarity and solutions so that brokers are not penalized unnecessarily when clients manage their trading positions that unknowingly violate margin rules.

Few brokers allow a client to trade even without any funds in their accounts. How’s that possible? A client has demat holdings which are used as collateral, even if not pledged. If a client incurs losses, their shares will be sold to recover the losses and settle trades. More often than not, clients aren’t aware of its

3.Penalties on margin shortfall to be borne by brokers:

4.Pledge/Un-Pledge mechanism:

working and due to their naivety, take on additional risks than they are prepared for, finally landing in trouble. To prevent brokerages from misusing clients' securities by pledging them without their knowledge or authorization, or misusing it to further their own agenda, SEBI implemented this new rule. Additionally, it also prevents brokers from pledging clients' securities and using the funds raised to prop-trade, to provide collateral to the Clearing Corporation (CC) or Clearing Member (CM), to provide short-term funding to other clients or to divert funds to their other business ventures, etc. While few bad apples indulged in such practices, it resulted in a serious reputational crisis. Though the impact on broking houses going forward may not be much as the transition has already happened but may have limited revenues for brokers indulging in such practices.

Despite the widespread use of POA, it has been a disputed instrument, and has been misused by far too many unscrupulous brokerages. Thankfully, SEBI has taken steps to prevent the possibility of such malpractices in the future. Recently, CDSL introduced a mechanism through which clients can operate their own Demat accounts using a TPIN. There’s a proposal to introduce OTPs with a daily expiry to further secure Demat accounts. This gives clients complete control of their securities and prevents unauthorized access. This move enhances confidence in capital markets and the sanctity of a demat account. However, POA is still being used due to the operational convenience it offers to many brokerages.

As per the SEBI’s consultation paper dated 13th January 2021 (PR No.: 2/2021), they’ve prescribed new guidelines to change the KYC process in order to standardise the procedure and avoid any duplication and discrepancies. To make this happen, SEBI wants KYC registrations to be conducted by the MIIs and KRAs instead of intermediaries. While the intent is good, the proposal to centralize KYC registrations can cause a huge bottleneck and slow down the industry's growth trajectory considering the immensely tedious and cumbersome nature of the task.

5. Demat Account without POA:

6.P r o p o s e d c h a n g e i n K Y C Registrations:

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS


he Budget 2021 proposals rest on six pillars - health & well-being, physical T& financial capital & infrastructure,

inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation & research & development, minimum government and maximum governance. The risk-on budget keeping fiscal deficit at 6.8 percent for FY22 with a 35 percent jump in capital expenditure is probably what the weak economy needed after a once in a hundred year kind of pandemic that pushed the country into a technical recession. The Govt sees FY22 fiscal deficit at 6.8%, according to the FM, while she had pegged deficit at 3.5% for FY21 in the last Budget. Govt aims to get Rs 1.75 lakh crore through divestments in 2021-22, according to Budget documents. In FY21, it planned to raise Rs 2.1 lakh crore through divestments, falling short. CPSEs in all but four sectors will be eventually privatised. Besides, in budget, Finance Minister has proposed to consolidate provisions of SEBI Act, Depositories Act, Securities Contracts Regulation Act, and Government Securities Act. The proposed move would help in cutting down compliance costs and reducing the friction between rules enacted by capital markets watchdog Sebi, depositories and government. Key sectors which should benefit disproportionately are capital goods, infrastructure and financials, followed by automobile as well as pharmaceutical because of higher overall expenditure and gems and jewellery due to Customs duty reduction.

The Covid-19 pandemic prompted Sitharaman to boost healthcare spending by 137% this year, an improvement over the less than 2% of gross domestic product that India has traditionally spent on health annually. The announcement extended shares of hospital operators including Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., Max Healthcare Institute Ltd. and Narayana-Hrudayalaya Ltd. Other companies likely to

Healthcare

Key sectors which should benefit

disproportionately are capital goods,

infrastructure and financials, followed

by automobile as well as pharmaceutical because of higher overall expenditure

and gems and jewellery due to Customs duty

reduction.

BUDGET & SECTOR IMPACT

By CIO (Chief Investment Officer), SMC Private Wealth

Ayush Aggarwal

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

benefit may include Dr.LalPathlabs Ltd., Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. and Thyrocare Technologies Ltd.

Infrastructure and construction

State-Run Banks

Stressing on the need to speed up construction of highways corridors, Sitharaman allocated Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the highways sector for 2021-21. More than 13,000 km of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore has already been awarded under the Rs 5.35-lakh crore Bharatmala project, of which 3,800 km have been constructed. "By March 2022, we would be awarding another 8,500 km and complete an additional 11,000 km of national highway corridors," she said. A large chunk of the outlay was allocated to poll-bound states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam. Key infrastructure players like Larsen & Toubro L td . and KNR Constructions Ltd. also look set to benefit.

The government announced it was forming an asset management company to take over stressed assets of banks in an effort to clean up one of the world’s worst pile of bad loans. Besides proposing setting up of

an asset reconstruction company and an asset management company (AMC) to clean up non-performing assets in the banking sector, Sitharaman said the government would infuse Rs 20,000 crore into public sector banks (PSBs) in 2021-22. State Bank of India Ltd., Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Punjab National Bank could be among the beneficiary.

Increase of FDI limit in Insurance sector would attract more investment from global insurance leaders to the sector. By allowing foreign ownership in insurance with safeguards, government has opened a competitive common field for the Indian insurance companies. SBI Life, ICICI Pru Life, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and HDFC Life are among the top picks from the sector.

Sitharaman’s announcement of the establishment of seven mega textile parks to be launched in three years could boost the sector. Finance minister has said that the parks to be setup over 1,000 acres of land with world class infrastructure, and plug-and-play facilities, will be addition to the Rs 10,683-crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for technical textiles and manmade fibres. This should benefit companies including Century Textiles Ltd., Raymond Ltd., Trident Ltd. and Arvind Ltd. among others.

Announcements with regards to increased spend on road infrastructure, scrappage policy, Research & Development and PLI among others, augur well for the automotive sector. Further, continued focus on building rural and agricultural infrastructure and prioritizing agriculture credit growth will have long-term positive impact on rural demand for vehicles. An increase in basic customs duty on select auto components will encourage local

Insurance sector

Textiles

Auto


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Ayush Aggarwal, CIO (Chief Investment Officer) - SMC Private wealth, Director - SMC Real Estate Advisors Private Limited, Director - Moneywise Finvest Limited. He is a young dynamic business leader. He is an MBA (PGP-FMB) from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, and a graduate from Delhi University. He has a great understanding and an in-depth knowledge of financial Market. He is the CIO (Chief Investment Officer) of SMC Private wealth Vertical at SMC Global Securities ltd. managing and handling portfolio management activities. He has an excellent understanding of the various Macro & Micro factors driving the economy and financial markets. He has a knack of Identifying high growth potential as well as fundamentally strong companies. HNI clients at SMC have benefitted significantly from his practical and pragmatic views.

Jewellery

NBFCs

MSME sector

The reduction in import duty on gold and other precious metals from 12.5 per cent to effectively 10 per cent will make jewelry cheaper in the domestic market for buyers. Moreover, the announcement of Sebi as the regulator for gold exchanges in India, is also a welcome move as it hints at deeper regulation of digital transactions.

Government's proposal to reduce the eligible loan amount for recovery under the SARFAESI Act for NBFCs will givemuch strength to the sector. It will helpin strengthening the NBFC sector by improving credit discipline among borrowers. Government has announced to introduce bill to set up new Development Financial Institution. For this Rs 20,000 crore has been provided to capitalise new Development Financial Institution. New DFI aims to have lending portfolio of Rs 5 lakh crore in 3 years. Some of the top beneficiaries could be Bajaj Finance and other top NBFCs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed revising the definition of small companies by enhancing the paid-up capital base from the existing limit of Rs 50 lakh. The move is likely to get more companies under the ‘small’ category and benefit them in terms of the compliance requirements. While the capital base limit is proposed to be increased to Rs 2 crore, the turnover threshold is also proposed to be enhanced from Rs 2 crore to Rs 20 crore. Raising the threshold for the qualification of small companies will enable more companies to take benefit of lesser compliance such as fewer numbers of mandatory board meetings, rotation of statutory auditors, exemption from the preparation of cash flow statements, etc. thereby facilitating ease of doing business in India. Another highlight for the MSME sector is the increase in the proposed capital expenditure of this year. The finance minister has earmarked `15,700 crore for the MSME sector, which is double the capital expenditure prosed in the budget of 2020-2021. The finance minister announced the creation of a special framework for MSMEs for debt resolution. To resolve cases faster, the NCLT framework will also be strengthened including the imple-mentation of the e-Courts system, she said.

manufacturing of such items. It is also heartening that the budget outlay for the MSME sector has been doubled compared to last year. The auto component industry is dominated by MSME and this will provide them the necessary comfort as the industry pieces its act together. The robust push to infrastructure including economic corridors, manufacturing and MSME’s collectively, is likely to help boost demand for heavy & medium duty CV’s. The vehicle scrappage policy aiming to replace commercial vehicles (CV) and passenger cars (PV) older than 15 years and 20 years of age, respectively, is expected to benefit CV manufacturers such as Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors and M&M and Maruti in the PV space. Other beneficiary of scrappage policy could be MSTC (for scarp trading) and vehicle financing companies (Shriram Transport Finance, Indostar Capital, Cholamandalam Finance).

Metal companies are set to reap the benefits of the long-awaited vehicle scrappage policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles announced by Sitharaman in the Budget 2021. Besides, the announcement of an additional 11,000-km of highways and metros, along with rapid rail transport projects for 27 cities, will boost demand for steel and aluminum.

The agriculture sector has received emphasis in Budget 2021. The allocation for credit flow through NABARD increased. The company has brought in Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess through restructuring, without consumers having to pay more. Finance minister says in no categories will the consumer pay more with respect to agriculture infrastructure cess. The Budget focuses on increasing farmers' income, several measures have been taken in this direction. Farmers will be able to get loans easily. Provisions have been made to strengthen APMC markets with the help of Agriculture Infra-structure Fund.

Cement sector stocks like UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement, Ambuja Cements, and ACC are expected to benefit from the government’s 34.5 per cent higher outlay on capital expenditure in 2021-22. The lack of mention of recent rise in prices of cements in the finance minister’s speech also bodes well for the sector.

Metal / aluminum companies

Agriculture sector

Cement

Disclaimer: This document is for the personal information of the authorized recipient and doesn't construe to be any investment, legal or taxation advice to you. It is only for private circulation and use. The document is based upon information that we consider reliable, but we do not represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. No action is solicited on the basis of the contents of the document. The document should not be reproduced or redistributed to any other person(s) in any form without prior written permission of the SMC. The contents of this material are general and are neither comprehensive nor inclusive. Neither SMC nor any of its affiliates, associates, re-presentatives, directors or employees shall be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person due to any action taken on the basis of this document. It does not constitute personal recommendations or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs of an individual client or a corporate/s or any entity/s. All investments involve risk and past performance doesn't guarantee future results. The value of, and income from investments may vary because of the changes in the macro and micro factors given at a certain period of time. The person should use his/her own judgment while taking investment decisions. Please note that we and our affiliates, officers, directors, and employees, including persons involved in the preparation or issuance if this material;(a) from time to time, may have long or short positions in, and buy or sell the securities thereof, of company (ies) mentioned here in or (b) be engaged in any other transaction involving such securities and earn brokerage or other compensation or act as a market maker in the financial instruments of the company (ies) discussed herein or may perform or seek to perform investment banking services for such company(ies) or act as advisor or lender/borrower to such company(ies) or © may have any other potential conflict of interest with respect to any recommendation and related information and opinions. All disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Delhi High court.

SEBI Registration No. INP000006703 Dated 30th April 2019.


A. SEBI Makes Compliance a pre-cursor to Good Governance The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was set up on April 12, 1988 and after the SEBI Act passed in January 1992, became an autonomous body on April 12, 1992. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)commenced operations on April 1, 1935, under the RBI Act, 1934, and became truly Indian on January 1, 1949. Over its much shorter life, SEBI has established itself as an effective regulator of India’s Stock Market, with calm confidence changing our ‘satta bazaar’ from a club of insiders to a place where small investors freely move about. It is still some distance from fully protecting the small investor but is slowly getting there.

SEBI regulates India’s Stock Market with a total capitalization on October 8, 2020 of Rs 161 trillion or US$ 2.11 tr i l l ion, across approx. 5,500 companies. On September 30, 2020, the US Stock market was capitalized at US$ 36.26 trillion across approx. 4,400 companies.

SEBI has done a signal job of protecting minority shareholders. Before “Ease of Doing Business” rankings were paused on August 27, 2020, India’s rapid rise in the ranks, was in part because of SEBI’s work in ensuring a high rank in “Protecting Minority Investors (PMI)”. India’s PMI rank in the 5 years before the pause, was consistently at or below 13th, out of 192 countries.

Most trading on stock exchanges is based on information about listed companies. Insider-information-based

Every society gets the kind of criminal it

deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of

law enforcement it insists on.

- Robert F Kennedy,Former US Attorney General

COMPLIANCE TO GOODGOVERNANCE - SEBI’SNOTEWORTHY INITIATIVE

By Devdutta B (Sunil) ModakDirector, Axar Digital Services Pvt. Ltd.

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

trading was a menace in Indian securities markets till almost the end of the last century - similar to the situation across the globe. Insider trading is illegal world-wide.Insider trading transfers wealth from common investors to insiders. The US made insider trading illegal in the Securities Exchanges Act, 1934, prohibiting insiders from buying and selling a company’s stock within the same six-month period. Even so, the SEC really started enforcing the law only in the early 1980s. Even in the UK, the law

was seriously enforced in the 1980s. Similarly, SEBI issued regulations to prohibit Insider Trading in 1992. The current Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations came in 2015. They require achange in the habits of most in-company investors. Further, these Regulations were amended many times, in tune with market activity. In December 2018, Structured Digital Databases (SDD) were introduced to bring about more rigor. From April 1,

2019, SEBI asked companies to maintain an SDD to track movement of U n p u b l i s h e d Pr i c e S e n s i t i v e Information (UPSI) among Designated Persons (DPs) and (their immediate relatives) Connected Persons (CPs), as defined under the regulations. Companies also must track trading activity of DPs& CPs, to prevent them trading in company shares when possessing UPSI, and from conducting Contra Trades. Importantly, the SDD must be non-tamperable and be maintained for minimum 8 years.

Further, in July 2020, SEBI prohibited outsourcing the maintenance of the SDD. And, asked fiduciaries and market intermediaries to implement their own SDDs regarding UPSI of their listed company clients. In October 2020, SEBI introduced another initiative for System Driven Disclosures, so India’s two Depositories (NSDL and CDSL) now report daily to Stock Exchanges, all trades of DPs of companies.

These steps are aimed at reducing insider trading at the root. Regular reporting on creation and movement of UPSI will certainly ensure a lot more responsible actions from senior managers (and by their example among other officers and staff) of listed companies. They will be further enhanced by the requirement, that DPs and CPs report their trading activities, regularly and fully. Disclosures by NSDL & CDSL of DPs’ trading activities will be a healthy cross-check. All these initiatives, taken together, should result in a secular change in trading activity by a significant proportion of investors trading on the exchanges.


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

dedicated to markets or trading for making a living - with different goals and levels of expertise. SEBI is probably concerned that without serious curbs on insider trading, these different types of investors could leave. The lesser the number and diversity of investors, the higher the inefficiency in the market and the greater the adverse impact on genuine businesses trying to raise funds.

As the Indian stock market becomes more mature and sophisticated, it is more necessary to put in place regulations on insider trading. This, we believe, explains the timing of SEBI’s current regulatory initiatives on insider trading.

This kind of reduction of insider trading, could then facilitate a culture of good governance. Such expectation of a positive impact on the markets, leading to protection of minority shareholders and an overall increase in the health of stock markets, is SEBI’s objective behind all these regulatory actions.

The securities market in India is fast becoming a modern, sophisticated market. Letting insider trading continue could shake the pillars of such a modern market.

One pillar is market intermediaries. Mutual funds, hedge funds, merchant bankers, rating agencies, etc. They invest significant resources locating non-inside information about specific companies and the economy. They conduct research, using publicly available data from government or private entities. Their inputs make markets more efficient through more accurate asset pricing. If insider trading were allowed, this work may become worthless to compete with ins ide r in fo rmat ion . Then , i f intermediaries leave, the markets would be far less efficient.

Individual or ‘minority’ investors too are at a clear disadvantage if insider trading continues. If such investors feel that markets are essentially rigged or that they are likely to be ripped off by insiders, they too will leave. This will further reduce liquidity in markets.

Reduced liquidity will lead to the few who do invest - whether risk takers or market makers playing for their spread - paying less for a stock because of the increased risk that they won’t find a buyer when they want to sell. This will make markets less efficient and increase cost of capital for companies.

A sophisticated and modern securities market depends on the participation of different types of investors - some

B. Why prevent Insider Trading?

C. The SDD benefits all: Investors, Intermediaries and IssuersOur research found no other jurisdiction which asks l isted companies to create an SDD. In the US, UPSI is known as Material Non-Public Information (MNPI). US SEC can work with other federal investigative agencies to enhance its powers, but it doesn’t yet ask US-listed companies to maintain an IT-based SDD. This innovation is an aid for SEBI to protect the interest of Indian Investors. While record keeping has gone on for long, paper is subject to damage or complete loss due to floods or fire etc. - a digital database will not be. An SDD is thus almost time-proof.

Now, we focus on actions of Issuers as they affect the interests of their Investors. Issuers need money. I nves to rs p rov ide the same. Maintaining an SDD, and complying with other provisions of the PIT Regulations, creates a virtuous cycle. Companies rigorously maintaining an up to date SDD and preventing their DPs and CPs from trading while possessing UPSI, wil l thereby minimize insider trading. This will tell their investors that the company protects their interests. Such companies will surely be seen, as better investment vehicles by investors. Such companies can raise more money, more easily and at lesser cost, than companies that don’t maintain SDDs.

The SDD must have data from April 1, 2019.Go ing beyond dec la r ing regulations, SEBI has asked Secretarial Auditors to report on creation of SDD, which is a mandatory regulatory requirement.

John Kenneth Galbraith has said - “Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.” So too with regard to this regulatory compliance.

Trust and confidence are the hallmarks of any financial system. SEBI regulations are intended to guide corporate

action, leading to a positive impact

on good governance

through improved compliance -

presuming good intentions on the

part of enlightened corporate

managements & effective

enforcement by the regulator.


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Things are changing, however, and more rapidly in the last few weeks than in the previous 21 months.

Trust and confidence are the hallmarks of any financial system. SEBI regulations are intended to guide corporate action, leading to a positive impact on good governance through improved compliance - presuming good intentions on the part of enlightened corporate managements & effective enforcement by the regulator.

Enforcement, not just enactment, is the secret of a law-abiding society. For a law to be successful, just enacting it is not sufficient, it must be vigorously enforced. Few people will follow a law merely because it exists. If not following it surely leads to quick and unhappy consequences, everyone will follow the law.

In the last few years, investigations into Insider Trading violations have been going on, and in the last few

D. Necessity & Sufficiency, for desired outcome of the regulatory initiative

months, the resultant penalties have made the news. Several Compliance Officers (COs) have been penalized between Rs 5 to 15 lakhs. Many companies have been penalized far more.

To really see the impact of the regulation, however, most companies need to see implementation happening and being demanded by the regulator. Regular, and large-scale enforcement actions will go a long way in convincing market players of the seriousness of the regulator ’s intent . L isted companies and their auditors will need to get into a regular information submission routine to confirm compliance, rather than merely waiting for investigations to happen. This will help them, and the regulator bring about the desired outcome.

SEBI has been a regulator that has taken markets where they ought to go, even if it may not have been the place where they wanted to. PIT regulations show SEBI’s desire to lead companies from compliance to good governance. However, there is need for systematic

E. Road ahead

Devdutta B (Sunil) Modak, Director, Axar Digital Services Pvt Ltd.

His entrepreneurship journey has been on for over 30 years. Building successful IP-based Software product companies in India has been a key driver and motivating factor behind all his ventures. In 1993, his first company - Spectrum Business Support, launched Grand Jurix, India’s first Law Information Access service on computer networks using their proprietory Text Search engine, before the world wide web came into existence. His current endeavour, at Axar, is an extension of the idea that timely access to relevant information given to members of the Board can enable them to fulfil their professional responsibilities to the Company more effectively and efficiently. The aim of Axar’s product BoardEye (for Board Governance assistance) is to provide Directors real-time decision support and decision-tracking. New products being launched are LegiLens (for compliance assurance) and Board Information System (combining both compliance and governance management).

Disclosure: Author is Director of Axar Digital Services Pvt. Ltd., which provides an SDD solution. Views are entirely the author’s.

and sustained action to implement the intent.

A stitch in time saves nine. With early and firm implementation of some st ra ight - forward steps, these regulations can become the catalyst for change that would make compliance the first step towards good governance.


e all know that COVID-19 has changed the world Wforever. But has it changed

the investment preferences, styles, risk appetite and risk-reward ratio of an investor?

In this article, we wish to present our thoughts on the same.

While markets are designed in such a way that we endeavour to achieve our financial goals through various market-related investment vehicles, yet at times we are perplexed by the thought of investing at such high levels. To a rookie investor, the perception that the high level of Market is coming between his financial goal-based planning process is nothing but a self-goal. A seasoned investor perceives it as an inherent characteristic of the market to make highs & lows in the fabric of time.

The age-old saying that “Time in the market is more important than timing the market “has never seen a one-stop loss in decades. Still, many investors are sitting on the side-lines for months and years, waiting for the right opportunity to enter the market ring.

Always remember one thing which will not change - “The Markets are always forward-looking” Market is always foresighted and knows its valuations in advance. From a panic intraday low of 25638 Nifty on 24th March 2020 to a lifetime high of 51,835 on 09th Feb 2021 – a 100% plus return in less than 1 year. The important point is who took advantage of this 100% return rally?

The age-old saying that “Time in the market is more important than timing the

market “has never seen a one-stop loss in decades.

Still, many investors are sitting on the side-lines for

months and years, waiting for the

right opportunity to enter the market ring.

SIP YOUR GOALS AT NEW HIGH

By Gaurav GargFounder, ANT Wealth

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

What many investors and financial advisors may not have factored in, are the following facts which markets seem to be trying to factor in a short time: -

1.While India was already a world superpower in Information & Technology, post-Covid India is on the verge of becoming a Superpower in Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare. We have developed our own Bharat Vaccine, Covaxin.

2.Of the all-Emerging Markets FII inflow in India is maximum as there is a lack of alternative economy with such an upthrust.

3.India is now seriously been seen as a manufacturing hub in place of China.

4.By 2030 India will become the 3rd largest Economy of the world in terms of GDP (Published in 2021 by Centre for Economics & Business Research)

With the above factors, it’s quite evident that the story of Markets will not stop here. The markets will find its valuations which no marquee Investor or Rating Agencies or Brokerage Houses will be able to capture correctly. So, for a layman or retail investor, it is evident that jotting market valuations will be a futile effort.

What an investor needs is; to streamline his goals by using Investment Tools & Tax Planning techniques. (we shal l not be d iscussing of deduct ions u/s 80C,10(10D) and 80D as everyone is well versed with these topics)

While Investment tools will give him ways to enter and exit the market in an efficient manner in line with his, tax planning techniques will give him better tax-adjusted post-tax returns.

This is the pillar of any financial & wealth planning. The Goals may be short term say 2 to 3 years, Medium-term say 5 to 7 Years or long term 10years +.

One has to align the goals along with different stages of life. The goal may be for a bigger Car, house purchase, Education of Children, Marriage of Children or Retirement planning. Even

GOAL BASED PLANNING


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Gaurav is Founder of Online investment management platform ANT Wealth. He is MBA from K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management studies & worked with India’s top Financial services firm as country head . His expertise are in investment management, managing people, setting up business verticals, managing P&L's, large geographies and multiple territories.

Visit: Investment Pe Charche - YouTube

Further, as an investor, you may have to readjust your Goal amount from time to time depending upon upward movement in inflation. For this, one may opt for increased SIP option / Top-up facility of SIP every year. Say SIP is increased by 5% every year.

The best way to achieve any Goal is through SIP. Long term SIP is the 8th Wonder of the world as described by Albert Einstein.

A SIP has got not only the power of Compounding but also rupee cost averaging. So, a SIP works in both ways for a double whammy investor. While the market comes down, more units are accumulated and if the market goes up the NAV is more thus resulting in higher fund value.

The mag ic o f the power o f compounding is interesting to explain with an illustration as it is difficult to describe in words.

A monthly SIP of Rs 2000 for 10 years @ 15 % p.a. expected returns would give you Rs 5,57 lakhs at the end of 10 years, while the same SIP of Rs 2000 for 30 Years @ 15% p.a. will give you Rs 1.40 cr.

While the difference in investment amount is Rs 4.80 lakhs, the difference in maturity amount is Rs 1.34 cr.

The best part is SIP is an all-season, all market situation and all investor-friendly product. No matter what type of investor you are, SIP is evergreen.

Being a first-time investor you may need some time to understand the dynamics of markets. But at the same time, it should not deter you from entering the market. One can start from SIP with long term

S I P & M A G I C P O W E R O F COMPOUNDING

In the Current market Scenario what should be the plan of action for All Types of Investors: -

First Time Investor:

though all goals are important but longer the goal more meticulously it needs to be planned.

Some Goals are very emotional to us like Children’s education & marriage and saving for the rainy days, hence these need more planning and advisory especially in terms of asset allocation.

The pure essence of Financial planning process is to quantify the goal amount. Without quantification, any goal will only seem blur and far-sighted. While we do calculations to quantify the goal amount or to find out Future value of Goal Amount required, we must take into consideration Inflation and net tax-adjusted returns. While we are calculating the future value of the goal, the current inflation index should be taken into account. Present LTCG Tax laws should also be kept in mind while planning for goals.

For example, if you are planning for your Sons’ higher education who is at present 3 years old, so ideally you have 15 more years to plan for this goal. Say today cost of higher education is Rs 20 lakhs, and inflation is at 6% per annum so the amount required for son’s education after 15 years will be 50 lakhs in the present cost term. So, we to plan at least forRs 55 lakhs considering LTCG @10% so that we have Rs 50 lakhs in hand after taxes.

A pitfall many investors fall into is that they plan meticulously for the goal, quantify the goals, start the right amount of SIP in good funds and drop out after 2 to 3 years seeing market volatility or requirement of emergency funds. This is where you de align or derail with your goals while the time is ticking by.

This also reminds me that while planning for Goals do create emergency fund beforehand, so that it does not eat up into your goal planning.

investment horizon since there is no good or bad time to start investing. If the market falls continue with SIP, this will give you the cost of the averaging benefit.

If you wantto invest Lumpsum or one-time investment, park Lumpsum amount in Liquid/short term debt funds and stagger your investment through STP in Equity Funds. A piece of simple advice here would be, to choose your funds as per your risk appetite and duration of the investment. Do not add too many funds to your portfolio as it will result in over-diversification.

As a seasoned investor you have enjoyed the magic power of compounding, Continue with your investments. Buying on dips will help you average your NAV / give more units.

While a long-term goal is about to be reached it is advisable to shift entirely to Liquid funds / Short term Debt Funds. One can also do SWP for 6 months to 1 Year.

In case, you have achieved the desired corpus well before the Goal time due to exceptional market movement / Fund performance, it is advisable to completely shift to Liquid plans / overnight Funds and do not venture in the market and be greedy, un-necessarily.

At ANT Wealth we believe that like Ants we make your money work hard, day & Night, to achieve your financial goals in a speedy and tax-efficient manner.

Lumpsum Investor:

Seasoned Investor:

About to reach Goal/ Goal in Sight:


e saw ‘Scam 1992 - The Harshad Mehta Story’ last Wmonth. The OTT series is

based on the book titled ‘The Scam - From Harshad Mehta to Ketan Parekh’ written by Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal.

“Risk Hai to Ishq Hai” - The dialogue has become famous in all the investors’ community these days. But thinking broadly, this dialogue brings a lot of focus on “Risk”.

We as investors understand ‘Risk’ as we have been taught. It is all about Systematic and Unsystematic risk. One is the probability of fluctuations in the returns across securities or underlying assets due to macro-economic factors that may be political, social or economic and the latter is a result of numerous internal factors specifically focused within that sector that can be controlled or minimised.

We, the investors, are cognizant of these two types of risk. But we ignore an important aspect in assessing risk while making investments - Our Individual Risk Tolerance. Irrespective of any investment we make, we, the investors need to assess our individual risk appetite and take appropriate exposures.

‘Oh, but I understand my risk properly.’

Such are the answers we focus on before committing our hard-earned

‘I have the results of the latest questionnaire done on a website -

it was simple and the questionnaire had just 8 questions.’

We, the investors, are cognizant of

these two types of risk. But we

ignore an important aspect in assessing risk

while making investments - Our Individual

Risk Tolerance. Irrespective of any investment

we make, we, the investors need to

assess our individual risk

appetite and take appropriate exposures.

INVESTOR’S FIRST FRONTIER: RISKASSESSMENT AND ASSET ALLOCATION

Vivek KakarDirector & CEO

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

money to various investment options available to us.

To assess our risk tolerance, most questionnaires / models have characteristics viz. 1. Length - the shorter it is, the more

relevant it seems

2. Ps y c hom e t r i c Que s t i ons - emphasis only on our willingness to take risk

3. Enquiring upfront about the extent of risk the investor is willing to take

All of the above are relevant but with a context. An evolved investor whose full-time job is to manage his / her portfolio can answer the risk profile that he / she understands with time. Others, where small savings gets converted to a long term attempt for wealth creation needs to have a holistic approach towards un-derstanding his / her risk. A more appropriate way of assessing the individual investor’s risk assessment is to holistically understand the aptitude and the inclination to take risk by the investor. Investor’s aptitude to take risk depends on the various factors like demographics, financial wellbeing, liquidity requirement etc. whereas his / her inclination depends on the personal preferences or choices under different situations, knowledge and experience of financial markets.

This becomes crucial when there is plethora of options for a small investor to invest his / her money.

As Aristotle mentioned, ‘Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.’ To take it further, knowing oneself and the kind of Risk Tolerance one has is the core obstacle one has to cross. Rest all falls in place with the right process.

SEBI recently introduced enhancement of its riskometer introducing one new risk categorisation, totalling to 6 categories from ‘Low’ to ‘Very High’ category. Where do we fall into, is a

Ashish GomberCOO

Vivek Financial Focus Limited


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Vivek Kakar is Director & CEO at Vivek Financial Focus Limited, New Delhi, a firm focused on retail investors for over 25 years. He is a post-graduate from SP Jain Institute of Management with specialization in Wealth Management. He has been spearheading the business for over 14 years and is at the forefront of investor education and long-term wealth creation.

answer rather than what they genuinely believe, the outcomes will not resonate to the persona. The best analogy is that of a doctor and a patient. Just like it pays to be transparent to the doctor so that the best treatment can be given in cognizance of medical condition and individual allergies, it is of utmost importance to be transparent so that risk assessment is appropriate and results in proposing a relevant asset allocation.

critical question to be answered and with a few questions on risk assessment to save time may result in disappointments in respect to returns.

Par kahani abhi baaki hai mere yaar!

Just knowing about risk doesn’t end the story here, we need to be well aware about where to park our moneys. It’s not the final products or schemes or financial assets we should worry about but Asset Allocation. Dr. Harry Marktowitz conceptualised a Nobel Prize winning theory called ‘The Modern Portfolio Theory’. The theory states that over 91.5% of a portfolio’s performance is based upon proper diversification among asset classes.

Therefore, based on our risk tolerance, the allocation of our savings to various assets is paramount to get favourable results.

This is a journey, and is only the beginning of a cyclical process!

This Risk profile-based investment approach, provides the asset allocation based on the investor’s risk tolerance which is derived by the process of Risk Profiling. It results in desired level of portfolio allocation in various asset classes by considering investor’s risk and returns requirements. To add further, other parameters like liquidity and preferences is also important. This in totality does a fair diversification in accordance with the individual compatibility. The key advantage of Risk prof i le -based investment approach is that it helps the investor to identify if any difference exists between individual’s ability to take risk and willingness to take risk.

The efficacy of this approach depends on the fairness and earnestness with which the investor retorts to the questions asked as part of the process. If the investor is withholding information, or gives answers which he / she thinks is a theoretically correct

I once read something very powerful, ‘eternal vigilance is the price to freedom’. It is paramount that we have continuous review of our risk tolerance and asset allocation to yield the best results on our portfolio. There are constant changes in our lives, our goals change with age, our saving capabilities adjust with increasing or decreasing earnings and moreover our requirements modify. With time, we a lso ga in exper ience ac ross investments and upgrade our understanding of financial markets and understand various nuances of

Ashish Gomber is COO at Vivek Financial. A Gold Medallist from M S Ramaiah Institute of Management, he has an expertise of over 17 years in financial services wherein he has led various roles in business development and product management across investments and insurance. His earlier stints have been at Kotak Mahindra Bank, Citibank, HSBC and Kotak Life.

Always remember,

Discipline is what needs to be

done, even if you don’t want to do it. and to build

long term wealth, discipline in

understanding one’s risk and

continuous reallocation of

asset allocation is imperative.

different asset classes. We also develop our personal l ik ings; understand better how we react to volatilities and get better acclimatized to the investment ecosystem. Looking at the asset allocation, it should be aligned to the exposures due to any material changes / movement in underlying asset classes.

Hence, it requires a re-assessment of the risk appetite and asset allocation periodically. While any of these life events could be a trigger, a better way to approach this is to make it predictable and define the periodicity. A fair way to do is to reassess the risk tolerance on an annual basis. It is prudent to define a calendar for the same and re-take the assessment questionnaire as it would materially cover the changes over that time period and also the responses to the psychometric aspect of the process will get aligned, if they be any different than the previous assessment. This way, we would be always proactive in assessing self-risk and realigning the asset allocation, if required, rather than leaving the same to chance and best guess scenario.

Always remember, ‘Discipline is what needs to be done, even if you don’t want to do it.’ and to build long term wealth, discipline in understanding one’s risk and continuous reallocation of asset allocation is imperative.


key characteristic of the rally in Indian stock markets since April A1, 2020 is its broad-based

nature. Contrary to the polarization seen in CY2018 and CY2019 when a few high-quality names kept the bellwether BSE30 (SENSEX) up, the recent rally has witnessed broader participation of stocks. This broad nature of the rally has clearly provided opportunity to investors to make money. But this does not mean that everyone invested made handsome money.

The quantum of money you earn in markets is directly linked to stocks you buy.

The rise and fall in each stock is not the same-some stocks rise more than the index while others underperform it. And a key thing that drives these movements is sentiment. As sentiment keeps changing, investors need to align their portfolios by including winners in their portfolios.

A look at bullish phase of markets in the past makes it clear that selection of right stocks can help you outperform the markets. An observation from most bull markets witnessed post April 1, 2 0 0 3 , ~ 3 3 % t o 6 6 % s t o c k s outperformed BSE-500-a barometer for the broader markets in India. For e x a m p l e , o n l y 3 3 . 3 % s t o c k s outperformed the benchmark in the bull market between August 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007. On the higher side 66% stocks outper formed the benchmark in the upward movement between March 1, 2009 and October 30, 2010.

Investors looking for excess returns over the index must aim to buy stocks

In the recent bull-run between Feb 2,

2020 to Feb 2, 2021,~39.2%

stocks outperformed the BSE 500 - but the

highest out performer

generated excess returns of 799.2% while the least out

performer generated an alpha of just 25.29% over

the benchmark.

WHAT DOES THE RECENTBROAD MARKET RALLY INMARKETS TELLS US?By Head-Investments, Alphaniti

Akshay Badjate

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

that outperform the benchmark by a wide margin, which is not an easy task. For example, in the recent bull-run between Feb 2, 2020 to Feb 2, 2021,~39.2% stocks outperformed the BSE 500 - but the highest out performer generated excess returns of 799.2% while the least out performer generated an alpha of just 25.29% over the benchmark. For most investors it is challenging to correctly identify and ride the biggest gainers in a bull run on a consistent basis. Once an investor is fairly certain that he has a winner on his hands, it is pertinent to hold on to such stocks till the time the bull phase is in progress. Weeding out non-starters or stocks that go down in a bull market is also important in order to improve overall portfolio returns.

Akshay brings with him over 15 years of experience in the Indian Capital markets. A passionate Investor in Equities with strong fundamental and analytical expertise, he has worked with global organizations such as Nomura, JP Morgan, and Kotak Securities.

To achieve these stiff objectives, investors need to have fair bit of understanding about Company fundamentals as well as have a good handle on the price action of the underlying stock. They have to constantly monitor stocks in their portfolio and ensure that their portfolios c o n s i s t o f c o m p a n i e s w h i c h consistently outperforming the benchmarks by a decent margin.

This activity thus demands full and unwavering attention as well as intricate understanding of stock market and Company level nuances. However not all investors are capable of doing this! Some lack the required skill sets while some do not have required time and some simply do not have the inclination to actively manage their investment portfolio. Hence, for such investors, it is vital that they seek expert advice before investing in stocks.

Adopting a portfolio-based approach towards investing in the stock markets is thus a better option for the average investor. It is simpler for most investors to grasp and understand broad sector level money making opportunities that are present in the market and with the help of a professional investment advisor they can get invested in a portfolio of high-quality stocks that can outperform the benchmark over the longer term.


ndian capital markets hadan exceptional year in 2020. The COVID-19pandemic initially had an adverse impact on Indian capital markets,as indices across size and sectors fell during the period from February 2020 to May 2020. However, from June I2020onward, all size and sector indices had a bull run through the end of the year. The S&P BSE SENSEX TR increased from

60,211.40 on Dec. 31, 2019, to 70,543.23 on Dec. 31, 2020-a one-year absolute return of 16.31%.

Exhibit 1 and 2 showcase returns for India’s leading size indices in 2020.

PERFORMANCE OF INDIANCAPITAL MARKETS IN 2020

By Ved MallaAssociate Director, Client Coverage S&P Dow Jones Indices

INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

From Exhibits 1 and 2, we can see that all fivesize indices performed well, and returns were promising for large-, mid-, and small-cap segments. The returns of the small-cap and mid-cap segments were better than those of the large-cap segment. The S&P BSE SmallCap and S&P BSE MidCap posted one-year absolute returns of 33.53% and 21.31%, respectively, while the S&P BSE LargeCap and S&P BSE SENSEX returned 16.31% and 17.16%, respectively.

We can say that except for the couple of months at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulls had their way in 2020, and indices across size, segments, and sectors gave promising returns in 2020.

Exhibit 1: One-Year Absolute Returns of Size Indices

INDEX NAMEINDEX VALUE ON

DEC. 31, 2019INDEX VALUE ON

DEC. 31, 2020ABSOLUTE RETURNS

(%)

S&P BSE Small Cap

S&P BSE Mid Cap

S&P BSE All Cap

S&P BSE SENSEX

S&P BSE Large Cap

16,256.89

17,898.57

5,363.45

60,211.40

5,672.61

21,707.20

21,712.66

6,372.55

70,543.23

6,597.79

33.53

21.31

18.81

17.16

16.31Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. Data from Dec. 31, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Table is provided for illustrative purposes.

Exhibit 2: Index Total Returns

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. Data from Dec. 31, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020. Index performance based on total return in INR. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Chart is provided for illustrative purposes.

140

130

120

110

100

90

80

70

60

S&P BSE SENSEX S&P BSE AllCap S&P BSE LargeCap S&P BSE MidCap S&P BSE SmallCap

Dec 3

1, 2

019

Jan 3

1, 2

020

Feb

29, 2

020

Mar

31,

202

0

Apr 3

0, 2

020

May

31,

202

0

Jun 3

0, 2

020

Jul 3

1, 2

020

Aug 3

1, 2

020

Sep 3

0, 2

020

Oct 3

1, 2

020

Nov 3

0, 2

020

Dec 3

1, 2

020


INSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Ved Malla is Associate Director, Client Coverage at Asia Index Pvt Ltd responsible for client relationships in India and its neighboring countries Ved’s objective is to expand business in the region In addition, he is responsible for compliance and corporate secretarial work.

He has extensive experience in the financial services industry Prior to joining S&P BSE Indices, Ved worked with the two leading Indian stock exchanges (NSE and BSE), playing an integral role in the growth of their index and market data productions Previously, Ved was associated with Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund, where he was part of the compliance department.

He has an MBA in Marketing from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Mumbai Ved also received his Company Secretary certificate from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Exhibits 3 and 4 showcase returns for the 11 leading sector indices for India in 2020.

In Exhibits 3 and 4, we can see that most of the sector indices posted promising returns in 2020. The S&P BSE Healthcare and S&P BSE Information Technology performed exceptionally in 2020, with absolute returns of 62.61% and 60.05%, respectively. The S&P BSE Finance and S&P BSE Utilities were the worst-performing indices in 2020, with absolute returns of 1.25% and 4.18%, respectively.

To summarize, we can say that except for the couple of months at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulls had their way in 2020, and indices across size, segments, and sectors gave promising returns in 2020.

Exhibit 4: Index Total Returns

S&P BSE Energy S&P BSE HealthcareS&P BSE Finance S&P BSE IndustrialsS&P BSE FMCG S&P BSE Telecom

S&P BSE Realty S&P BSE Basic Materials S&P BSE Information Technology

170

150

130

110

90

70

50

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. Data from Dec. 31, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020. Index performance based on total return in INR. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Chart is provided for illustrative purposes.

Dec 3

1, 2

019

Jan 3

1, 2

020

Mar

31,

202

0

Apr 3

0, 2

020

May

31,

202

0

Jun 3

0, 2

020

Jul 3

1, 2

020

Aug 3

1, 2

020

Sep 3

0, 2

020

Oct 3

1, 2

020

Nov 3

0, 2

020

Dec 3

1, 2

020

Feb

29, 2

020

Exhibit 3: One-Year Absolute Returns of Sector Indices

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. Data from Dec. 31, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Table is provided for illustrative purposes.

INDEX NAMEINDEX VALUE ON

DEC. 31, 2019INDEX VALUE ON

DEC. 31, 2020ABSOLUTE RETURNS

(%)

S&P BSE Healthcare 14,998.90 24,390.31 62.61

S&P BSE Information Technology 19,724.29 31,568.43 60.05

S&P BSE Basic Materials 3,425.11 4,406.44 28.65

S&P BSE Consumer Discretionary 4,309.69 5,233.94 21.45

S&P BSE Industrials 3,369.48 4,025.04 19.46

S&P BSE Energy 6,736.88 8,044.64 19.41

S&P BSE Telecom 1,234.40 1,413.24 14.49

S&P BSE FMCG 14,573.04 16,495.37 13.19

S&P BSE Realty 2,487.72 2,716.65 9.2

S&P BSE Utilities 2,325.76 2,423.00 4.18

S&P BSE Finance 8,403.44 8,508.25 1.25


coping with the crisis that ensued has given to us many useful insights and in the context of economic reform two crucial lessons learnt should be mentioned. For one resolving trade-offs has often been a dilemma that economic policy has attempted to counter and not always effectively however the compelling circumstances that the Pandemic ushered in its wake was in a sense a reminder that nothing exceeds the value of human life. As the Economic survey of India (2020-21) said, ”The short-run trade-off presented countries with policy options that revealed policymakers’ preferences for the “value” placed on human life versus the price” of temporary economic restrictions. ..Saving a life that is in jeopardy is the origin of dharma.” This line of thinking applies not just to situations of extreme exigency but those which that assign more importance to short term gains and overlook longer term costs which impair or corrode human well being. As a matter of fact the transition to sustainable production and livelihood are more often than not straddled between short term benefits and longer term costs with the result that old outmoded unsustainable methods continue even as the significant rise in longer term costs continue.

Secondly major decisions concerning reform has come at a time when as the Economic Survey explains,``fiscal multipliers are disproportionately higher during economic crises than during economic booms - can ensure that the full benefit of seminal economic reforms is reaped by limiting potential damage to productive capacity.”

THE NEXT PHASE OFECONOMIC REFORM BEGINS:AN OVERVIEW

By Professor Piya MahtaneyEconomist / Author

INSIGHTS - ECOINSIGHTS - ECONBUZZ

ndia has entered the next phase of economic liberalization with a Ibudget that seeks to put into effect

long impending reform initiatives for the public sector, financial sector and infrastructure. I daresay the challenge has just begun, as is generally the case with Big Bang reform initiatives. The choice is clear cut-either to move ahead for which these changes are crucial or accept a situation of economic stultification. The Pandemic (which by no means should be assumed to be over although there are positive signs of it abetting with vaccinations gathering momentum) globally has left in its trail a sharp recession which has impacted 90 per cent of the regions global ly, interestingly more than the number of those affected by the Great Depression of 1929. As the World Economic Outlook report (January 2021) explains, ‘Although recent vaccine approvals have raised hopes of a turnaround in the pandemic later this year, renewed waves and new variants of the virus pose concerns for the outlook. Amid exceptional uncertainty, the global economy is projected to grow 5.5 percent in 2021 and 4.2 percent in 2022.’’

Notably this crisis came at a time when the Indian economy found itself in the midst of a slowdown that was largely the result of structural factors. The imperatives thus that confront the I n d i a n e c o n o m y h a v e b e e n accentuated by the present situation but it should not be overlooked that the challenges that exist were not caused by the Pandemic. As we view the precedent period it is evident that

In the context of its reform oriented approach Kanu H Doshi Prof. Emeritus - Finance Welingkar Institute of Management (We School) expressed his views about the budget which are as follows, ”The budget 2021 in my view, marks a bold departure from the past having charted several new steps e.g. raising foreign participation & ownership to 74% in Insurance sector. This will surely entail substantial inflow of foreign funds. Similarly, large outlays proposed in infrastructure will trigger massive multiplier effect in terms of demand for steel, cement, etc and above all, employment in rural areas. Bad Bank is a good idea if implemented efficiently and professionally.

Needless to say the present reform initiatives are

required to reverse a downturn that the

Indian economy is in the throes of,

however it should also be viewed as a

constituent of a much larger growth strategy that would have to be put into place if India is to

continue its take -off to higher levels of

economic progress.


INSIGHTS - ECONBUZZINSIGHTS - ECONBUZZ

Piya Mahtaney completed her second Master’s in Development Economics from Leicester University in England she embarked on a career in journalism with the Times of India. She was an assistant editor in Metropolis on Saturday, subsequent to which she joined as senior feature writer in Economic Times. As an economist that reported, analyzed and wrote on a wide range of socio-economic issues, writing a book about economic development and the emerging trends of globalisation seemed almost inevitable

The books that she has authored are as follows:• India China and Globalization (2nd ed), Palgrave

Macmillan (England), December 2014• Globalization and Sustainable Economic

Development, Palgrave Macmillan (U.S), August 1st 2013

• Institute of South East Asian Studies (Singapore) published an edition (August 2010) of my book India China and Globalisation.

• The first edition of India China and Globalisation was published by Palgrave Macmillan (England, 2007)

• Globalisation Con Game or Reality was published by Alchemy Publishers, India (2004) 2004.

• The first book titled Economic Con Game, Development fact or Fiction was published by Pelanduk Publications (Malaysia) in 2002.

agricultural sector from the gains that stemmed from the increasing growth rate of India’s GDP is an important aspect of the dynamics underpinning the economic progress of this country over the last three decades. Importantly sustaining an increasing momentum of economic progress requires a substantive increase in net capital formation in the agricultural sector which continues to be the largest employment provider for the Indian economy.

Needless to say the present reform initiatives are required to reverse a downturn that the Indian economy is in the throes of, however it should also be viewed as a constituent of a much larger growth strategy that would have to be put into place if India is to

continue its take -off to higher levels of economic progress. This point would be better depicted if we were to delve into India’s experience with economic liberalization, for this purpose it would be useful if we divide India’s post liberalization phase into two periods one preceding the financial crisis in 2008 and the other following the same. it becomes easier to demonstrate that cyclical and structural factors are inextricable linked. Over the period of 1991 to 2003 according to World Bank estimates India’s GDP grew on an average by 5.4 per cent annually and over the period of 2004 to 2008 it had an average GDP growth rate of 8 per cent. Notably though the increase in growth rates was not driven entirely by sustainable measures as it was propelled by an expansion of easy credit that was not disbursed or distributed in a manner that would result in a consistent expansion of productive investment. Instead it left in its trail stalled projects and NPAs the repercussions of which continue to be tackled. One of the reasons that is generally used to counter criticisms of the credit expansion is the fact that it would required to deal with the spill over effects of the GFC, be this as it may the fact remains that credit expansion could certainly have been managed more efficiently. Furthermore the veritable exclusion of the

Importantly sustaining an

increasing momentum of

economic progress requires a substantive

increase in net capital formation in

the agricultural sector which

continues to be the largest employment

provider for the Indian economy.

To sum up, Budget has been rightly welcomed across all sections of the country, stock market scaling all time highs, is bound to generate growth in the economy at this critical juncture post Covid 19.’’


• Engages your team as they connect with your human side: Leaders know how to engage with people and how to get them to listen with intent. While many leaders are natural at small talk, this simple skill can be developed by those aspiring for leadership ro les. In today ’s workplaces, as we spend many waking hours with peers and direct reports, sharing a part of yourself creates a lasting bond, motivating others to work with you. Your colleagues would like to know you as a person. Outside of work, how do you spend your time? What are your hobbies and interests? Your similarities and differences make you more ‘real’ and enhance your ability to influence others.

ŸIf you watch leaders speak, you will notice that they always share an amusing anecdote or a fascinating personal story which works as it creates a connection, enhances your likability quotient and grabs listeners’ attention. Great leaders are aware that their stories may get shared and sometimes even become company folklore. Make small talk engaging - for example when you get back to work, either you can blandly state that you had a great vacation or you can share a few highlights, making it interesting for everyone.

• Conveys interest: Research shows that conducting a few minutes of small talk at the start of the meeting gets better business results. Whether you are presenting to a large audience or speaking with a member of your team, your primary goal is to convey interest and inspire confidence. A popular way to show interest is to ask questions, providing the basis for sharing stories and finding the lowest common

According to current research, the number

one skill for corporate success in the 21st century is superior business communication.

Good conversation skills help you build rapport, get buy-ins

from your stakeholders, help

get your point across succinctly and

leverage it to get desired results.

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE

By Shital Kakkar Mehra Executive Presence Coach

FEATUREFEATURE

Conversation Skills

SMALL TALK

What is the fine art of conducting a conversation? Is it talking a lot while putting your views forward aggressively or is it listening actively, allowing the speaker control over the topic? Or, is it your ability to engage your listener in a manner that he/she responds actively, making conversation flow smoothly? According to current research, the number one skill for corporate success in the 21st century is superior business communication. Good conversation skills help you build rapport, get buy-ins from your stakeholders, help get your point across succinctly and leverage it to get desired results.

Billionaire Warren Buffer in an interview he gave in 2018 said the first skill to polish for business success is your ability to articulate and communicate your thoughts, both verbal and written. Today’s business leaders’ know the importance of effective communication, getting others to speak and have learnt to practice active listening. In short, they know what to say, how to say it, how much to say and when to say nothing.

One of JRD Tata's favourite annual events in his last years was the secretary-boss luncheon organised by the Mumbai chapter of the Indian Association of S e c r e t a r i e s & A d m i n i s t r a t i v e Professionals. One can imagine the old world charmer at his best in this environment, spreading good cheer and working his magic on this crowd of equally charming assistant. They certainly didn’t talk business strategy and finance at this meet. It was all light banter, interspersed with lots of laughter. Small talk is one of the most underrated leadership skills. Yet, if you can excel at this type of banter or light chit-chat, it

serves to establish your career as a successful leader. While there are many who don’t perceive the value of what appears to be idle chit chat as they feel chatting about frivolous things like vacations, current events or home renovations takes time away from getting great business things done. While I agree that small talk as a stand-alone skill has restricted merit and credibility is established by your track record of accomplishments (e.g. cost savings, increased profit margins, enhanced customer loyalty), it’s a part of a leader’s mandate. As a young leader establishing your career and relationships are core to your success. In order to achieve this success, connecting, motivating and galvanizing your team around your vision is critical.

Three benefits of Small TalkFollowing are a few benefits of small talk where people feel engaged and inspired to make a connection with you.


FEATUREFEATURE

Shital Kakkar Mehra is India’s leading Executive Presence Coach for CEOs. With over 20 years’ of experience, she has personally trained over 45,000 professionals across Asia, including numerous CEO’s from leading multi-national and progressive domestic companies. Her reputation as a cutting-edge expert comes from her depth of knowledge and the unique way she blends the Indian corporate ethos, with global best-in-class practices.

She has conducted workshops for a diverse set of organizations across Asia. These include Aditya Birla Group, Accenture, BASF, Bayer, Colgate, Deloitte, Dr. Reddy’s, EY India, GSK India, JCB, Johnson & Johnson, Kotak Bank, L & T Ltd. , Mahindra Group, Tata Steel and PWC, amongst others. She has also been a guest speaker at several leading management institutes and associations such as INSEAD (MMB), IIM Bangalore/Lucknow/ Nagpur, ISB-Hyderabad, IIT Kharagpur/Mumbai, BMA, NHRD, Bombay Chamber of Commerce and FICCI.

She is an acclaimed public speaker and best-selling author. Her first book, Business Etiquette: A Guide for the Indian Professional (Harper Collins) has sold over 50,000 copies, and has been translated into several regional Indian languages. It can also be found on the library shelves of global academic institutes including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge. Her articles are regularly published in leading media publications including Economic Times, Business Today, Times of India, Mice Talk amongst others.

She has worked with hundreds of CXOs and star performers, helping them enhance their Executive Presence. Her work in this field has lead to India’s first-ever research-based model POISE on Executive Presence. Her second book, “Executive Presence: The POISE formula for Leadership” was published by HarperCollins India in July, 2020. The book been declared a best-seller by Amazon, based on preorder numbers.

She is an active philanthropist and is the Co-Founder of Katalyst, an NGO for underprivileged girls. Also, she serves on the board of Third Sector Partners (TSP), a premier Executive Search firm that enhances leadership caliber in the socio-developmental sector.

An avid reader and a passionate traveler, she embraces opportunities to observe cross-cultural communication and learn from cultural diversity,both of which serve as a bridge between herwork and hobbies. Read more about her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shital-kakkar-mehra-0546a41/

denominator. While extroverts are good at this, interestingly introverts excel too as they are masters at getting others to speak. While general questions are generally good, leading a conversation with a direct question carries risk as people view these as rude at the start of a conversation.

• Gain common ground to align thinking: In today’s busy world, we are constantly ‘on the go’, multi-tasking and distracted with various thoughts as we enter another meeting. Small talk is a wonderful tool to align the thinking of people engaging in conversation, as it forces both the people to be on the same page, channelling their thinking to a common topic. Volunteer something positive about a topic that’s potentially common ground, so the other person reciprocates accordingly. For example,

• Business meeting: “Your new office is well-appointed, I am sure you have put in a lot of effort ….” Or “You have an excellent view of the …” makes your business acquaintance speak about the office.

• Social event: Conversation starters about the host e.g. “Our host said she just got back from Kerala,” lets the person talk about the host and her vacation.

• Networking event or speaker: Start w i th “ The keynote speake r mentioned that 2020 will be a good year for our industry...” or “This is an excellent annual event organised by the XYZ Company…”

Tip: As most people like to talk about themselves, asking questions is a good way to follow up once you’ve established a safe topic. Avoid close-ended questions (‘Did you attend the industry meet last week?’ or ‘Are you member?’ could be answered with a bland ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; instead ask about their favourite speaker/ event / memories, making people bring out their best stories.

The ability to conduct small talk is a social skill and leaders are aware of this, explaining why they reflect in advance

Small Talk Topics

on potential topics to discuss with the target audience. With practice and time they become more natural and relaxed; everyone agrees that being relaxed conveys innate confidence and makes them more enjoyable to be around.

Globally, conversations start with discussions around weather, weather patterns, sports, performing arts (theatre / movies/ music), global events, current affairs, food and travel. To add to this exhaustive list, add a few interesting facts about yourself which are fit to be shared with an unknown audience.

If there’s a lull in the conversation• Good conversationalists know how

to shift gears, when needed as they glide from business to social conversations. If you want to move from a work-related topic, you can gently steer with “You have a hectic work day. So, what keeps you busy on weekends?” Your listener may share a hobby you’re interested in too, making the person transition from a small talk partner to honest-to-goodness friend.

• Extricate yourself with “I need to go say hello to an old colleague” or “I spotted an old friend near the door. Good to meet you and let’s reconnect in a few minutes”.

• To add more energy to the conversation, introduce your current conversation partner to someone else in the room e.g. “Would you like to meet a leading city dentist? Let me introduce you to him”

Globally, religion and politics ignite passion and are best avoided. Also, a networking cocktail event is not an appropriate occasion to divulge detailed personal information about your family, income or investments. In a work-related setting, off-limit topics include harping about your boss, blurting out intimate details about your life and partisan political rants.

• Tip: You don’t know the person you are speaking to well enough to judge how they might react to or use the information you divulge.

Off-limit topics

Speaking to strangersConducting conversation, both in business & socio-business settings has emerged as an essential career skill for today’s executive. Psychologists say that most people carry baggage from their teenage years, when they feared social rejection and engaging in conversation with a ‘stranger’. This social fear, leads them to clam up when meeting a new person, making them appear snobbish, shy or standoffish, traits which are very far from their real self. However, these fears act as conversation killers, leading to social awkwardness and embarrassment.


A new Scheme under The Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 “AATMA NIRBHAR

BHARAT ROZGAR YOJNA” is being launched to incentivize creation of new employment opportunities

during the COVID recovery phase.

FAQS ON ATMANIRBHAR BHARATROZGAR YOJANA

By Ramesh L. SoniManagement Consultant and Advisor on Labour Laws

FEATUREFEATURE

1 What is the objective of this ABRY?

To incentivise the employers of establishments, registered under EPF & MP Act, 1952, for generation of new employment and to support the new employees entering the formal / organized sector with monthly wage of less than Rs.15000/& re-employing persons from low wage bracket who lost their jobs during COVID-19 pandemic.

2 What is the validity period for registration of beneficiaries under ABRY?

The ABRY is open for the period from the wage month of October, 2020 to wage month of June, 2021 for registration of new employees.

3 Will the benefits under ABRY be available only during the above validity period

The benefit shall be available for a period of twenty four wage months from date of registration of new employee by the employer of eligible establishment.

4 What does reference base of employees mean?

ThenumberofemployeeswithUniversalAccountNumber(UAN)forwhomtheemployerhasremittedEPF/EPS contributions through ECR filed for the wage month of September, 2020 up to the due date shall be taken as reference base of employees for the determining the eligibility of anyestablishment.

For any new establishment getting registered under EPF & MP Act, 1952 from 01.10.2020 to 30.06.2021, the reference base of workers shall be treated as Zero.

5 How will the eligibility and reference base of employees be decided for establishments which failed to file ECR and pay dues for the wage month of Sept 2020 within due date?

Establishment will be eligible for the ABRY benefits only if the ECR for wage month of September 2020 is filed on or before 15th December2020.

If ECR for September, 2020 is filed after 15.10.2020 but upto15.12.2020, then reference base of employee will be the number of Contributory UANs in the ECR for the wage month of September 2020, or the number of employees in previous wage month for which ECR was filed up to 11.11.2020, whichever is higher. Detailed illustration is provided in Q. no.33.

6 What are the eligibility criteria of establishments for getting the benefit of contributions from Central Govt.?

• EstablishmentsalreadyregisteredbeforethecommencementofthisSchemeshallhavetoemploy,over and above the referencebase, minimum two new employees(ifthereferencebaseofemployeeisless than or equalto50) and minimum five new employees (if the reference base o femployees is more than 50)

• For new establishments getting covered & registered under EPF & MP Act, 1952 from any date during validityperiodofthisSchemefrom01.10.2020to30.06.2021,thereferencebaseofemployeesshall be treated as Zero and benefits can be availed for all new eligible employees.


FEATUREFEATURE

7 Who is “new employee” for the purpose of ABRY?

“New employee” means any employee drawing EPF Wages less than Rs 15000 per month–

(i) Who was not working in any establishment and did not have a Universal Account Number prior to 01st October, 2020 and joins employment in any establishment on or after 01.10.2020 up to 30.06.2021 and who is allotted Aadhaar validatedUAN.

(ii) Any EPF member, already allotted with UAN, who exited from employment during 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 from any establishment, such date of exit being recorded in UAN and who joins in any EPFO registered establishment on or after 01.10.2020 and up to30.06.2021.

8 What if the establishment is a contractor who remits PF dues through the payment received from principal employer?

Incase any eligible establishment (including establishments getting covered & registered after commencement of this Scheme) is a contractor providing manpower to one or more Principal Employers, then the employer’s share of contributions of new employee shall not be claimed from the Central Government under this Scheme foranywagemonthifthesameisclaimedorreceivedfromthePrincipalEmployerconcerned.Ifanysuchamount of employer’s share is claimed from Central Government under this Scheme and also claimed from

Principal employer, the same shall be liable to be refunded to the Central Government.

9 Do the establishments have to maintain minimum number of employees for receiving ABRY benefit?

The establishment must continue to maintain minimum number of additional new employees with respect to the reference base for availing benefit under the scheme in any wage month.

In case the employer does not maintain minimum additional new employees with reference to reference base in a particular month, the benefit of employer’s share and/or employee share (as the case may be) will not be admissible for that month.

In addition to maintaining the minimum number of additional new employees, the already registered establishments must continue to retain the number of employees taken as reference base of employees for

availing assistance under this Scheme for any wage month. Detailed illustration is provided in Q. no. 31.

10 Can a PMRPY beneficiary employee also claim subsidy under this scheme?

If any new employee is already a registered beneficiary under PMRPY/PMPRPY, no benefit in respect of such new employee shall be available under ABRY.

11 What if an employee satisfies all the conditions of this scheme but after few months his/her monthly EPF Wages exceeds Rs.14999/- ?

Any eligible new employee under this Scheme shall become ineligible if his/her monthly wage exceeds 14999/- at any point of time during this scheme period.

12 What is the scale of benefit amount and its eligibility criteria?

The Central Government will provide subsidy for maximum 24 wage months in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1.10.2020 and up to 30.06.2021, at the following scale:

For Establishments employing up to 1000 employees’ (contributing EPF members with UAN) in wage month September,2020:

Entire employees’ contribution (12% of employees’ EPF wages or as per statutory rate applicable to establishment) and employers’ contribution (12% of employees’ EPF wages or as per statutory rate applicable to establishment) of new employees

For Establishments employing more than One Thousand (1000)employees’(contributingEPFmembers with UAN) in wage month September,2020:

Only employees’ contribution (12% of employees’ EPF wages or as per statutory rate applicable to establishment) of the new employee.

13 What if an establishment had less than 1000 employees in ECR for September, 2020 but subsequently its employment strength exceeds 1000? Will it continue to get the support towards employer’s share?

An establishment will continue to the get support of employer’s share even if the number of contributing EPF members with UAN exceeds 1000 in any wage month during the scheme period.

14 What if an eligible employee changes job during the scheme period?

Job change/mobility of an eligible new employee from one EPFO registered establishment to another EPFO registered


FEATUREFEATURE

establishment will not affect his / her eligibility provided that the establishment to which such employee moves is also an eligible establishments under this scheme. However if an eligible new employee who was receiving subsidy benefit by virtue of working in an eligible establishment gets employed in any ineligible establishment for say 3 months then he will not be eligible to get benefit for those 3 months.

15 What are the documents required to be submitted by eligible establishments and employees to avail this scheme?

To implement ABRY, EPFO has deployed electronic facility on Employer’sportal Establishments have to declare reference base of employees and update Form 5A to register the establishment and register its “new employees” on thePortal.

AtthetimeofsubmissionoftheECRonmonthtomonthbasis,theemployershallberequiredtocertify correctness of information furnished electronically in ECR in the certificate and declaration deployed with ECR.

16 How will a new employee be benefitted by this scheme?

The monthly employee’s EPF contribution @ 12% of monthly wage which is liable to be deducted from wage of employeeisnowtobepaidbytheCentralGovt.intheEPFaccountofnewemployeesofeligibleestablishments. So there will be no deduction from wages of new employee so he/ she will have a higher take homesalary.

17 How an employer of eligible establishment benefitted by this scheme?

Employer of eligible establishment is not required to pay his share of EPF and EPS contribution @ 12% of monthlywageofnewemployeesofhisestablishmentprovidedtotalnumberofemployeesinhisestablishment is up to one thousand (1000) in wage month of September, 2020. So the employer saves thismoney.

This also incentivizes employers of all eligible estts to retain all their new employees at higher take home pay.

18 Can you illustrate the monetary benefit to an Employee and Employer under this scheme?

Consider the following illustration:

Assumptions:

• There are 500 employees in an establishment as per the ECR of Sep2020.

• 100“newemployees”jointheestablishmentinthemonthofOct2020,eachdrawingmonthlywageof Rs 10,000.

Benefits:

• As per this scheme employee’s share of 12% (Rs 1200) will not be deducted for PF contribution for 24 wage months subject to estt satisfying the eligibility conditions. Thus each of the 100 new employees will earn an extra amount of Rs 28,800 (Rs 1200 * 24 months) till Sep2022.

• Establishment will also save on Rs 1200 towards employer’s PF contribution for each new employee. Thus he will be saving a total of Rs. 28,80,000 (Rs 1200*24 months* 100 new employees) in the next 2 years.

19 Will Central Govt. bear entire liability under EPF & MP Act, 1952 for eligible employees of eligible establishment?

The Central Government shall bear the PF liability of new employees as detailed in question number 12. The employer of eligible establishments hall continue to pay the EDLI&EPF admincharges for all employees as well as EPF & EPS contribution for employees other than new employees.

20 Whether this scheme is applicable to new employees in exempted establishment?

Yes, Provided that the establishment meets the eligibility condition as mentioned in Q.6.

21 Whether EPF & EPS contribution of all employees of eligible establishment are paid by the Central Govt.?

No, only for those employees who satisfy the conditions to be treated as new employees as mentioned in answer to Q.7

22 What happens if new employee’s share of EPF is deducted from salary by the Employer?

If Employer deducts employee’s share from wages of employee & claims the amount from Central Govt., the employer is liable for appropriate legal action as per law apart from recovery of such amount.

23 Whether the employer is required to register for availing this benefit?

The employer in relation to any eligible establishment shall register the establishment under this Scheme disclosing the reference base of employees through a link in the Employer’s login on EPFO Unified Portal.

24 Is the employer required to file separate ECR for the eligible employees?

The employer in relation to any eligible establishment shall file one Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) in respect of all employees for each wage month including new employees. Any revision / correction / modification in such ECR shall not be allowed for claiming any enhanced benefits at any future date.


FEATUREFEATURE

25 Is the employer required to file any other information other than ECR?

The Form 5A (Ownership return) should contain particulars of all branches and departments of the establishment and also code numbers, if any, taken for administrative convenience for the branches. The employer can update Form 5A online using his approved Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) and he also needs to submit declaration as per the format mentioned at Para 9 (xiii) of the scheme.

26 Whether the contributions amount has to be initially paid by the establishment and thereafter reimbursed by Central Govt.?

Once ECR is uploaded by an employer of eligible establishment, the challan will separately show such amounts of employees' and employers' contributions as Central Govt. relief due under this Scheme in respect of new eligibleemployeesandtheremainingamountpayablebytheemployer.Aftertheemployerremitsthepayment due from him as reflected in challan as noted above, the EPF & EPS contributions in respect of eligible employeeswillbecrediteddirectlyintheirrespectiveAadhaarseededUANbytheEPFOfromfundsallocated by the Central Government.

27 What is the responsibility of employer for availing the benefits?

The employer must ensure to file correct information, statement or declaration for total number of employees, disbursement of wages, and amount of wages in the ECR and full details of establishment in Form 5A. The employer is required to file a certificate/declaration at the time of ECR submission.

28 What if employer furnishes incorrect information?

IfitisrevealedthattheinformationfurnishedordeclarationmadeelectronicallyinECRorForm5Aorotherwise are false / incorrect, then the employer will be liable to refund there lief amount and also face the penal consequences for such contravention under the EPF & MP Act, 1952.

29 Howthereferencebaseandminimumnumberofemployees’criteriawillbefulfilledofasingleestablishment having multiple PF code numbers?

Ifanyestablishmentbeingasinglelegalentityismakingcomplianceundervariouscodenumbersobtainedfrom EPFO, then for the purpose of counting the number of 50/1000 employees, wherever applicable for eligibility criteria under this scheme, all employees in the establishment as a whole shall be included. The same is explained in the following illustration:

• M/s XYZ is an establishment

• It has 3 EPF Code numbers viz., 1111, 2222 and3333

• Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month in code no. 1111 = 400, in 2222= 40, in 3333 =600

• Total employees of M/s XYZ =1040

• The reference base of employees is 1040 for scale of benefits for M/s XYZ. He should declare the reference level as above 1000. However for counting new employees under the three codes the level 400, 40 and 600 respectively will be compared but as per declared Reference level above 1000, each code will have to add 5 employees and will get only the employee share.

30 If any new establishment gets registered with EPFO between 01.10.2020 to 30.06.2021 and that establishment registers voluntarily with less than 20 employees and continues to maintain less than 20 employees during the validity period of this Scheme. What are the conditions applicable to such establishment if the employer registers under this scheme?

For new establishment getting registered with EPFO between 01.10.2020 to 30.06.2021, the reference base of employees shall be treatedaszero.Ifanysuchestablishmentregistersvoluntarilywithlessthan20employees andcontinuestomaintainlessthan20employeesduringthevalidityperiodofthisScheme,suchestablishment will not be allowed to exit from statutory Schemes under EPF & MP Act, 1952 and beneficiaries who received benefitshallnotbeallowedtomakefinalwithdrawalsuntilexpiryofaperiodoftwoyearsaftervalidityperiod of this Scheme.

31 How can an establishment assess its eligibility on the basis of count of new employees?

Situation A

•*M/s XYZ is anestablishment

•*Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =50

•*Total new employees in October, 2020 >=2

•*Total employees in October, 2020 >=52


FEATUREFEATURE

•*Whether *eligible for *benefit= Yes SituationB•*M/s XYZ is anestablishment•*Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =51•*Total new employees in October, 2020 >=5•*Total employees in October, 2020>=56•*Whether *eligible for *benefit=Yes

32 In which case can an establishment be ineligible for the benefits despite hiring new employees?Example A•M/s XYZ is anestablishment•Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =50•Total new employees in October, 2020 >=4•Total employees in October, 2020 >=51•Whethereligibleforbenefit=No,becauseinthiscaseestablishmentneedstomaintainatleast50+2=52 employees to be

eligible forbenefits.Example B•M/s XYZ is anestablishment•Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =51•Total new employees in October, 2020 >=10•Total employees in October, 2020 >=55•Whethereligibleforbenefit=No,becauseinthiscaseestablishmentneedstomaintainatleast51+5=56 employees to be

eligible forbenefits.33 How to count employees for establishing reference base for establishments who have failed to file ECR and pay

dues for the wage month of Sept 2020?Counting of new employees is explained with the following illustration:•Wage month of September,2020•Date of filing ECR is on any date from 16.10.2020 to15.12.2020•Number of Employees in ECR for the wage month September, 2020 say500•ECR for Sep., 2020 will be compared with last ECR filed up to11.11.2020•If last ECR filed on or before 11.11.2020 is for wage month August,2020•Number of employees in ECR for wage month Aug 2020 say510•Reference base of employees will be 510

34 An employee with UAN101234567890 madeex it from employment of establishment-M/sXYZon30.12.2019 and joined in establishment-M/ sRSTon01.02.2020 and left this establishment on 31.07.2020. There after he joined in establishment- M/s PQR on 01.10.2020 with monthly wage of Rs.14000/- Whether he is eligible to get subsidy under this scheme? Yes.

35 WhathappensifemployerhasfiledECRforwagemonthofOctoberandNovember,2020priortodeployment of facility for registration under this scheme?Yes.

36 How 24 months period for receipt of subsidy benefits will be counted for an eligible employee joining EPFO covered establishment in Jan 2021?• Suppose Mr. A joins any EPFO covered establishment M/s XYZ for first time in January2021• Suppose Mr. A joins any EPFO covered establishment M/s XYZ for first time in January2021• M/s XYZ is eligible forbenefits• Eligibility month January,2021• The first wage month for receipt of benefit shall be January,2021• Mr. A continues to be employed in any eligible establishment on EPF Wages belowRs.15000/-.• Mr. A will continue to get benefit for total 24 wage months up to December2022

37 HowpercentageofsubsidybenefitswillbecalculatedbasedonemployeesinECRforreferencewagemonth?A. If Employment strength as per ECR for reference wage month is <=1000• M/s XYZ is anestablishment• Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =1000• Total new employees in October, 2020 >=5


FEATUREFEATURE

• Total employees in October, 2020 >=1005• Amount of benefit= 24% of EPFWages

B. If Employment strength as per ECR for reference wage month>1000•M/s XYZ is an establishment•Employment strength as per ECR for Reference wage month =1001•Total new employees in October, 2020>=5•Total employees in October, 2020 >=1006•Amount of benefit =12% of EPFWages

38 Can an eligible establishment file ECR belatedly and still receive benefits under this scheme?The ECR for any wage month for claiming the benefits under this Scheme has to be filed by eligible establishment not later than 60 days of the close of that wage month. If an ECR is filed for a wage month beyond due date but within 60days of close of the wage month then the liability of interest dueu/ s7Q of the EPF&MP Act, 1952 shall be borne by the employer.

Ramesh L. Soni, Management Consultant and Advisor on Labour Laws

Executive Profile:• Qualified as M.B.A. (HR), B.Sc. (Hons.), LL.B.,

D.L.L. &L.W. , D.P.M. & I.R., A.I.I.I, M.P.M. (H.R), DMS

• Providing consulting services in the field of Labour Laws since last 40 years

• Providing services in this field on retainer ship basis to more than 350 clients

• Contributed articles on Labour Laws• Visiting Faculty at Bharatratna Dr. Ambedkar

Institute of Management & Legal Research, Mumbai

Acted as faculty for Labour Laws at various Seminars as under:• Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) (in this

seminar various corporates participate)• Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

(Western Region)• Nasik Branch of WIRC of ICAI; • Bhilai Branch of CIRC of ICAI• The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.• The Bombay Chartered Accountants Society• The Chamber of Tax Consultants• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Broker’s Forum• Maharashtra Institute of Labour Studies (MILS-

Government of Maharashtra) [Given training to Asst. Labour Commissioners and Govt. Labour Officers, and Shops &Estb Inspectors of Maharashtra State]

• AMAZON• Larsen & Toubro Limited• The Tata Power Company Ltd.• Hindustan Unilever Field Services Pvt. Ltd• Vodafone Essar Limited • Bajaj Electricals Ltd• Anchor Electricals Pvt Ltd (By Panasonic)• Polycab Wires Pvt Ltd

• Gammon India Ltd.• 3i-Infotech Limited• Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution

Company Ltd• Maharashtra State Power Generation Company

Ltd• Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission

Company Ltd• Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt.

Ltd • ABN AMRO Central Enterprise Services Pvt Ltd • Bharatratna Dr. Ambedkar Institute of

Management & Legal Research• IL&FS Transportation Networks Limited• Lodha Group of Companies• Ajmera Group of Companies.• Kanakia Spaces Pvt Ltd• JMC Projects (India) Ltd• Oberoi Realty Limited• OMKAR REALTORS & DEVELOPERS PVT. LTD.• National Academy of Indian Payroll (NAIP) • C. V. O. Chartered & Cost Accountants

Association• Borivali (Central) CPE Study Circle of WIRC of

ICAI, • Ghatkopar CPE Study Circle of WIRC of ICAI• J B Nagar C.A. Study Circle, Andheri,• Dahisar CA Study Circle of WIRC of ICAI • Pune Camp CPE Study Circle, of WIRC of ICAI • Shri Kutchi Advocate’s Welfare Association• Princeton Academy (in this seminar various

corporates participate)• Satvam Consulting Pvt. Ltd (in this seminar

various corporates participate)• Sharp Facility Management Pvt Ltd (in this

seminar various corporates participate)• STEPS Management Services Pvt. Ltd,

UTTARKHAND (in this seminar various corporates participate)

• IEEMA (Indian Electronics & Electrical Manufactures Association)

• Bombay Management Association (BMA)• Bombay Master Printers Associations• Raishabh Academy Pvt Ltd• Shree Vagad Kala Kendra• Kutch Corporate Forum• Association of System Integrators & Retailers in

Technology (ASIRT)• Paper Traders Association • Smart Edge, Goa• Sampat& Mehta (Chartered Accountants)• Computer Media Dealers Association, Fort,

Mumbai.• Ahmedabad Branch of WIRC of ICAI.• VAPI Industries Association.• VAPI Branch of WIRC of ICAI.• Carnival Group• Masjid CPE Study Circle of WIRC of ICAI• Highway Concessions One Pvt. Ltd.• Trade Association of Information Technology

(TAIT)• Gowalis Industries Association (Vasai, District-

Palghar)• Foundation for Education of Girls• The Borivali Diamonds Cutters & Polishers

(Owners) Associations.• Snacks Food Association of Maharashtra• SMS Limited (Nagpur)• Pramod Ram Ujagar Tiwari Saket Institue of

Management (Kalyan)• Lions Club of Bombay Mandvi (East)• Vile Parle CPE Study Circle of WIRC of ICAI• V. V Giri National Labour Institute (An

Autonomous Body of Ministry of Labour& Employment, Government of India.)

• Idemitsu Lube India Private Limited• Burns & McDonnell (India)• Chetana’s Institute of Management & Research

(CMIR) in association with (SIIOD)• Mumbai Port Trust in association with (SIIOD)• Lions Club of Bombay Mandvi East…and many

more


ealthcare cybersecurity concern has skyrocketed in the past few years. HJust as a myriad of benefits of

technology reaches the healthcare system, they receive the security problems as well. The last few years have seen hacking, especially ransomware attacks and IT security incidents steadily rise and many healthcare organizations have wrestled to defend their network perimeter due to the paucity of awareness.

More than 113 million records were compromised in 2015 alone, 78.8 million of which were stolen in a single cyberattack. 2016 was inundated by healthcare data breaches reported than any other year. In 2020 and beyond, healthcare providers now have to secure more connected medical devices than ever before and there has been a raft of IoT devices in the healthcare industry. The attack surface is growing unchecked and cybercriminals are developing more sophisticated tools and techniques to attack healthcare organizations, gain access to data and hold data and networks to ransom.

2020 saw many malicious users join forces and share resources and exchange strategies, with access to systems being provided to other threat groups to perform their own attacks. Collaboration between threat groups is growing and threat actors are discovering new ways of gaining access to networks to deploy their malicious payloads.Healthcare services have had to be stopped, ambulances have been redirected to alternative facilities, 911 services have been interrupted, medical appointments have been postponed and test results have been delayed.

Attacks were conducted to gain access to healthcare data for identity theft and fraud, with the stolen data bought and sold on darknet marketplaces but, unequivocally, the biggest threat came from ransomware.

Ransomware which is the preferred choice of hackers nowadays is a form of malware that encrypts all of the files of the victim which can only be decrypted once the demands of the attacker are met.

2020 saw many malicious users join

forces and share resources and

exchange strategies, with access to systems being

provided to other threat groups to

perform their own attacks. Collaboration between threat groups is growing and threat actors are discovering new ways of gaining

access to networks to deploy their malicious payloads. Healthcare services have had to

be stopped, ambulances have been

redirected to alternative facilities, 911 services have been interrupted,

medical appointments have been postponed and test results have

been delayed.

offline, including its EHR system. Numerous hospital systems remained out of action for a few weeks after the ransomware attack. The threat cost the health system around $1.5 million a day in additional expenses and lost revenue while it recovered.

• In a few cases, even fulfilling the demands does not ensure that stolen data will be deleted. Several ransomware gangs, including Sodinokibi (REvil), Netwalker, and Mespinoza are known to have leaked stolen data even after the ransom was paid.

• The biggest healthcare data breach of 2020 was a ransomware attack on the cloud service provider Blackbaud Inc. The actual number of records exposed and obtained by the hackers has not been made public, but more than 100 of Blackbaud’s healthcare clients were affected and more than 10 million records are known to have been compromised. The breach does not appear on the OCR breach portal, as each entity affected has reported the breach separately.

• Before deploying ransomware, the hackers stole the fundraising and donor lists of many of its clients which included detai ls such as names, contact information, dates of birth, and some medical information. Victims included Trinity Health (3.3 million records), Inova Health System (1 million records), and Northern Light Health Foundation (657,392 records).

• The Florida-based business associate MEDNAX Services Inc, a provider of revenue cycle management and other administrative services to its affiliated physician practice groups, experienced the largest phishing attack of the year. Hackers gained access to its Office 365 environment and potentially obtained the ePHI of 1,670 individuals, including Social Security numbers, driver ’s license numbers, and health insurance and financial information.

The healthcare industry is checkered with examples where the system was exploited and caused damages. Some of which are:

• One of the most damaging attacks was on Universal Health Services, a health system that operates more than 400 hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States. The fell attack affected all its locations and caused considerable disruption. An attack on the University of Vermont Health Network forced systems

TECH-SPEAKTECH-SPEAK

By Devansh ShahCybersecurity AdvisorPrism Cybersoft Private Limited

CYBERSECURITYIN HEALTHCARE


TECH-SPEAKTECH-SPEAK

Devansh Shah, a Cybersecurity advisor to Prism Cybersoft Private Limited. He specializes in Cybersecurity of Web Applications including Penetration Testing and auditing. He advises for our full stack applications development.

you generally communicate with someone from one email, and they requestsomething from a “personal” email, use other forms of communication to verify you are still speaking with the legitimate business partner.

• Multi-factor authentication is the most important security solution to apply to block phishing attacks and will prevent 99.9% of attacks on email accounts.

• DDoS attacks occur in a variety of ways, and understanding which type of attack is occurring is an important part of being able to properly mitigate the attack. General recommendations for defense against DDoS attacks include maintaining an effective partnership with your upstream network service provider as well as partnering with companies that provide DDoS mitigation services.

• The best way to detect an inside threat is often other insiders. Training your users and employees on how to identify an employee, insider threat, or prevent them from inadvertently becoming one, is the best way to protect themselves and the company. There are many open source resources on insider threats with training programs and educational materials for organizations and their employees. These include explanations on what suspicious activity and behavioral changes employees should be looking for in colleagues, and when and who to report it to.

• For organizations which haven’t prepared for this attack, ransomware can be extremely damaging to day-to-day operations by blocking access to files and systems. Keeping your anti-virus current, implementing proper email filtering, and maintaining up-to-date back-ups and storing them offline are just a few of the recommendations you’ll find online to help harden your organization against the threat of ransomware.

To sum it up, it is easy to be impressed by the profuse advantages provided by the use of technology to help a person receive better care, but it is the all the more important that the security issues be inspected sedulously before being used widely.

malware on a number of machines, including nursing stations with patient records. In addition, he installed another way to access the HVAC unit, which, if failed, would have caused damage to drugs and medicines and affected hospital patients. McGraw pled guilty to computer tampering charges and is serving a 9-year sentence in addition to paying $31,000 in fines.

• A new report published by Tenable has revealed almost half of all healthcare data breaches are the result of ransomware attacks, and in the majority of cases the attacks were preventable. While no healthcare organization is immune to ransomware attacks, in the most part these attacks can be prevented. One of the most common ways for ransomware gangs to gain access to healthcare networks is the exploitation of vulner-abilities in Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions. It can be difficult for healthcare organizations to change software solutions and operating systems that are approaching end of life, but it is vital to upgrade to solutions that have active support or ensure that any software that is no longer supported is isolated and those systems cannot be accessed remotely.

• It is also important to address the second highest cause of healthcare data breaches. Email security solutions will prevent the majority of email attacks, but employees should never be benighted regarding security. A crucial step to take is to implement multi-factor authentication on all email accounts. Only after experiencing a phishing attack first-hand do most organizations implement multi-factor authentication, but by being proactive, email account breaches can be prevented. If an individual in your company’s finance department received an email (seemingly) from your CEO tomorrow requesting a wire transfer or a goods purchase, would they make the transfer? Being aware and understanding around this type of scam is the best way to prevent employees from falling for them. Few companies install precautionary approval steps or hold money transfer requests for an extra period of time to verify legitimacy.

• Beware of unexpected changes in previously set business practices, such as addresses, both virtual and physical. If

How to stem the attacks?

• Magellan Health’s million-record data breach also started with a phishing email but and ended with ransomware being deployed. The breach affected several of its affiliated entities and potentially saw patient information stolen.

• A dental support organization named Dental Care Alliance with affiliations upwards of 320 dental practices across 20 states, had its systems hacked and the dental records of more than 1 million individuals were potentially stolen.

• The case of Boston Children’s Hospital in 2014. Anonymous (a well-known hacktivist group) targeted the Boston’s Children’s Hospital with a DDoS attack after the hospital recommended one of their patients, a 14-year-old girl, be admitted as a ward of the state and that custody be withdrawn from her parents. The doctors believed the child’s ailment was actually a psychological disorder and that her parents were pushing for unnecessary treatments for a disorder the child did not have. The debate about custody put Boston Children’s Hospital in the middle of this controversial case, and some, including members of Anonymous, viewed this as an infringement on the girl’s rights. Anonymous took action by conducting DDoS attacks against the hospital’s network, which resulted in others on that network, including Harvard University and all its hospitals, to lose Internet access as well. The networks experienced outages for almost a week, and some medical patients and medical personnel could not use their online accounts to check appointments, test results, and other case information, according to the Boston Globe. As a result, the hospital spent more than $300,000 responding to and mitigating the damage from this attack, according to the attacker’s arrest affidavit.

• An insider attacked one Texas hospital by creating a bot net, using the hospital network, to attack rival hacking groups. The perpetrator was finally caught after he filmed himself staging an “infiltration” of the hospital network which he then posted on YouTube to be viewed by all. The pellucid video shows the individual using a specific key to “infiltrate” the hospital, which was identified to be Jesse McGraw, a night security guard of the building. Upon further investigation, it was found that that McGraw had downloaded


i g h t t o p r o p e r t y i s a

constitutional right, though Rright to property is no longer a

fundamental right and constitutional

protection continues in as much as

without authority of law, a person

cannot be deprived of his property.

The Forty Fourth Constitutional

Amendment, 1978, deleted Articles

19(1)(f) and 31 from Part III, the chapter

on Fundamental Rights in the

Constitution. Instead, it inserted Article

300A in a new chapter IV of Part XII of

the Constitution, thereby depriving the

'right to property' of its 'fundamental

right' status.

Most of the basic principles of law

relating to the fundamental rights have

already been settled by the Supreme

Court and the various High Courts.

These well-settled principles of law

can be applied by the District Courts,

while deciding questions of facts in

matters relating to the violation of

fundamental rights.

Property, as a legal social institution,

has different forms in different cultures

and legal systems. However, only a

definition of constitutional property is

common in all democratic countries.

Since the state exercises eminent

domain power against private

property, it is pertinent to discuss the

concept of private property in brief. The

institution of private property has been

a controversial issue with conflicting

views, one completely denying the

right to own private property and the

other supports the holding of the

private property.

RIGHT TO PROPERTY UNDER THECONSTITUTION OF INDIA, 1950

By Neha Ahuja, LLM Advocate

FEATUREFEATURE

compensation. The government did not acquire the property therefore government was contended that Article 31 clause (2) providing for compensation did not apply since only clause (1) applied any authorized law was sufficient to deprive a person property right. As clause (1) authorizes any deprivation of property under authority of law.

The learned Chief Justice would postulate that the limiting power thereof is correct by clause (2). The Supreme Court held that the Sholapur Spinning and Weaving Company Act 1950 was void. Article 31 clause (1) and (2) should be read together. So when there is deprivation of property, though there is no acquisition by the state c lause (2) appl ied and compensation becomes payable. Hence, any deprivation of property should be:

* Authorized by law; (Article 31 clause 1)* Necessitated by a public purpose; (Article 31 Clause 2)* Subject to payment of compensation.

The Supreme Court has recently held that a citizen’s right to own private property is a human right.• The case was of an 80-year-old

woman whose 3.34 hectare land was forcibly taken by the Himachal Pradesh Government in 1967, for constructing a road.

• The Court used its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 136 and Article 142 of the Constitution to direct the government to pay the woman compensation of 1 crore rupees.

However, the right to property is a natural and inherent right of an individual. Most of the modern constitutions, except those of communist countries have recognised the right of private property. Therefore, citizens have right to own and possess the property. This right of individual conflicts with the right of state to acquire property. A person has a right not to be deprived of his property except through due process of law.

Dwarkadas Srinivas v. Sholapur Spinning and Weaving Co. Ltd., the Sholapur Spinning and Weaving Co. Act of 1950 enabled the government to take control of the property to Sholapur Spinning and Weaving Company. The question was whether the Act was invalid as it did not provide for

Right to property is a constitutional right, though right to property is no

longer a fundamental right and constitutional

protection continues in as much as without

authority of law, a person cannot be deprived of his

property.


Points of importance-

Doctrine of Adverse Possession

• A citizen’s right to own private property is a human right. The state cannot take possession of it without following due procedure and authority of law.» The Bench referred to an earlier

verdict in State of Haryana v. Mukesh Kumar case (2011) wherein it was held that the right to property is not only a constitutional or statutory right, but also a human right.

• Doctrine of Adverse Possession: The state cannot trespass into the private property of a citizen and then claim ownership of the land in the name of ‘adverse possession.’» Grabbing private land and then

claiming it as its own makes the state an encroacher.

• In 1967, when the government forcibly.

• It is a legal doctrine that allows a person who possesses or resides on someone else's land for an extended period of time to claim legal title to that land.

Neha Ahuja, Advocate

• Working as an Advocate in the field of Tax, Intellectual Property, Capital Markets & Securities, Anti-Corruption, Investigation, Manufacturing, Consumer Products, Industrial Products & Durables, Communications (Telecom & Broadcasting), Energy (Power, Coal, Oil & Gas),Mining, Civil and Criminal litigation. Specialized in Criminal Litigation.

• Consulting various law firms in India.

• Regular faculty at Jai Hind College of Commerce and Science for the subject of Law. Lectures given on the following Acts and Bills:

Contract Law, 1872, Companies Act, 2013, Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Banking Regulation Act 1949, Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, Indian Insurance Act 1938, IRDA Act 1999, Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Ombudsmen Act 1975,Indian Stamp Act 1899, Indian Registration Act 1908, Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill.

• Worked as a Constitutional expert on several books published by Lexis Nexis namely “India Needs GST” 3rd Edition. Also, written textbooks at college level on the subject of IPR & Cyber Law published by Vipul Prakashan.

• Editor for Law Textbooks on the subject of Contract Law, 1872 and Negotiable Instrument Act 1881 published by Reliable Publication.

• On the panel as a Legal Committee member to social clubs such as the Cricket Club of India.

• Completed her Bachelors in Banking and Insurance (BBI). There after obtained a Masters degree in Commerce (Mcom) and then completed Legum Baccalaureus (LLB) and LLM.

FEATUREFEATURE

• In India, a person who is not the original owner of a property becomes the owner because of the fact that he has been in possession of the property for a minimum of 12-years, within which the real owner did not seek legal recourse to oust him.

Article 142• It provides discretionary power to

the Supreme Court as it states that the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.

Article 136 (Special Leave Petition)• It allows the Supreme Court to hear,

at its discretion, an appeal against any order from any court or tribunal in the territory of India. However, this does not apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces.


Authorities Particulars Due Date

BSE

BSE

All Exchanges

PMS

Income Tax

NSE

All Exchanges

Depositary

MSE

Income Tax

BSE

NSE/ BSE/ MCX/

NCDEX

NSE/ BSE/ MCX/

NCDEX

All Equity &

Commodity Exchanges

All Stock Exchanges

Revision in transaction charges

Uploading of client funding reporting for the month of February, 2021

Contingency Drill/ Mock Trading Session (Subject to circular to be issued by

respective exchanges)

PMS- Certification for Activity Report- through SEBI portal for the month

of February, 2021

TDS Payment for the Month of February 2021 for Corporate and Individual

Uploading of client funding reporting for the month of February, 2021

Uploading clients’ fund balance and securities balances by the stock brokers

on stock exchanges system as per SEBI circular of Enhanced supervision for

the month of February, 2021

Investor Grievances (Report) • CDSL & • NSDL

Uploading of margin funding file for the month of February, 2021

Advance payment of Income Tax

No. of STR filed with FIU-IND for the month of February 2021.

(Including NIL STR)

Requirement of sending a complete ‘Statement of Accounts’ for funds,

securities and commodities in respect of each of its clients on weekly basis.

-(For the first week ended on 6th March, 2021 - due date is 12.03.2021)

Reporting of client level Cash and Cash Equivalent Balances and Bank

account balances

Uploading of Clients’ Funds, collateral and other details lying with the

member broker. (Enhanced Supervision)

Uploading of day-wise Holding statement in the specified standard

format to exchange within 4 trading days of subsequent week

01.03.2021

01.03.2021 to

07.03.2021

06.03.2021

Within 7

working days

of next month

07.03.2021

07.03.2021

07.03.2021

10.03.2021

15.03.2021

15.03.2021

Before

31.03.2021

Weekly basis

Weekly basis

Weekly basis

Weekly basis

Kamlesh P. Mehta B.Com. FCA, DISA (Post qualification course in information system audit from ICAI) is a practicing Chartered Accountant by profession having an experience of 25 years in the field of capital market compliance consultancy, depository services audit, management consultancy, system audit and Commodity market compliance consultancy.

He is a Proprietor of CA firm M/s. KAMLESH P. MEHTA ASSOCIATES & Partner of MEHTA SANGHVI & ASSOCIATES located at Borivali, Mumbai.

He along with his associated concerns specializes in Audit and Assurance Services of various compliance areas related to Capital Market Operations and system audits of broking industry.

He is also providing compliance calendar to Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF) and ANMI regularly and same is published in their journal. Recently he and his team had drafted compliance manual for commodity brokers published by Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF).

COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT FORTHE MONTH OF MARCH - 2021

Compiled by CA Kamlesh P. Mehta(B.Com, FCA, DISA)M/s. Kamlesh P. Mehta Associates

COMPLIANCE COMPLIANCE CALENDAR


REGULATORY PUREGULATORY PULSE

SAT: UNDUE DELAY CAUSES PREJUDICE

SAT that nothing was done by this AO and a new AO was appointed on March 18, 2019. After another 9 months, in December 2019, a date of hearing was fixed. Finally, the impugned order in the present appeal was passed on March 20, 2020.

It was contended by the appellants, among other things, that there had been an inordinate delay in the disposal of the matter. The alleged synchronised trades were executed between the years 2008-2010, and the impugned order had been passed after a period of 10 years. Thus, it was contended that such delay caused prejudice and the impugned order was liable to be quashed.

Agreeing with this contention, SAT held that undue delay in disposal of a case causes prejudice to the person prosecuted. It stated that when no steps

were taken for more than two years after the matter was remanded to SEBI, it leads to a presumption that SEBI does not wish to pursue the matter further. Further, it has been re-iterated that once the show-cause notice has been issued, the matter must be decided at the earliest by the authority. In light of the above, SAT held that the inordinate delay becomes a mitigating factor while deciding the quantum of penalty, and thereby reduced the penalty.

This order follows earlier jurisprudence of SAT concerning the delay in initiation or completion of proceedings by SEBI, in orders such as Mr. Sanjay Jhalani&Anr. v. WTM, SEBI, Ashok ShivlalRupani v. SEBI, andPragneshVishnubhai Patel v. SEBI to name a few. This unequivocal observation by SAT that delay by SEBI causes prejudice to the appellant may lead to faster completion of long pending proceedings.

On January 07, 2021, in the matter of Kaushik Rajnikant Mehta (Appellant) v. Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), while affirming the SEBI order, reduced the quantum of penalty imposed on the appellants from `5 lakh rupees to `2.5 lakh rupees on account of undue delay.

A show cause notice was issued on November 20, 2013 alleging that the appellant, and other connected entities, indulged in synchronized trading. The AO passed an order on February 16, 2015 imposing a penalty of `6 lakh. On an appeal, by an order dated March 14, 2016, SAT setaside this order and remanded the matter to SEBI to pass a fresh order. Thereafter, after more than two years, SEBI appointed an AO on March 17, 2018 to decide the matter afresh. Further extending the delay, it was observed by

SEBI RESTRICTS CNBC AWAAZ ANCHOR AND FAMILY FROM DEALING IN THE SECURITIES MARKET

positive effect on the price and volume of the relevant scrip. Thus, SEBI stated that this is material information. Further, the information was made public only on the day of the recommendation; and hence, it was non-public information on the day the trades were executed. It was also, prima facie, observed that Mr. Ghai was in control of the trading accounts of his wife and mother. It is stated that executing the BTST trades while in possession of advance information regarding the recommendation is an unfair trade practice. It is also stated to be in violation of the ethical standards and fair and transparent principles of dealing in the securities market. The entire modus operandi described above is stated to be a fraud played on the market and investors/viewers of the Show.

SEBI observed that the scheme devised and employed by the above-mentioned entities was, prima facie, in violation of Section 12A(b), (e) of SEBI Act, 1992 and Regulation3(c), (d) and Regulation 4(1) of SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003 (PFUTP Regulations).

In light of the above observations, SEBI passed the interim order restraining Mr. Ghai, his wife and mother, from dealing in securities, and prohibited Mr. Ghai from giving stock recommendations or investment advice. Further, the bank accounts of all the three entities are frozen till they deposit an amount of Rs. 2.95 crore, being the alleged gains made from the fraudulent trades, into an escrow account.

While the interim order was rightly passed against Mr. Ghai and his family members, it is interesting to note how SEBI arrived at the conclusion that the abovementioned entities engaged in unfair trade practice and violated the provisions of the PFUTP Regulations. It is stated that Mr. Ghai himself traded in his wife and mother’s trading accounts while in possession of advance information. Considering that the advance information was nothing but the recommendation he himself was supposed to give the next day on his Show, it is peculiar that SEBI chose to issue the interim order on this basis. More so when the provisions of SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 (RA Regulations) are more directly applicable to this factual

In perhaps the first order of its kind, on January 13, 2021, SEBI passed an interim order restraining a CNBC Awaaz anchor, Mr.Hemant Ghai (Mr.Ghai), and his two family members from dealing in securities for fraudulently trading in the securities recommended by Mr. Ghai in his television show.

Mr.Ghai hosts a show called Stock 20-20 on CNBC Awaaz (Show) before market hours, which features recommendations on certain stocks to be bought andsold during the day. SEBI observed that Jaya Hemant Ghai and Shyam MohiniGhai, wife and mother of Mr. Ghai respectively, have undertaken a large number of Buy-Today-Sell-Tomorrow (BTST) trades in synchronization with the re-commendations made in the Show. It was observed that shares were bought on the day previous to the day when the recommendations were made on the Show, and sold immediately on the recommendation day when the price rose pursuant to the recommendation.

Based on preponderance of probability, SEBI observed that a buy recommendation given on the Show had a significant


Disclaimer :The newsletter is not in the nature of alegal opinion or advice. Copyright reserved.

Courtesy: Finsec Law Advisors A financial sector law firm which provides regulatory advice and assistance focusingon the securities, investments and banking industry. www.finseclaw.com

REGULATORY PUREGULATORY PULSE

person. Reading Regulation 16 together with Regulation 21 of the RA Regulations, we can conclude that a person giving recommendation or their associate(which by definition would include a

relative), cannot trade in securities contrary to the given recommendation. The activities of Mr. Ghai, his wife and his mother would directly be in violation of these provisions.

situation. Regulation 21 of the RA Regulations states that if a person makes recommendations concerning securities through public media, then the provisions of Regulation 16 and 17 shall apply to such

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR COMPANY’S VIOLATIONS ON MEREPRESUMPTION OF KNOWLEDGEfunctions played by each ED in the organisation (Ex-parte Order). The Ex-parte Order was consequently confirmed by SEBI through a confirmatory order on July 31, 2019 (Impugned Order).

The Ex-parte Order and Impugned Order imposed severe restrictions on Soumen solely on the basis that he was designated as an ED of GSL, which in SEBI’s view created a presumption of knowledge about the daily activities and the alleged financial irregularities/violations of the Company. During the hearing, Soumen had contended that though he was designated as an ED, his work profile was limited to research related activities within the Company. Further, Soumen had no means to ascertain the alleged violations being committed by GSL except through the documents produced during the three board meeting he attended as a board member, which disclosed no irregularity on the face of it.

Concurring with the submissions of Soumen, SAT opined that the Ex-parte Order and the Impugned Order against Soumen could not continue to have effect merely on the basis of Soumen’s designation in GSL and the presumption of knowledge flowing from the said designation. Further, SAT observed that Soumen had relied on the same statutory compliance certificates and internal audit reports perused by the independent and/or non-executive directors of GSL, against whom no directions were issued by SEBI. In view of the same, SAT held that in the

absence of any specific adverse findings related to the role or complicity of Soumen in the alleged violations of the Company, the application of a different yardstick for the due-diligence exercised by Soumen vis-à-vis the independent and/or non-executive directors of GSL was misconceived and erroneous. Further more, SAT observed that a majority of the alleged misappropriation of securities took place before Soumen was even appointed as a director of GSL and there were no findings in the Ex-parte Order or the Impugned Order about the quantum of securities misappropriated during Soumen’s tenure as an ED in the Company. Additionally, it was noted that 2 years had already elapsed from the issuance of the harsh Ex-parte Order and no show-cause notice had been issued by SEBI till date. For the reasons highlighted above, SAT set aside the Impugned Order qua Soumen.

SAT’s decision in the present matter can be considered a meaningful contribution to the growing jurisprudence surrounding the liability of directors in Indian companies, specifically in terms of looking beyond mere designations and delving into the true role and association of a director with a company while deciding the issue of liability. When violations are committed by companies, the present judgement places an obligation on SEBI to ensure that orders are not passed against EDs of such companies merely on the basis of their designation, when there is no evidence on record to demonstrate their involvement in/awareness of such violations.

In the matter of Soumen Chatterjee v. Securities and Exchange Board of India dated January 07, 2021, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) quashed a confirmatory order of SEBI in relation to a prior ex-parte ad-interim order passed against the appel lant (Soumen) indefinitely barring him from accessing the securities market and inter alia imposing severe restrictions on his right to dispose of his assets. In the order, SAT opined that while determining the liability of a director with respect to the violations of a company, SEBI should look beyond merely the designation of a board member and delve into his/her actual involvement in/awareness of any violations in the company.

In the present matter, SEBI had initiated an investigation into the activities of Guiness Securities Limited (GSL / Company), a stock broking company in which Soumen was appointed as an executive director (ED) with the designation ‘Director Research’ . Though Soumen was designated as an ED, his role was limited to undertaking research-related activities in the Company. Soumen was not engaged in the day to day affairs of GSL and he was unaware of the alleged irregularities of the Company. During the investigation, SEBI found a prima facie case of inter alia misappropriation of client securities and falsification of books in GSL and therefore on December 19, 2018, the regulator issued an ex-parte ad-interim order, against the Company and all its EDs, without analysing the specific roles and

Regulator Important Circular's 11th January, 2021 to 13th February, 2021


SEBI-IG In the matter of KCP Ltd. under SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 -->> The Liquidator of Jeypore Sugar Company Limited has approached the Compliance officer of KCP Limited w.r.t clarification of sale of shares of promoter & CMD of KCP during the closure of trading window in accordance with exemption provided in Regulation 4(3) as off market transfer and inter-se sale between insiders. Both the company’s managements are a part of promoter group. The proposed share transaction is about 0.22% of the share capital of KCP and such transaction would not result into a major difference in the shareholding pattern as it is only inter-se transfer among the promoters. JSCL is under liquidation and the sale is as per the market price and both the parties have confirmed that they are well informed, and they would not have any PSI. KCP sought guidance, if the compliance officer can approve during closure of trading window, the said off market transaction of the CMD to acquire approx 2.78 L shares from the liquidator of JSCL at MP and if any other declarations required to be obtained from both parties. SEBI explained that since both the parties are insiders having no material information and are making an informed decision and that the sale is as per MP and thus, this transaction would be exempted. Hence, promoter and CMD of KCP may acquire equity shares of KCP from the Liquidator of JSCL subject to pre-clearance. Further, the KCP compliance officer may seek necessary declarations/confirmations from the parties including a confirmation that the proposed transaction complies with the provisions of the IBC, 2016.

SEBI/BSE Revised disclosure formats under Regulation 7 of SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 -->> In light of amendments to the PIT Regulations effecting the inclusion of member of the promoter group/designated person in place of employee, in Regulation 7 of PIT Regulations, the relevant disclosure formats (Forms B to D) have been revised enclosed as annexure.

NSE/BSE Financing of securities transactions -->> TM’s were advised not to indulge in practice of financing the Securities Transactions. Further, members were also advised to desist from acting as a conduit or front for financing any secondary market transactions entered by their clients, directly or indirectly except in accordance with the regulatory provisions of MTF and SLB. Further, clients’ securities lying with the TM/CM cannot be pledged to the Banks/NBFC’s for raising funds, even with authorization of clients, as the same would amount to fund-based activity by TM/CM which is in contravention with SCRR. However, it has been observed that to fund the peak margin requirement, members have entered into arrangements with NBFCs to facilitate loan/credit facilities, which is in violation of the SCRA. Therefore, Exchange has once again referred to its 2005 circular for members to ensure and refrain from any such arrangements that may hint at funding of any secondary market transactions or margin requirements.

NSE Facility for Reversal of Early Pay-in of Securities -->> CC is providing a facility for reversal of excess securities provided as EPI on T day which shall be applicable for settlement type Normal and T2T. CM(s) to note: The facility can be availed through their CIM. Thereafter, CC to determine excess EPI considering the client level allocation provided by the CM and net obligation of client on T day. Excess EPI if any shall be released after the cut-off time for EPI on T day and reversed to CM(s) in the respective depositories. Report to be downloaded to members indicating security wise EPI released and the format is enclosed as Annexure I. Members to provide correct client level allocation at UCC level. Further, members opting for the facility to ensure pay-in on settlement day (T+2) after considering any reversals done on T day.

NSE/BSE Penalty structure for Non closure of bank account named as "Stock Broker - Client Account" in excess of 30 by December 31, 2020 -->> Members were required to close the excess bank accounts named as “Name of Stock Broker - Client Account" by December 31, 2020. Exchange has formulated an indicative penalty structure for any non-compliance of the above. Rs. 20K per account and total maximum penalty capped to Rs. 1 lakh if the excess client bank accounts are not closed by February 28, 2021. If the closure of client bank account is pending till March 8, 2021, members will not be allowed to register new clients in Exchange UCC database and such registration will only be allowed after closure of excess client bank accounts. If the is still pending till March 15, 2021, a Letter for disablement giving 15 days’ notice will be sent and members will be disabled in all exchanges in case it is not closed by March 31, 2021.

NSE Connectivity - Discontinuation of MPLS services -->> Members were informed that MPLS services shall be discontinued w.e.f. EOD March 31, 2021 and thus they are requested to apply for surrender by February 28, 2021 through ENIT. In case any surrender requests are pending to be initiated from member's end, the Exchange will suo moto take up the surrender internally, without any further notice.

NSE/BSE Physical settlement of stock derivatives -->> Members were informed by SEBI that physical settlement shall be mandatory for all stock derivatives effective Oct 2019 expiry onwards. Further, derivatives introduced on new stocks, meeting the enhanced eligibility criteria as specified by SEBI circular

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS


dated Apr 11, 2018 would also be physically settled. In view of the above, members to make available the physical settlement system in stock derivatives to all their clients who wish to avail the said facility without having any default option of mandatory/automated squaring off the positions. Additionally, necessary RMS essential in internal policies and the same should be duly informed to the clients.

NSE/BSE Request for Quotations (RFQ) -->> Exchange had issued a circular regarding expulsion of Karvy Stock Broking Ltd. and its declaration of defaulter. To provide an access to the securities market to the erstwhile trading clients of Karvy, it has been decided the trading accounts held by Karvy, across all the Exchanges, shall be transferred to another TM, through a formal bidding process. Interested TM(s) can submit their bids in the specified format enclosed as Annexure-A. However, they must be eligible under the criteria as prescribed in the circular. Further, interested TM(s) meeting such criteria shall submit a password protected bid form by February 12, 2021 which is now extended till February 17, 2021

NSE Additional Margin Reports -->> An additional EOD Consolidated Margin Report (MG01) shall be provided by NCL after considering EPI provided and client collateral credit applicable as at EOD which shall be effective from February 11, 2021

BSE Revision in Transaction Charges in Equity Segment -->> TM's to note that Exchange to match the competition pricing, shall revise the transaction charges slab for group A, B and common scrips in other groups on turnover basis with effect from March 01, 2021 as specified. Further, Transaction charges will be charged on incremental monthly turnover at the end of the month as specified and there shall be no other change related to transaction charges in equity segment.

NSDL Acceptance of Delivery Instructions through Demat Gateway -->> Participants to note the timelines to implement specific directions, as mentioned by SEBI to depositories vide its letter dated Feb 05, 2021. ~~Implementation of dual authorization through OTP and PIN/Password and single settlement number / settlement date is February 20, 2021. ~~Implementation of revocation of pre-trade authorization/mandate and matching of delivery obligations with files of CC is March 15, 2021.

NSDL Request for Quote (RFQ) for Demat accounts held by Karvy Stock Broking Limited -->> With reference to circular dated Feb 06, 2021 regarding RFQ for Demat accounts held by Karvy Stock Broking Limited (KSBL), requests were received from Participants for providing further details of demat accounts held by KSBL, discussion was held amongst Joint Committee of MIIs and accordingly Accounts with balances & without balances, and no. of unique demat accounts having any debit / credit (except Corporate action) in the account, during the period Jan 2019 to Jan 2021 are being provided to facilitate prospective bidders in bidding for demat accounts of KSBL.

SEBI- IG Informal Guidance sought by Sundaram Alternate Assets Limited in connection with SEBI (IA) Regulations, 2013 and SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2020. -->> Sundaram Alternate Assets Limited is a registered PM. It is also the Fund Manager for Sundaram Alternative Investment Trust, a Category III AIF and for Sundaram Category II AIF. As per the understanding of the applicant, no separate registration no. under the IA Regulations is required to render investment advice to general investors as the applicant is also a fund manager of an AIF apart from being registered as a Portfolio Manager and whether they are required to comply with general obligations and responsibilities under Chapter III of IA Regulations. Further, the applicant asked if the definition of PM includes the term ‘advises’, whether the minimum investment amount per client of Rs. 50 Lakhs as per the Portfolio Manager Regulations would apply for advisory services. In view of the above queries, SEBI explained that a fund manager of an AIF is exempted from seeking registration under the IA Regulations. Further, the proviso specifying compliance with general obligations ad responsibilities under Chapter III of the said regulations is not applicable to an entity in its capacity as Fund manager of AIF. A Portfolio Manager is also exempted from seeking registration as an IA when it provides any incidental investment advice to the client. However, the PM would be required to comply with general obligations and responsibilities under Chapter III. Further, minimum investment amount per client of Rs. 50 lakhs are applicable for advisory services as per Regulation 23 (2) of the PMS Regulations.

NSE/BSE Uniformity in applicability of Net Asset Value (NAV) across various schemes upon realization of funds-Update -->> With respect to Uniformity in applicability of NAV across various schemes upon realization of funds, Members to take note of the revised cut-off timings for processing of the transactions.

NSE Review of Additional Risk Management measures for Brent Crude Contracts -->> With reference to exchange circular dated January 25, 2021 on additional risk management measures for Brent Crude

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



Contracts, exchange has modified Initial Margins to 20% to be levied on all existing and yet to be launched Brent Crude Oil contracts, w.e.f. February 08, 2021.

NSE ENIT - Pro Trading Module -->> Exchange has introduced a facility where the member can now place requests to activate/deactivate the facility of placing “only PRO” orders and “PRO and CLI” orders through the Pro Trading module available on ENIT. Salient features of the facility are as follows: Member desirous to activate proprietary trading facility on user ids which are not PRO enabled can select from the given options in PRO Enablement form: Only PRO option; PRO and CLI option. The above facility shall be available for use from the start of business hours on February 08, 2021.

NSE Futures & Options on Copper -Risk Management and Clearing and Settlement Procedures -->> NCL has provided detailed norms/modalities relating to Risk Management Framework and Clearing & Settlement Procedure for F&O on Copper about computation of SPAN Margin, MPOR, Price scan range, volatility scan range, SOMC, extreme Loss margin, Premium margin, Pre- expiry margin, daily settlement price, Final settlement price etc. and same shall be effective from February 22, 2021 and separate circular w.r.t category of COPPER is Medium and Applicable Minimum IM is 8%, Short Option Minimum Margin is 8% and Applicable Minimum MPOR is 2.

NSE/BSE Guidelines for 'Statement of Accounts' for Funds, Securities and Commodities -->> Every member to send a complete ‘Statement of Accounts’ (SOA) for funds, securities and commodities in respect of each of its clients on weekly basis (alongwith quarterly) and same to be sent on or before the next four trading days of subsequent week which shall be applicable from the week ending on March 06, 2021 due date of which will be March 12, 2021 and for each week thereafter. Further all members will continue to send monthly/quarterly SOA containing an extract from the client ledger for funds, an extract from the Register of securities (ROS)/commodities displaying all receipts and deliveries of securities/commodities and a statement explaining the retention of funds/commodities within 5 days from the date of settlement. Further detailed clarifications given for SOA and ROS in view of recent changes introduced in the previous year.

NSE Peak Margin Reporting of Custodian Participant Trades in all derivatives and Cash segment -->> NSE had issued a circular regarding Peak Margin reporting of CP trades in all derivative and cash segment and the interim process specified to be applicable only till trade date Feb 05, 2021 for F&O & Cash segment and Feb 09, 2021 for CDS and CM shall continue to report peak margin on offline basis to the NCL upto trade date Feb 05, 2021 (reporting cut off - February 12, 2021) for F&O and Cash segment and trade date Feb 09, 2020 (reporting cut off - Feb 16, 2021) for CDS. For implementation of CM to confirm the availability of peak margins as specified in the circular, NCL shall provide the margins on confirmed/unconfirmed trades for CP in the snapshot and MG 12 file provided at the EOD to the CM(s) w.e.f. trade date February 08, 2021for F&O and Cash segment and w.e.f. trade date Feb 10, 2021 in the CDS.

NSE Undertaking/Authorisation to Stock Exchanges and NSE Clearing Limited to access the information/ statements pertaining to all bank accounts (maintained by the members) from Banks -->> Exchange to seek information/statements pertaining to all Bank accounts maintained by members directly from Bank or through a financial technology solution provider authorized by the Exchange. Hence, all members to provide an undertaking authorizing the Exchange to instruct the respective bank(s) of the members. The format of the undertaking/authorization is as per Annexure-A and the same to be submitted by Feb 12, 2021. Members to keep the Bank/s appropriately notified of the said authorization to enable them to honour the instructions received from Exchange. Members shall submit updated/fresh undertaking/authorisation to the Exchanges and NCL within 7 working days of opening of any new bank account.

NSE Market Data - Introduction of Order Snapshot Recovery for Multicast Tick by Tick Broadcast -->> Exchange has introduced an Order Book Snapshot Recovery functionality for Multicast Tick by Tick (MTBT) broadcast and the parameters and important usage guidelines to connect to the Order Book Snapshot recovery are detailed in the Circular. Members to note revised parameters to connect to the Order Book Snapshot recovery as specified in circular-Circular Ref. No:07/2021_NSE/MSD/47253 dated 5th Feb, 2021

BSE Action for Late/Partial/Non-submission of undertaking/authorization to Exchange to access the information/ statements pertaining to all bank accounts (maintained by members) from Banks -->> TM(s) were advised to submit Undertaking/Authorization to Exchange to access the information pertaining to all bank accounts, maintained by them, opened/reported to the Exchange from time to time, from Banks or through a financial technology solution provider authorized by the Exchange and in case of any Non/Partial submission of Authorization by Feb 15, 2021, shall be disabled in all segments across exchanges w.e.f. Feb 16, 2021.

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



NSDL Acceptance of Delivery Instruction through Demat Gateway -->> NSDL-0004: SEBI has examined Demat Gateway facility of accepting DIS through Online Portal of DP/brokers, which has been enabled by NSDL under the head Demat Gateway and its process of seeking mandate of e-DIS facility: It should necessarily capture all details being captured in physical DIS, for on-market transfers and it should be an instruction toward actual transfer of securities to meet obligation for a single settlement no./date. Mandate/Pre-trade authorization: The mandate should be received from the client authorizing the intermediary to transfer specific securities for on-market obligation only. Such mandate must pertain to a single settlement no/date. Client shall be required to authorize each mandate by way of OTP and PIN /password, both generated at Depositories end. Prior to executing the transfer based on details provided by intermediary, Depositories to match and confirm the same with mandate provided by client as well as client-wise net delivery obligation arising from the trade executed on exchange, as provided by CC to Depositories for each settlement date. Such transfers on basis of client mandate should be credited only to client’s TM pool account. An Intermediary providing this facility should enable its client to revoke/cancel the mandate provided by them. Further, a deadline of February 4, 2021 is specified for existing DP/Brokers who are availing the facility to comply with the same. Operational guidelines will be issued separately in this regard. NSDL -0007: Further certain clarifications are issued w.r.t process of seeking mandate/Pre- trade authorization: client to mandatorily specify the settlement no./date for providing the pre-trade authorization/mandate. Mandate provided for multiple ISINs shall not lapse if the debit is effected only for one particular ISIN, however such mandate shall be valid only for a particular settlement no./date as specified in the mandate. Mandate received from client should only be for a single settlement no./date. The same cannot be exercised before or after the given settlement date.

NSDL Launch of DPM Plus+ for all Participants -->> NSDL informed that the launch of ‘DPM Plus+’, to facilitate Participants to carry out value added services in respect of back office related operations/activities. Participants can upgrade their existing Local DPM System to access and avail the facility of DPM Plus+. On successful installation, DPs can access both the services through a single sign-on. DPM Plus+ will be continuously augmented and the new features will be released at regular intervals. The DP User Guide to DPM Plus+ (Version 1) and the installation manual to upgrade and avail the facility can be accessed at i-Assist. Further, DPM Plus+ will be offered free of cost till March 31, 2021.

CDSL INSURANCE POLICY FOR WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS HELD IN DEMATERIALISED FORM -->> CDSL has renewed its insurance policy to cover the risks associated with warehouse receipts (representing underlying commodities) held by the investors in dematerialised form in CDSL system from 1st Jan, 2021 to 31st Dec, 2021 to cover CDSL & its DPs empaneled with various commodity exchanges. The DPs will be required to pay Rs. 2,970/- towards insurance charges which will be included in the monthly bill of January, 2021.

SEBI Corrigendum to the SEBI (Investment Advisers) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 -->> Amendment of SEBI (IA) Regulations, 2013 is effective on April 1, 2021 instead of earlier amendment which mentioned effective from date of publication.

SEBI - REPORT FOR Consultation Paper on introduction of provisions relating to appointment or re-appointment ofPUBLIC COMMENTS persons who fail to get elected as Whole-time directors or Managing Directors at the general

meeting of a listed entity -->> It has been proposed that a person whose appointment/re-appointment as a MD/WTD has been rejected by the shareholders of a listed entity, cannot be appointed again as MD or WTD, unless NRC has recommended with detailed justification or the board has considered and approved the appointment with recorded reasons. The listed entity shall take the specified steps for appointment of such directors to the Board: The reasons for such appointments shall be disclosed to Exchanges within 24 hours along with the recommendations of the NRC and Shareholder approval shall be obtained in the immediate next general meeting or within 3 from the date of appointment, whichever is earlier. The explanatory statement to the Notice to the shareholders shall contain a detailed explanation and recommendation from the NRC and the Board as to why such appointment is placed before the shareholders despite the rejection of the candidature earlier. In case the shareholders reject the candidature again, such persons cannot be considered for re-appointment or continue as a director of that listed entity, for 2 years from the date of such rejection. Further, Public Comments on the above can be submitted by February 12, 2021

SEBI SEBI (Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 -->> SEBI has amended SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008 relating to regulations based on holding of enquiry, recommendation of action by the designated authority and the order. Further, it has also omitted regulation 28 which was based on procedure for action on receipt of recommendation.

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



NSE FAQ on Peak Margin reporting of Custodian Participant trades in Capital Market Segment -->> Exchange has provided FAQs for Peak Margin Reporting of Marginable CP trades in Cash Segment as specified: What will be the reportable peak/upfront margin by custodian in respect of CP trades- CC shall aggregate the margins on confirmed/unconfirmed trades for marginable CP and include the same in the snapshot provided to the custodian on T day and shall be reportable by the Custodian. If securities available in CM’s/custodians account to be considered for margin collection and reporting- Member shall accept securities as collateral, only by way of ‘margin pledge’, created in the Depository system. Further, certain clarifications are provided w.r.t: securities sold in cash market and available in CM/Custodian’s account i.e., POOL/EPI can be considered as margin. Since settlement is guaranteed by the CC, member may choose to give credit of the sale value of the shares in the ledger account, which may be considered as margin towards subsequent trade/s of the client. However, the sale value of such securities (EPI value), as reduced by value of the 20% upfront Margin, shall be available as Margin for other positions across all the segments. If funds available in CM’s/ Custodian’s account be considered for upfront / peak margin collection and reporting- Yes, it can be considered for upfront and peak margin collection and reporting. Funds provided as EPI to CC by the cut-off time can also be considered for upfront/peak margin collection and reporting.

NSE Excess STT Retained-NSE -->> It has been noticed by Additional Commissioner of Income Tax Range that excess STT has been collected by some members however same has not been remitted to the Govt account for the F.Y. 2018-19 and prior years. In view of the same, such members are required to remit such STT collected along with interest @1% for every month's delay to NSE within 15 days from the date of this Circular. Thereafter, NSE shall deposit the same to the Govt account immediately.

NSE SEC Class Relief for NSE Equity Indices -->> NSE is in receipt of class Relief from U.S Security Exchange Commission (SEC) for its equity indices such as NIFTY 50 and NIFTY Bank. The Class Relief will enable NSE members to engage in familiarization activities with respect to equity indices available at NSE, with eligible broker-dealers and large financial institutions in the US. Such eligible broker-dealers and large FI(s) can trade on these index derivatives options contracts, subject to the compliance with the applicable laws

NSE NOTIS Application -->> Members are requested to ensure readiness of their systems for using NOTIS API, as NOTIS EXE application for Capital Market, Equity Derivative & Currency Derivative segments shall be discontinued with effect from to end of business hours of April 2, 2021.

NSE Review of Additional Risk Management measures for Brent Crude contracts -->> With reference to exchange circular dated Dec 22, 2020 on additional risk management measures for Brent Crude Contracts, exchange has modified the Initial Margins by reducing the initial margin to 10% (earlier 50%) to be levied on all existing and yet to be launched Brent Crude Oil contracts, w.e.f. Jan 27, 2021.

NSE Underlying asset broadcast -->> Exchange currently provides the underlying asset data feed for currency pair USDINR in Currency Derivatives segment on trader workstation under the “DUSDINR” symbol which shall be disconnected w.e.f. February 01, 2021.

BSE FAQ’s - System driven disclosures under SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 -->> SDD is being implemented for member(s) of promoter group and designated person(s) in addition to the promoter(s) and director(s) of company under Regulation 7(2) of PIT Regulations. The SDD shall pertain to trading in equity shares and equity derivative instruments. BSE has issued FAQs, major highlights--> w.r.t its applicability only to listed companies of respective national exchanges, PAN of Promoter(s) including member(s) of the promoter group, director(s) and designated person(s) is to be provided only to Designated Depository and change of information for the given entities to such designated depository be done on the same day of such change effected. Further PAN to be provided in all except PAN exempt cases where BO ID details of demat accounts to be provided. Even if required promoter/promoter group details were already provided by R&T agent to depositories, the issuer is still required to provide such details again to the Designated Depository. Further the manual disclosures regaring Reg 7 of PIT regulations 2015 shall continue till further intimation. Finally definition of promoter and promoter group is as specified of SEBI ICDR 2018.

BSE Revised - Reporting of details of Post Trade allocation (Give-up / 6A) data for INST trades by Members for Equity Cash Segment -->> Members to note the revised file format for reporting of CP code for each of their INST trade executed on any of the exchanges w.e.f. trade date March 1, 2021.The format for post Trade allocation by Member and Exchange response files enclosed.

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



NSDL/CDSL Change in off-market transfer reason codes -->> Pursuant to mentioned circulars as provided in the Circular, representations were made for providing additional reason codes to cover certain types of transactions. In view of the same, 8 new reason codes have been added to list, namely, transfer from nominee/surviving holder to beneficiary, transfer of securities from/to account of PMS provider to/from the account of its various clients, Margin to custodian, Margin returned by Custodian, Change of nominee shareholder appointed under section 187(1) of Companies Act, 2013, Off-Market swap, Delisting- exit offer and Deposit of securities with Escrow agent and its return. Further, existing reason codes such as margin to broker/PCM, Certificate of deposit redemption, Commercial paper issuance, Payout- on payments of unpaid securities and Meeting legitimate dues of stock broker will be discontinued w.e.f. Jan 29, 2021. The aforesaid enhancements will be implemented in eDPM and SPEED-e system at EOD of Jan 29, 2021.

SEBI/ NSE/ NSDL List of Individuals/Entities designated/added/amended by United Nations Security Council Under UNSCR 1267 -->> UNSC committee has approved the removal of the specified individuals from its List of Individuals and Entities subject to the assets freeze (1)-Qi.031 Name: ZUHAIR TALIB ABD-AL-SATTAR AL-NAQIB and (2) IQi.033 Name: AMIR RASHID MUHAMMAD AL-UBAIDI

NSE Revised procedure post trade allocation data for INST trades -->> TM(s) linked to NCL clearing member, will be required to report CP code for each of their ‘INST’ trade executed/modified to INST on any of the exchanges. The CP code shall be reported depending on allocation done by member for the INST trade. INST trade for which no allocation is done by the member or the INST trade for which allocation was done by member but not accepted by custody (i.e. DVP trades), member should provide ‘INST’ as CP code in reporting file. Procedure for reporting the CP code for INST trades: File to be uploaded by TM- Members shall be provided a file upload facility to submit the CP details for each INST trade. The file shall be accepted from member till T+5 day. During this period, member can upload multiple files either full or incremental. In case member reports the same trade again, the latest CP code available for that trade shall be considered as final. The facility to upload the file shall be made available to Member through Extranet. Return file to member: A return file shall be provided with details of success and rejected records. The return file shall be downloaded to member to Extranet. Such file shall be downloaded as and when generated. The above requirement shall go live from trade date March 1, 2021.

NSE Amendments to NCL Byelaws -->> NCL Byelaws have been amended and has inserted a new Chapter VII i.e. dealing by CM. It states that CC shall act in accordance with circulars issued by SEBI from time to time with regard to SOP in cases of CM leading to default. CC to issue instructions to the concerned bank to freeze the bank accounts maintained by CM in the event of potential default by such a CM in meeting its obligations to a recognized stock exchange /CM/ CC and/or repayment of funds/securities to its clients. Further, it shall be applicable to Cash, F&O, Currency and Commodity segment.

NSE Migration Policy from NSE SME Platform to NSE Main Board -->> NSE reviewed its migration policy from NSE SME Platform to NSE Main Board and Companies are required to satisfy the specified criteria for the said migration. The paid-up equity capital and the and the capitalization of the applicant's equity shall not be less than Rs. 10 crores* and Rs 25 crores respectively.

The applicant should have been listed on SME Platform for at least 2 Years and to submit certificates that they have not been referred to the BIFR and/or no proceedings were admitted under IBC code against the issuer and promoting companies. Net worth certificate stating that it is positive and a certification that the company has not received any winding up petition admitted by a NCLT. Further, the Company applying for migration is required to submit the shareholder’s approval for migration, application for migration/in principle approval for listing on the NSE main board along with supporting documents and if migration is on account of further issue of capital the necessary applicable documents should be filed.

NSE Refund of SEBI Sub-Broker (SB) Fees. -->> It was informed that the SEBI Sub-Broker fees will be refunded to those erstwhile Sub-Brokers who have migrated to AP by March 31, 2019. In this regard, an electronic module in ENIT at “ENIT - Sub Broker” tab under “ENIT NEW COMPLIANCE” section has been provided wherein Members can submit an online application towards the refund for the eligible Sub-Brokers from Jan 21, 2021 onwards. Members can refer to the steps for the said process as detailed in the circular. Members can make submissions by February 15, 2021.

BSE Changes in the reporting format of data towards ‘Client Level Cash & Cash Equivalent Balances’ and ‘Holding Statement’ (System Live) -->> The revised formats of data towards Client Level Cash & Cash Equivalent Balances and Holding Statement shall be applicable for the week ending on January 16, 2021 and onwards. Members to submit the data for all calendar days of the week except Sunday on or before the next four trading days of subsequent week.

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



SEBI SEBI (Investment Advisers) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 -->> SEBI has amended SEBI (IA) Regulations, 2013 which states that grant of certificate will be considered if the applicant is a member of a recognized body/body corporate as specified under regulation 14. Further it is aimed on reduction of SEBI Fees to be paid by individuals and corporates along with the application for the grant of certificate. For individuals and firms, it shall be Rs. 2k (earlier: Rs. 5K), for body corporate including LLP shall be Rs. 10K (earlier: Rs. 25K). Clause 2 states the registration fee to be paid at the time of grant or renewal of certificate and has hereby substituted that for individuals and firms, it shall be Rs. 3K (earlier: Rs. 10K) and for body corporate including LLP, it shall be Rs. 15K (earlier: Rs. 5 Lakhs). Further, in clause 3, is substituted and fees at every five years is capped for individuals/firms to Rs 1K and for corporates/LLP to Rs 5K respectively.

SEBI/ NSE/ BSE Revision in Daily Price Limits (DPL) for Commodity Futures Contracts -->> To develop the commodity derivatives market and in consultation with the stock exchanges, the norms for DPL for commodity futures contracts (excluding Index Futures and options) are being revised such as Base price for DPL, Order acceptance, Breach of slab, DPL for Commodity futures contracts which are base =d on agricultural, agri-processed goods and non- agricultural goods, DPL on first trading day of the contract and calculation of closing price or daily settlement price

SEBI/NSE Review of Volatility Scan Range (VSR) for Option contracts in Commodity Derivatives Segment -->> In consultation with CC(s), SEBI has decided to prescribe minimum VSR values for underlying commodities based on their volatility viz, high, medium and low as categorized in SEBI circular dated January 27, 2020. The VSR in respect of various categories of commodities shall be subject to specified minimum values as detailed in the circular. CC(s) (providing clearing and settlement for options) shall review the value of VSR by back testing monthly using last 3 years’ data by 15th of every month and any change in VSR shall be implemented from 1st trading day of the following month. The back testing shall be done by using appropriate models to extract volatility (such as EWMA (Exponentially Weighted Moving Average) volatility of the underlying futures contract, implied volatility of options, etc.) over the relevant MPOR period. Above shall be effective from the first trading day of the month of April 01, 2021.

SEBI-IG Informal Guidance Sought by HDFC Securities Limited regarding SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 -->> HDFC Securities Limited is registered as a TM/CM. It is also registered as a non- Individual investment adviser. HSL’s primary business is broking and clause 22A of the Regulations states that an IA may provide implementation services to the advisory clients if it ensures no consideration including any commission/referral fees is received, directly or indirectly at IA(s) group level for the said service. HSL understands that a TM can receive broking income from the clients who in addition to availing broking services, are also signed up for investment advisory services. In this regard HSL raised a query if the TM can receive broking income from Advisory Clients for Execution services. SEBI explained that the client has signed up with the same entity for broking and investment advisory services. As per Regulation 22A, it is stated that the IA or group of the IA shall not charge any implementation fees from the advisory client if such client avails any implementation services in the securities market. Thus, a TM or its group entity cannot receive broking income from advisory clients while providing execution services whenever such execution is emanating from advice offered by the TM as an IA.

SEBI-PR/ SEBI - Consultation paper on Role of KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) / Market Infrastructure Institutions

REPORT FOR PUBLIC (MIIs) in performing KYC (Know Your Client) of clients in securities market -->> SEBI has prescribed

COMMENTS various guidelines pertaining to client KYC process, Use of technology for KYC, e-KYC Process, IPV, KRA etc. Presently KYC in the securities market is conducted by SEBI Registered Intermediaries (RI) and then RI to upload the KYC records in the KRA/CKYCR system. Further, every RI must invest in infrastructure, manpower, technology, and implement processes which often varies between intermediaries. In the event of cancellation of registration of RI, original KYC documents collected by it may not be available to subsequent RI and hence investor needs to undergo KYC process again. To achieve multiple objectives of standardizing, making it more robust, avoiding duplication, saving cost to RI etc., a modified process has been proposed. The KYC and account opening process may be separated by doing client KYC through KRAs (which includes MIIs) which would ensure an end-to-end secured KYC process including Aadhaar authentication, independent verification of OVD/PAN, document safekeeping, technological innovations, etc. It also aims to keep the cost of conducting KYC by KRA reasonable and should not cast additional burden on investor. With regard to authentication of existing records of clients with KRA, it is proposed that such verification cost should be borne by KRA or KRA may be funded (one time) for such verification cost by SEBI

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS



-IPF, SE and depositories. A consultation paper on the proposed role of KRAs/MIIs in performing KYC of clients in securities market has been issued by SEBI and public comments on the same have been invited by February 15, 2021.

SEBI-PR SEBI Chairman meets industry representatives on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) by listed companies -->> The roundtable was conducted, in addition to public consultation on the BRSR formats to gather views of stakeholders on the preparedness for disclosures, prior to finalization of the formats. The proposed format for BRSR aims at bringing in greater transparency through disclosure of material ESG-related information that would allow market participants to identify and assess sustainability-related risks and opportunities. The deliberations in the roundtable will be assisting SEBI in finalizing the BRSR format.

NSE/BSE Post Trade Allocation Data For INST Trades /Reporting of details of Post Trade allocation (Give-up / 6A) data for INST trades by Members for Equity Cash Segment-->As advised by SEBI, TM(s) linked to the CM(s) associated with NCL/ ICCL respectively under Interoperability to report CP code for each of their ‘INST’ trade executed on any of the exchanges, w.e.f. March 01, 2021.Members to note that the file is to be uploaded only for trades for which CP Code was INST. In case of INST trade for which no give-up is done or for which give-up was done but not accepted, member should provide INST as CP code in CP Code field of reporting file. The file in the specified format shall be uploaded to the ICCL till T+5 working day basis. Formats given for upload and response files. In case of the errors, members can submit the revised full file before the cut-off date as final file.

NSE Additional reports in CM Segment -->> The format of the Client level detailed report (CLMG02) shall be revised w.e.f. February 01, 2021. The report provides break-up of settlement wise, security wise, client wise margins as provided in MG12/MG13 and the detailed file structure is provided in Annexure.

BSE UAT for Uploading Weekly Submission of Client Level Cash & Cash Equivalent Balances (Test Environment) -->> BSE had issued a circular regarding changes in the reporting format of data towards 'Client Level Cash & Cash Equivalent Balances' and Holding Statement' and such revised format shall be applicable for the week ending on January 16, 2021 and onwards. Further, Exchange is providing a mock facility to all the members for testing Cash & Cash Equivalent Balances new system and formats and the details regarding the same are provided in the Circular. Exchange has provided certain additional clarifications in the revised format enclosed as Annexure-A and the procedure for submitting the information through the Weekly Cash Balance under Enhanced Supervision module in the BEFS portal during the mock testing is enclosed as Annexure-B.

BSE Introduction of weekly derivatives contracts in currency and cross currency pairs ( EURINR, GBPINR, JPYINR, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY). - Update -->> Exchange shall introduce the weekly futures and options contracts on currency and cross currency pairs (EURINR, GBPINR, JPYINR, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY) with effect from January 18,2021.

CIRCULARSCIRCULARS


Compiled by Rekha Shah with Team Power Updates, Analyze N ControlThe firm specialises in helping Broking houses in Operational process set up and also has softwares focussed on compliances - regulatory search engine - www.circularsnorders.com and has a state of the art client screening product duly integrated with Anti Money Laundering and Surveillance product.


DIGITAL DETOX

By Jaya RowFounder, Vedanta Vision &Managing Trustee, Vedanta Trust

NURTURING LIFNURTURING LIFESTYLE

Technology and the need to be connected all

the time is stressful. Digital

devices are known to disrupt

sleep. Yet, people spend an hour or more on social media in bed. Constant connectivity

affects work / life balance.

echnology is incredible and has conferred huge benefits in every Taspect of life. During the current

Covid crisis it has enabled us to work from home, connect with people across the world, and even party from home! The digital world has taken over our lives!

However, being able to unplug and have some time away from the screen has its advantages. It energises you and keeps you more in touch with the real world.

Digital detox is time spent away from smartphones, television, computers, tablets, and social media sites. It is a way to focus on real-life social interactions without distractions.

Why do a digital detox? Technology and the need to be connected all the time is stressful. Digital devices are known to disrupt sleep. Yet, people spend an hour or more on social media in bed. Constant connectivity affects work/life balance. Social comparison makes you more discontent. You think others have a better, more exciting life when you see posts on Facebook or Instagram! Driven by FOMO, the fear of missing out, you are hooked to your devices. Digital time takes away from healthy interactions with family.

Digital detox does not mean total separation from devices. It is setting boundaries and making sure they benefit, rather than harm, you. Limit your device usage specially during meal times, while working, whenyou are with friends or family, and before you go to sleep. Turning off notifications and keeping the phone on silent or airplane mode helps.

Develop the intellect. The intellect has enabled us to conquer the world. It can help us triumph over the inner world as well. Invest in self-improvement, self-development and self-enrichment. It will pay rich dividend. Remove the internal roadblocks that stand in the way of your growth. Some people have temper tantrums, others are lazy, and still others are undisciplined. Address these issues.

E v e r y o n e i s o b s e s s e d w i t h themselves. Thought of self is the single most devastating obstacle in everyone’s life. We are using technology to further sink in it! Expand your mind to include the well-being of others as well. Step out of your comfort zone to alleviate the suffering of the underprivileged.

Find your passion. Is it music, business, sport? Pursue it with enthusiasm, perseverance and devotion. Shift your focus from profiteering to offering, from grabbing to giving. Espouse a cause beyond your selfish, self-centred interests. You will wake up every morning with creative ideas. You will work with energy and dynamism. And prosperity will be showered on you.

Listen to uplifting music. Shake off negative feelings and the emotional baggage that weighs you down. Examine your state of mind. Are you irritable, hateful, quick to pounce on people for the slightest mistake? This is a sign of an imbalance within. Substitute this with positive feelings. You will feel lighter and happier.

Use the time that is freed from detox constructively. Include a daily slot for exercise, indoor as well as outdoor. Substitute your time on the phone with reading a book at bedtime as this induces sleep. Listen to music rather than watch something. Spend time with yourself. Away from people and gadgets. Cultivate a hobby like cooking, singing, or painting.

The crucial point is - are you a slave to devices or are you in command over them? Shift mastery from the object to yourself. This is done with the use of the intellect. The intellect should be the boss of your personality, not the whims and fancies of your mind or the cravings of your senses.



Be aware of all that has been bestowed on you,the privileges you are privy to. Be grateful for them. Say a big Thank You to that unseen, unknown Power that has given you so much. Abundance or deprivation is a state of mind and has no connection with your material assets. You could be among the richest people In the world and feel deprived. A person in the slums may feel totally blessed!

downfall. With internal enrichment and the benefits of technology, you become an incredibly successful person. You are in balance and happy. And you grow to your potential.

The world and all it offers is transient, temporary, comes and goes. Seek the permanent in and through the passing phenomena. Only then will you be truly secure. And you will enjoy the world. You will be in the world, yet independent of it.

Thus when you have a mission in life, you have no time for devices. You use them for your benefit, not your

Join the weekly webinars onBHAGAVAD GITA by Jaya Row every

Saturday 6.30 - 7.30 pm.Register at www.vedantavision.org/gita

Jaya Row, Articulate, effective and engaging, Mrs. Jaya Row brings alive the wisdom of the Vedas in a modern context. Combining her experience in corporate life with 40 years of study and research of Vedanta she provides useful insights to life.

Charming oration which transforms complex Vedic principles into brilliant management mantras is the hallmark of her discourses. Her clarity, wit and zeal have captivated audiences far and wide and inspired people from all walks of life.

She has the rare gift of being able to connect with and address the concerns of a wide range of people from varied walks of life - from CEOs, corporate executives and policy makers to industrialists, scientists & doctors, lawyers, academicians, homemakers and university students.

Apart from her popular discourses in India, she is a well loved speaker in the United States, UK, Europe and other countries for the last several years. She has been invited to speak at prestigious organizations such as:

•World Economic Forum Davos •Google, California•Intel, California

•MasterCard, New York•World Bank, Washington DC•Deutsche Bank, New York

•Stockholm School of Economics•Princeton University, New Jersey•Shell UK, London

•Coca Cola Company, Atlanta•Young Presidents’ Organization• Maersk Liner Graduate Programme

She has specially designed world-class educational programs on basic human values for school children and the youth. She has published books on life values for 5 to 8 year olds.


YOUR SECRET TEACHERTO LIFE & LIVING

By Jyotsna Ahuja KapoorFounder, The White Space


All of us have our formulae

that we believe is the secret to our own flavour of successful

living. And then we encounter

challenges that often throw us

off guard- what’s tried and tested as a way of functioning

no longer works.

art of human nature and so human life is to seek for meaning, for Panswers. Most of us recognise that

life is more a journey than anything else. All of us have our formulae that we believe is the secret to our own flavour of successful living. And then we encounter challenges that often throw us off guard- what’s tried and tested as a way of functioning no longer works. Depending on the intensity of the challenge, we either look within to introspect where we went wrong, or outward to look for answers. Therein begins the path of the seeker. And the more we have achieved, the deeper becomes the quest for true meaning, driven by an endless chain of such challenges or ‘experiences’ along the way.

The secret to being a good seeker is not knowing exactly where to look but in recognising signs along the way that have been embedded with the specific purpose of guiding us to understand the hows and whys and wherefores of life, i.e. a higher meaning to it all.

Ultimately it all boils down to learning to speak the language of the Universe.

In ancient times, it was a common practice to bury secrets openly. Guess where they got that idea from? Yes, you got it right, Nature.

Nature or the natural world is a supremely powerful entity, that can teach us how to live a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life. Only if we are willing to listen and learn that is. Nature serves as a magnificent combination of mirror, nurturer, destroyer, role model and encyclopedia to the key of human living. You can gain the most esoteric knowledge there is from her, or you can also find the answers to simple daily living such as how to be healthy, how to be calm, and how to be happy and successful, for instance. She is, has been and always will be an

1. The Law of Balance

2. Being Authentically You / Law of Acceptance

What happens when nature moves at a pace that is too fast? It can become devastating. Wind, water, and movement of the earth beneath us can become out of sync, stressed if you will, leaving disaster in its path of least resistance. But Nature however, always has a way of balancing itself and healing itself.

Most of us move at a pace in life that is like the speed of light, conquering anything and everything, and never taking the time to pause and reflect. We end up not giving each task the attention it deserves and soon our tasks feel like they are controlling us, not the other way round. Moving at a pace like this creates multi-tasking, which doesn’t always allow for the best approach.

Having balance is not only essential to maintaining ideal mind, body, and spirit wellness but can help us to have and feel less stress. Balance as a law is the only law that can truly build spiritual muscle as you may call it, towards equanimity and ultimately happiness.

Authenticity is one of the big secrets to success in l i fe. Nature teaches authenticity by giving you opportunities to be alone with yourself in a truly non-judgmental environment.

Most people choose their life goals based on what other people want for them, or what society deems important, rather than what’s truly in their heart. But following other people’s goals won’t lead you to fulfillment. The right goal for one person is not always right for another. This is why it’s absolutely critical to get in touch with your own unique path.

Nature helps you build authentic self-awareness because it doesn’t try to

extremely important source for human inspiration, ideation, evolution and ultimately self actualisation.

For those not familiar with the term, Self Actualization was a term coined by Carl Jung as a magnificent attempt to communicate both the source as well as the end goal of human life - the desire to become the best and highest version of one self.

Based on years of in-depth research into the human psyche, an innate desire to be of service to humanity, and above all to self actualize by bringing this particular potential to its highest degree, here are a few open secrets of Nature I have discovered that can be wonderful teachers in those critical moments, when we are called upon to be our truest selves.



change who you are or influence your decisions. Instead, it removes all the outside influences of media and other people’s opinions, while amplifying the quiet voice of truth that so often gets ignored.

Nature doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. There’s no judgment. Just the pure freedom to be yourself as you are. This is why people who spend lots of time in nature find themselves living a more authentic path in life.

The beauty about Nature is that everything fulfills a purpose. Everything is there for a reason. The trees feed the elephants, the elephants push over the trees and provide shelter for smaller animals, their dung gets composted by beetles, who in turn then work the nutrients back into the ground for more trees to grow.

Similarly, each one of us is born with a purpose, and it’s our duty to accept ourselves the way we are. Your inability to do something should never stop you from doing what you are capable of. Each one of us is gifted and we should contribute to the betterment of the world in whichever way we can.

There is a concept called “mutualism” in biology, according to which two organisms of different species exist in a relationship with each other, such that each individual benefits from the activity of the other. This concept should be applied in our everyday life. If we have a mutual understanding among our fellow humans it makes way for a better foundation and a better society. Imagine a life without sharing it would be such a waste. We should learn to help others and give selflessly without expecting anything in return. The art of giving selflessly and helping each other should be practiced at all times. Given that most astrologists and esotericists are also speaking about how the Age of Aquarius - i.e. Aquarian qualities such as community service, brotherhood, uniqueness amongst equality and so on - has dawned upon us recently at the end of 2020 in a post Covid era, perhaps this is an optimal time to uncover and embody these qualities.

3. Everything has a Purpose

4. The Art of Giving

5. Pain is the precursor of Joy

6. Up your Emotional Quotient

7. Being in Gratitude

After every downpour, we are gifted with a rainbow delight. When you are going through the ups and downs of life always remember that you can’t be happy or sad throughout. During times of uncertainty, it’s difficult to see that it is a cyclic process and the only thing that remains constant is change. We won’t get sunny days all the time. There will be days with dark clouds and stormy winds but all you have to do is don’t lose hope and let things fall in their right places and you will be surprised to see the sun coming out from the clouds. As after every little hill, there’s a little valley.

This is actually synonymous with point 1 or the Law of Balance. Everything has an equal and opposite function, force, momentum, energy - you name it.

Many people notice that as they become more sensitive and empathetic to nature, their interpersonal relationships also improve. This is partially because your emotions become more manageable, and also because you’re developing greater internal and external awareness.

Firstly, you learn to feel what it’s like when you get caught up in negativity so you can make different choices. Rather than having a knee jerk reaction to the unwanted behaviors of other people, you’ll be more likely to step outside and find inner peace before deciding what to say or do.

As you become more prone to releasing negativity in nature, rather than passing it on to others, you’ll notice that people start to treat you better and give you less reasons to be upset in the first place.

Another big part of maintaining good relationships depends on you being tuned in with the people around you. You’ll notice that watching birds and observing nature makes you infinitely better at detecting the body language and emotions of fellow humans so you can respond more appropriately.

This is an easy one: How can you not be grateful when you spend time out in nature, where everything is bigger than yourself? How can you not fall in love withthis creation? Your own existence

Jyotsna Ahuja Kapoor, Born and brought up in Mumbai, she grew up in a nuclear family as an only child. Shy and reticent, she spent the first eleven plus years of her professional life in the corporate world, mostly in the aviation industry and some in the banking industry. While in the aviation industry, she was based in Germany for 2 years where she completed her Post Graduate Diploma. She also did brief stints in New York and Singapore. She always had a client facing role and worked in Sales, Marketing and Client Management departments. She grew to head Global Corporate Sales for an Indian Airline towards the end of her corporate sojourn.

In 2014, she started practicing as a professional counselor after completing Orientation to Psychotherapy and Facilitation course and three levels of Problem Solving from Spring counselling. She also did Orientation to Metaphysics and Orientation to Psychological Astrology course from Counselling and Suicide Prevention (CASP). She learnt Western Astrology from the Cosmic Intelligence Agency (CIA) online in Australia.

As a result, in 2017, The White Space or TWS was finally born. TWS was always designed to be a safe space, where people were able to delve deep within themselves, look at what was not working for them, and heal that. A space where you were never judged, just encouraged to shed what was not working for you, so that you could live the life you know you should be living - one of deep joy, absolute freedom to just be, and authenticity to self above all. The White Space employed the best of both worlds - the esoteric occult sciences as well as the exoteric clinical sciences to provide a space of deep meditative and introspective permanent healing. TWS has since helped many people liberate themselves from the knots that bind them, only to experience the sheer joy of freedom of self-expression.

More of her work can be found on her social media accounts, the links to which are as below:

https://instagram.com/the_whitespace?igshid=1kvg513med0py

https://m.facebook.com/BespokeInnerWellness/

deserves a parade every day that you are alive. It is a miracle that you made it here!

Nature teaches us how to always be in gratitude and appreciate the positive things in life. This is especially apparent when we have moments of hardship and pain. Even amidst all the problems of life, we discover that birds are still singing, the sun is still shining, and somehow life goes on.

It doesn’t change the fact that life is going to knock you around, but gratitude does enable you to embrace all parts of life with greater balance and harmony.

The things that we can learn from nature are limitless, learn to respect, admire her, and emulate her ways into your life. So go out and explore, Mother Nature has a lot to offer us.


EEPING UP WITH THE CURRENT A F F A I R S I S A T I M E KCONSUMING EFFORT IN

TODAY's DAY AND AGE. EVEN SO, IT IS IMPERATIVE we MOULD ourselves in accordance with the changing times. With the concerns related to maintaining good health, growing greater with each passing day, many of us are grasping at any piece of useful information that can help strengthen our immune systems. Although there are a wide variety of options to chose from- clean environment, relaxation techniques and options to eliminate toxins, here's a list of aids and key factors to turn to whenever your immune system's asking for adequate assistance:

1) Gut health plays a very important role in maintaining a healthy immune system. Nearly 70% of the immune system is connected to a healthy gut. Healthy gut bacteria that lives within the gut, stimulates the development of T- Cells. These T- cells determine body's cells and tissue from potentially damaging things within the body.

If the so called 'bad bacteria' overgrow within the gut, it can confuse the immune system. This is what experts attribute to the cause for auto immune disorders. They explain that gut micro biota have a profound impact on the host immune system. They can easily cause auto- immune related disorders both within and outside the gut.

2) Sleep deprivation can cause immense damage to the body's regular funct ioning. As an individual's age increases, giving

IMMUNITY

Priti K ShroffFounder & Managing DirectorPRISIM - The Healing Temple

HEALING TEMHEALING TEMPLE

By Ritu ZaveriYoga Teacher & Writer

Oxygen levels must be

maintained. The organs must

function efficiently. When fat begins to accumulate within the system, organs

can't work efficiently. They are strained and slowed down,

which leads to a visible drop in

immune functioning. A

healthy exercise choice is essential

and must be followed with

diligence.

the body adequate and quality rest becomes more and more essential. It helps improve brain function, concentration and memory.

starts acting up and slips into disease. Oxygen levels must be maintained. The organs must function efficiently. When fat begins to accumulate within the system, organs can't work efficiently. They are strained and slowed down, which leads to a visible drop in immune functioning. A healthy exercise choice is essential and must be followed with diligence.

4) Lowering stress levels sounds too much of a cliche. However, stress can cause a strong impact on the immune system. When under stress, the body boosts the production of cortisol. This is a hormone that helps deal with stressful situation. It also limits the bodily functions that aren't essential in a flight or fight situation. There are a plethora of options to chose from- yoga, meditation, gardening, music, dance, art, walks in nature, holidays, etc.

5) Eating a healthy and wholesome diet. Our body has certain requirements in terms of nutrition, which must be fulfilled. Ensure the diet contains all essential vitamins and antioxidants that look after the body 's p roper funct ion ing. Simultaneously, e l iminat ing processed foods, sugars and fat foods must be consciously eliminated in order to avail the body's innate potential.

Let's look at some important foods that target the body's immunity with their inherent benefits-

3) Maintaining a healthy weight is very important to ensure the body's functioning is in balance. The goal is to ensure the fat content within the body is well within limits. It is when toxins increase, detrimental lifestyle choices are made and imbalance kicks in, that the body


HEALING TEMPLEHEALING TEMPLE

vitamin, is replenished. Vitamin C also helps improve skin issues.

e) Seeds and dry fruits• Dry fruits like almonds and

sunflower seeds contain a high content of Vitamin E. This a fat soluble vitamin which is known to be saturated with antioxidants.

• Regulates and maintains key immune system functions.

• Sunflower seeds are high in Selenium which has the ability to combat viral infections. Selenium is a powerful mineral that is essential for the proper functioning of the body. It plays a critical role in metabolism and thyroid function and helps protect the body from damage caused by oxidative stress.

f) Spinach• Packed with numerous antioxidants,

vitamins and beta carotene.• Preferable when eaten as mildly

cooked.

g) Turmeric• Conta ins ant i - in f lammatory

properties• Beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis

and osteoporosis.• Contains curcumin which is known

to be an immunity booster and an anti-viral.

Prisim Healing Institute is an alternative health center that believes in healing one individual at a time.

We have various complementary therapies that help an individual to reach to their optimal health.• 10 Day Detox Programme• Brahma Satya Energy Healing• Aura Scan & Analysis• Aura Cleanse & Chakra Alignment• Crystal Healing Workshops & Crystal Grid• Yoga & Zumba• Sujok & Acupuncture• Sound Therapy• Art Therapy & Zentangle• Emotional Catharsis• Fairy / Angel Card Reading• Healing Meditations - Chakra Meditation,

Naadabrahma etc.• Numerology• Hypnotherapy / Past Life Regression• Clearing of Spaces• Reconnective Healing & The Reconnection• Heartlight Ascension• Raw & Vegan Foods by Prana Kitchen

a) CBD - • Reduces inflammatory response

within the body• Helps decrease oxidative and

nutritive stress that leads to damage of cells.

• Shows overall immuno- regulatory support by helping optimal processes

• Improves brain derived neuro-tropic factor levels

b) Zinc -• Supports immune cells which

includes development and optimal function

• Plays a role in supporting overall immune system functioning.

• Aids in wound healing and a variety of other metabol ic re lated processes

c) MCT (Medium chain tri-glycerides)• Antibacterial and antifungal effects• Supports gut health• It helps fight off pathogenic

bacterial infections

d) Citrus Fruits and bell peppers (high in vitamin C)• Increases the production of white

blood cells which play an important role in fighting infections.

• High Vitamin C content ensures that the body's lack of production of the

h) Fruits such as Papaya and Kiwi.• Contains good amounts of

Potassium, magnesium, and folate.• Contains noticeable amounts of

Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

Our immune system works like soldiers protecting a fort. With a weak immunity, system functioning is bound to take a hit. With the advent of the new year and all that the previous year has taught us, let's focus on healing our bodies and nourishing our systems. Let medicine be the final refuge.

67

R.N.I. No. MAHENG/2012/47145Postal Registration No. MCS/153/2019-21 • MR/Tech/WPP-355/South/2019-21

st rd thPublished on 1 (Day) of every month • Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai - 400001 • Posting date: 3 & 4 of every month

68