Market unsure about Mauritius deal

The India-Mauritius tax treaty has grabbed a lot of headlines in the past week but market players aren't quite sure about its impact. Initially, everything looked hunky-dory and there was a belief amid domestic players that there will be a level-playing field now.

But, as one goes more into the fine print, it seems that things might not be so straight forward. In fact, it seems that even the foreign players are not too sure.

"While the government seems to have given time to players to digest the provisions in the pact, things will get clearer once the bill has been properly understood by all concerned," says a sectoral player. Till then, don't expect the market to take any direction on this news.

Obstacles to Xchanging's delisting

Shares of Xchanging Solutions have soared 43 per cent in the past six sessions after the company announced delisting plans. The Indian arm of the London-based back office solutions provider is now valued at about Rs 955 crore.

It is obvious that Xchanging's stock might rally further if its promoters pursue delisting aggressively, however, not everyone's convinced. "Xchanging has barely any institutional shareholders.

Non-institutional shareholders tend to get greedy with price, which might make the delisting untenable," said a domestic broker, adding the stock might plunge in such an eventuality.

Big distributor keeps AMCs on tenterhooks

Asset management companies (AMCs) are beginning to get concerned about a leading corporate distributor. The reason: While the firm brings good-quality business to the fund house where the investor stays with them for five-six years at least, the investor pays an exorbitant fee to the distributor.

For example: For each systematic investment plan, the distributor is charging Rs 200-Rs 300 as fee. This distributor is also seeking re-pricing of its clients' portfolio. "Many AMCs are unable to make money on this distributor's clients for quite some time. But, they are not complaining because it is helping them shore up assets," says a mutual fund chief executive officer.