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Companies have found new ways to raise money

Beyond the banks

Shareholders tend to harp on their views at every annual general meeting (AGM) much to the chagrin of others present at these gatherings. At some AGMs there is a cap on the time a shareholder can take for her speech, though shareholders are known to overshoot that quite often. A disgruntled shareholder told Anand Mahindra during a Mahindra & Mahindra AGM: "Tatas have a green and a red light to warn the speaker if he has exceeded his time limit. We should have a similar arrangement to avoid wasting time." To which the Mahindra group chairman and managing director said, "Next you will propose electric shocks be given to those who don't limit their speeches."

Time that speech

Is there a change in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's approach to the media coverage given to the Prime Minister's overseas visits? Seems so, if one were to go by the communication sent out to media houses by the Ministry of External Affairs relating to Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from August 16. The ministry has sought details of the journalists who intend to cover the visit, while giving advance information on accommodation arrangements for the media delegates. Ever since the NDA government took charge in May 2014, it stopped the practice of inviting journalists to accompany the PM on his visits abroad. Also, in the past one year or so, the government did not, on its own, facilitate media coverage, by way of giving out prior information on accommodation etc. In the pre-Modi days, journalists were invited to travel with the PM on board the same aircraft, while media houses paid for the accommodation of their repres

Change in the air

At a rally in Gaya (Bihar) earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi showered praise on chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), saying they had pulled their respective states out of stagnation. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's name was conspicuous by its absence from the PM's Gaya poll speech. That otherwise innocuous detail fanned speculation that Swaraj had been hit the hardest by relentless Opposition attacks. Some, of course, came to her defence pointing out that the PM highlighted development of states in his speech. So he praised his chief ministers and showcased their achievements and that a central minister didn't really fit into the scheme of things.

Devil in the detail

The curtain seem to have finally come down on former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran, with the Madras High Court cancelling his interim anticipatory bail and directing him to surrender before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) within three days.Maran was charged with installing over 300 telephone lines at his residence while serving as the Union telecom minister and connecting them to his brother Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV's office for uplinking videos. Accusations have also flown thick and fast against him in the Aircel-Maxis deal and the Tata-Rupert Murdoch direct-to-home project. Besides, Maran's reluctance to cooperate with investigators showed him in poor light. When a large number of people have been convicted of petty offences and are languishing in jails for years there is no justification for Maran to escape punishment for an act that caused a loss to the tune of crores of rupees to the exchequer.N J Ravi Chander  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:Th

Letters: Game over for Maran

Although the goods and services tax (GST) bill has got stuck due to the Parliament logjam, the question that arises is whether the proposed law would lead to a rise in prices of goods and services. On the face of it, that is likely.While the value-added tax levied by states is a multi-point system of taxes, excise duties levied and collected by the Centre is a single-point levy at the manufacturers' end. The GST regime envisages levy of cental GST at each stage of transaction in the supply chain after setting off the taxes already paid. But the rate at which services would be taxed is not clear. What is also not clear is whether services would be taxed at the same rate as goods. If the rate is to be the same, services which are now being taxed at 14 per cent would attract higher rate of taxation, and thus consumers would end up paying more for services under GST.The government should allay these well-founded fears.S K Choudhury  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The

Letters: Allay GST fears

Implicit in the issue of show-cause notices to three TV channels for their allegedly biased coverage of the events leading to and following the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon was the assumption that the decisions of the President and the judiciary are above criticism. But freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution is not conditional upon the identity of the individual or institution covered or commented on by the media or anyone, for that matter.For a free press, "speaking truth to power" is an article of faith that needs to be upheld under all circumstances, more so when thinly-disguised attempts are made to stifle democratic discourse. The government must understand that the threat of punishment will only harden the media's resolve to play its rightful role in a democracy. Freedom to express one's views "without fear or favour" is what distinguishes a democracy from a dictatorship.The tactics of branding anyone, who refuses to conform to t

Letters: Protect media freedom

Clean cities

Why India must act to improve its regulators

Regulatory emergency

He said he wanted to bring squabbling party members together, but ended up evoking more dissent than approval. West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Adhir Chowdhury announced a 12-hour state-wide bandh on August 20 to protest "the prevailing lawlessness in the state" and arrest "the regular exodus of functionaries to the ruling party". What irked several senior party leaders was the choice of date - it happens to be Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary and is celebrated by the party as Sadbhavana Diwas. Veteran Congress leader Abdul Mannan went as far as to "strongly condemn" the choice of date. "The PCC chief's unilateral decision to call a Bengal bandh on that day is unacceptable," he said.

Diversity in unity

The Lok Sabha got down to business on Monday despite Congress protests. What amused House members was how Congress MPs changed their slogans when a couple of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs stood up to speak. Congress MPs, particularly the women members, starting booing when BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri got up to speak, forcing him to cut it short. Last week, the Congress MPs, before being suspended by the Speaker, had complained how Bidhuri had allegedly passed misogynistic remarks about them. Then, Congress slogans changed from "Twitter PM shame, shame" to "aaya ram gaya ram" when BJP's Jagdambika Pal raised an issue during a discussion. The phrase was coined after Gaya Lal, a Haryana MLA, changed his party three times in a fortnight, from the Congress to the United Front, back to the Congress and then again to the United Front. Pal has a similar history: He was a Congress MP in the 15th Lok Sabha but switched to the BJP barely a month before the 2014 Lok Sabha poll and won from the Domariy

Slogan wars

As chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Ram Sewak Sharma has his hands full - he assumes office at a time when all eyes are on Trai for its recommendation on net neutrality over which the regulator and a panel appointed by Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have drawn severe consumer criticism. So when television journalists queued up on Monday for his 'first-day quote', Sharma appeared terribly miffed. In due course, he obliged all of them, but not before saying, "I am not sitting here for this (giving bytes)".

Bitter byte

With reference to TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan's article "RBI - a fly in the bottle" (August 7), the writer indicated in the sub-title that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should never be independent. But he only discusses the past when the RBI was always dependent on the Ministry of Finance. He has not dwelt on the theoretical point about its future as to why it cannot be given independence. Had he done so, he would have to tread upon the now crucial issue and the controversy about whether the RBI governor should have the veto power in the committee or not. The constitution of the committee can be done in a way that the government nominees can always outvote the RBI's views. In such a situation, mere majority is meaningless but only veto power is crucial. The lack of veto power will limit the fly in the bottle to move only in a particular direction even inside the bottle.In plain terms, giving up the metaphor, even within the limit laid down by the government, the power of the governor will

Letters: Think of RBI's future

As India gets ready to celebrate its 69th Independence Day, the Prime Minister's speech on the occasion should include a statement that would touch the hearts of differently-abled citizens.The Census shows that the population of differently-abled people has increased by 22.4 per cent from 21.9 million in 2001 to 26.8 million in 2011. Although the government and various voluntary organisations have done a lot for their welfare, more needs to be done.  Society needs to change its perception about them. There should not be any discrimination against them regarding employment. There should be more scope for them in employment and vocational avenues and they should get equal opportunities to participate in all activities of life. Some differently-abled people are quite talented. Their recent success stories in the Union Public Service Commission examination shows their fighting spirit.We need to welcome them into the mainstream with more ramps, wheelchairs and Braille systems at public plac

Letters: More needs to be done

With reference to the editorial, "A long haul" (August 7), despite the implementation of various reforms to spur growth, the results of India Inc for the quarter ended June are dismal. Asset quality issues persist and is hampering the growth of credit and investment in sectors such as infrastructure and manufacturing. Credit is a crucial driver of the economy. The government and banking regulator need to tackle the impairing asset quality of banks to enable credit expansion.The segments with a major chunk of bad assets should be allowed to kick-start their projects for which clearance is pending from various authorities. The bankers to these projects have to support them in terms of the 5/25 scheme of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With high cost of borrowing curtailing the debt servicing capacity of India Inc, the government and RBI should go for a further rate cut, besides pushing banks for full transmission of the previous rate cuts during the current year.V S Kesava Pillai  Kotta

Letters: Resume projects

Much concern has been raised about the state of economic recovery, after the revenue for India Inc continued to fall year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015-16. Although not as sharp a decrease as in the previous quarter, the continued negative impact on sales - shown in Table 1 - contrasts with solid earlier revenue growth, especially in 2013-14. However, as Table 2 shows, net profit (adjusted for extraordinary items) grew marginally in Q1. This could be due to swiftly moderating costs, as the commodity super-cycle comes to an end. As Table 3 shows, year-on-year growth in total expenditure continues to get ever more negative. It is worth noting that interest costs are growing tighter. However, there are some positive signs for demand in this Table: Employee compensation seems to have shot up in Q1.In fact, as Table 4 shows, interest costs as a percentage of revenue are at a high. So, it appears from Table 5, is employee compensation, after many quarters of stagnation beginning in 20

StatsGuru: Making sense of India Inc's results in the June quarter

The domestic mutual fund sector has added about Rs 5 lakh crore of assets since March 2014. Assets under management have risen 60 per cent to over Rs 13 lakh crore in July. This has been a resurrection of sorts for the sector, as it had hit a downward spiral following the 2008 financial market meltdown. Several regulatory interventions, weak market sentiment and poor returns had taken a toll. However, in the past 18 months, the sector has witnessed a sharp "U". It has managed to attract retail investors. Thanks to which the sector has seen record inflows in the equity segment. Meanwhile, the proportion of equity assets has improved from 23 per cent to 30 per cent. Gross sales have surpassed Rs 2 lakh crore in the equity segment, while net inflows have remained decisively in positive territory. Robust inflows have seen the sector emerge as a strong buyer in the market. The number of investors' accounts (folios) in the equity category has risen by 3.6 million and more are being added. Se

Spectacular rise in MF assets

The Narendra Modi government plans to pump around Rs 12.61 lakh crore into the economy over seven years. Understanding where this money will be spent provides an insight into the government's thinking and priorities. An analysis by Business Standard shows the bulk of this investment will be in the energy sector (Rs 8.69 lakh crore), followed by infrastructure. In the first of a five-part series on the sector-wise break-up of the investment plan, Business Standard takes a look at the energy sector

Powering India

Zscaler Inc, a San Jose-based Internet security start-up, has raised $100 million in a new round of financing, led by private investment firm TPG

Zscaler raises $100 million

On Monday, the suspension of Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha will be over and they will be back in full strength

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