The Native Share & Stock Brokers’ Association of Bombay (now the Bombay Stock Exchange (“BSE”) became the first organized stock exchange of India by formally constituting in 1887. Though, the association had been functioning for years before that and even had basic rules, regulations and customs in place to facilitate members in carrying out trading. The small market for few companies flourished in Bombay bringing vast wealth to the companies, as also great influence, authority and wealth to its members (brokers).[1] The market saw booms and busts until the American Civil War which b ..read more

[All views expressed here are personal and nothing contained herein reflects the views, opinions and beliefs of any organization.] The Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002) which was set up to inquire into the infamous Harshad mehta scam may be attributed to have first delved into several aspects of investor protection in the securities market that we continue to see the relevance of today. While scams of the magnitude have surfaced less in the recent past, it is admirable that SEBI within this year came out with a consultation paper, which soon was followed with a full-fledged Online Dispute ..read more

[All views expressed here are personal and nothing contained herein reflects the views, opinions and beliefs of any organization.] The Securities Appellate Tribunal (“SAT”) has in its recent order in the matter of Magnum Equity Broking Limited v. National Stock Exchange of India Limited,[1] clarified the interpretation of prohibition under rule 8(3)(f) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 (“SCRR”). The said appeal was filed against an order of the Member and Core Settlement Guarantee Fund Committee (“MCSGFC”) of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (“NSE”) imposing a p ..read more

[All views expressed here are personal and nothing contained herein reflects the views, opinions and beliefs of any organization.] Scams often hide behind complexities, using legitimate transactions of complex nature, later involving less sophisticated individuals who may not be capable of understanding the nature of the transaction or the necessity of the complexity.[1] The popular co-location scam, though complex, may be indicative of a deeper issue in the markets. After all, the underlying controversy was primarily a tussle of preference between trading members ("TMs") of the exchange who ..read more

*All views expressed here are personal and nothing contained herein reflects the views, opinions and beliefs of any organization. At the time of writing this blogpost, the Air Quality breached 500 in some parts of Delhi. To wit, air pollution is not even categorized as an extreme weather event for most research metrics. Despite not accounting for aspects ranging from Air pollution in Delhi to the melting of glacier in the Himalayas, a study has ranked India as seventh most affected country by extreme weather events such as floods, storms and heatwaves.[1] A study conducted by Council on Energ ..read more

[First published at: https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/blog/repo-rate-increased-thrice-in-four-months-an-explainer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=repo-rate-increased-thrice-in-four-months-an-explainer] Recently, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) made several headlines as the monetary policy committee (“MPC”) raised the repo rate, not once but thrice within a four-month period, i.e., May-August, 2022. The repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility or the LAF was raised by 40 basis points by RBI on May 04, 2022, by 50 basis points on June 08, 2022, an ..read more

Adarsh Vijayakumaran is a 3rd year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi On October 19, 2020, Securities Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"), in the exercise of its powers conferred under Section 30 of the SEBI Act issued a notification that retrospectively amended Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003 ("PFUTP)" thereby including fudging of accounts of listed companies as a fraudulent practice related to the securities market. The journey to arr ..read more

Author: Rongeet Poddar is a recent graduate of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata and an incoming associate at a distinguished Indian law firm. The regulation of proxy advisory firms has proven to be a contentious issue in India. On 3rd August 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) has issued ,‘Procedural Guidelines for Proxy Advisors’ to streamline corporate governance practices at listed entities. The voting decisions of institutional investors at shareholder meetings are shaped by the guidance and research analysis received from proxy advisors ..read more

(Authored by Gaurang Mansinghka, Editor) The novel idea of a social stock exchange (‘SSE’) which underlines the notion of financial inclusion was brought to the fore by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union budget speech for the FY 2019-20. Pursuant to her speech, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) had set up a working group which in its report dated June 1, 2020 ("Report") has recommended structures and mechanisms to facilitate fund-raising by social enterprises. This post attempts to highlight and analyse the recommendations made by the working group. Defini ..read more

Madhura Karanth is a fourth-year student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad The recent amendment to SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 passed with the intention of strengthening the regulatory framework for investment advisors (“IAs”) has brought back the focus on SEBI’s continuous efforts towards ensuring a strong investor protection regime coupled with sound corporate governance culture in the securities market arena in the country. SEBI’s consultation paper (“Paper”) on Review of Regulatory Framework for Investment Advisers is essentially a follow-up on its earlier consultati ..read more