NSEL crisis may have 'minor systemic' implications: Report
[Editor: The government and the regulator fails to stop this kind of major crisis, but focuses on things which are not that important, like preventing some scrip listed in the BSE / NSE from moving up in tandem with other scrips; whereas they can promote a 22% plus rise Yes Bank or a 20% plus rise in some other stocks listed in the F&O, in a day ! This is ridiculous and shows how a faulty system has been placed to give favours to the shareholders of some companies, while for others it is denied. Besides, some scrips are suddenly shifted to the T-group, without citing any reasons.
These are simply Tughlak-ian type management by a group of people, who neither have any vision nor any intellect. Moreover, this market has been made a big JOKE by the government of India and its watchdogs. The result is that trading is limited to few stocks only, while many other scrips are languishing near 52-week or near all time lows. Why is this government which has brought India to its knees is still clinging on to power? They should resign en-mass and call for fresh elections. This is perhaps one of the rare cases, in the history of world where a former RBI governor and an economist performed so badly. Shame upon Dr.Manmohan Singh. If I were in his place I would have left the job long back, instead of getting daily brick-bats from both friends and foes. At least I have normal human skin, not an elephant or a rhino-hide. I feel any person who believes in self-respect would do what I said.
Now First Post in an article published under the heading, "Is Chidambaram our next Muhammad bin Tughlaq" on 10th September, 2012, writes: "Every schoolboy has heard of Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s early exploits with debased coinage. Our history texts tell us that the Delhi Sultan (reign: 1325-51AD) issued brass and copper coins to people against gold and silver in the treasury in what was one of the world’s first experiments with fiat currency. The idea was to enable easier commerce with cheaper coins representing underlying gold and silver. But the new copper coins were so easy to forge that the sultanate saw a deluge of counterfeit tokens that Tughlaq’s treasury had to exchange for gold and silver. He almost ruined the sultanate’s finances with this experiment. Now, cut to the world as it now exists. There are Tughlaqs all over, from Ben Bernanke of the US Fed to Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank to our own Reserve Bank and finance ministry led by P Chidambaram"]
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| Manmohan Bin Tughlaq. Photo: News Laundry |
Finance ministry officials are understood to have called Financial Technologies promoter Jignesh Shah to understand if he has any solution to the problem in mind, before finalising the report.
The Mayaram panel on Friday took up reports of the two sub-groups—one headed by Chakrabarty and another by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). On Wednesday as well, the ministry deliberated on two reports.
While a sub-committee headed by the RBI deputy governor was to give recommendations on systemic impact of the NSEL crisis, the other one was to see whether there was any violation of laws.
While the Chakrabraty sub-committee did not find broader systemic repercussions of the crisis, the enforcement directorate alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act.
Now, the Mayaram panel, constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office, will finalise its report based on these two reports and is likely to suggest various actions. These be taken by the ED and RBI.
Meanwhile, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) may decide whether promoters of Financial Technologies meet the fit-and-proper criteria.
A merger between FMC and The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is also being considered, but it would not happen soon. “It can’t happen at the peak of the crisis,” an official said.
FMC was shifted to the finance ministry from the ministry of consumer affairs recently. The finance ministry insisted it could not take any action as FMC is not under it. The issue remained whether FMC would be merged with Sebi or be a separate entity. For the time being, it is to be retained as a separate entity.
The government might consider streamlining the norms for commodities and capital markets, regulated by FMC and Sebi, respectively, to plug regulatory gaps. The idea is to make the regulations governing commodity derivatives markets much more stringent and bring these at par with those applicable for Sebi-regulated capital markets.
NSEL, part of Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies group, is grappling with a payment crisis for settling dues to the tune of Rs 5,500-crore and had to suspend trading activities on July 31 after a government directive.
Courtesy: The Business Standard
