credit rating symbols

The era of confusing rating symbols by different rating agencies like CRISIL, ICRA, CARE etc. are now passe. SEBI has mandated that all rating symbols used by different rating agencies should be uniform. This covers long term and short term debt products, structured finance instruments and mutual fund schemes.

This is good news for investors because we don't need to find out how FAAA is different from CAAA+ and so on.

For existing outstanding schemes, the rating agencies need to disclose the new rating symbols and their meanings in their websites, and inform their clients about the change implying no change in their ratings.

promoter shareholding in demat mode

SEBI had vide its circular dated 2nd September 2010 stipulated that in order for a company's shares to be traded in the normal segment, it should achieve at least 50% non-promoter shareholding in dematerialised mode and also maintained the same on continuous basis. If companies do not fulfill this criteria their shares will be traded on a trade for trade segment.

Now SEBI has issued another circular dated 17th June 2011 stipulating requirement of at least 100% promoter shareholding in demat mode by 30th September 2011. Where companies do not fulfill this condition, their shares would be traded in the trade to trade segment and not in the normal segment.

The above moves by SEBI has been done with a view of increasing transparency in the market besides better price discovery.

SEBI circular is available on the website here

Name change by listed companies

SEBI has vide its circular dated 16th June 2011 amended the requirements to be complied with in the case of name change by listed entities. Hitherto 50% of the revenue for the last 1 year should have been accounted for from the new activity before name change was allowed. However in the case of long projects where the gestation period is longer, this requirement was difficult to be met with. Hence SEBI has modified the stipulations to state that amount invested in the new activity in the form of fixed assets, advances and work in progress should be at least 50% of the total assets of the company. A clarification has been added that advances should only be in respect of the new activity. The company needs to submit auditors certificate to the exchange showing compliance of the stipulations. It may be added that the earlier condition of 50% of revenue has been retained along with the new stipulation. So company opting for name change has option to fulfill any one of the conditions. SEBI circular is available on its website here

tempo run

20 minutes tempo run today in between 15 mins each of warm up and cool down - sheer blinding rain today with very strong head winds - almost toppled me backwards - sharp prickly rains were giving free acupunture treatment to my face - first time i am doing tempo run this season - therefore start with low tempo - need to progress that in the coming weeks - total 7.5 kms in 52.24 mins

11th Bandra-NCPA group run

After yesterday's full day heavy rains - we were like exultant children out to have ice-cream; running in the rains is after all one of the greatest pleasures of mankind. The day started with myself, Bhasker and Dhanraj assembling at  Khar road station at the unearthly hour of 5.20 a.m. when the auto-rickshaw drivers standing there were sort of amused by people in their chaddies, pata nahi kya karne wale hai.  We started off sharp at 5.30 a.m. without waiting for unnikrishnan who was late by about 3 minutes – I remarked that the humidity is still a factor despite the rains and this was evident in the first km itself. We were sweating profusely even before reaching bandra. At first the pace was quite good with bhasker dropping to our pace. Just after the bandra masjid we espied Rebecca streaming past in her long strides as if out to break the world record. It was great to watch her running by. Radhika sauntering by on the opposite side of the road just after bandra causeway and then she came on to our side of the road and bingo bhasker got company for his pace. We i.e. myself and dhanraj dropped to a more comfortable pace, but it was still a good pace to maintain. First pee break at shivaji park – pace dropped slightly but going well – first water break was to be at a small hotel just after siddhivinayak, unfortunately it was not open today – damn! Now I have to drop worli sea face to take the next water break at mela restaurant. Missed the water break at mela because I thought it would be on the left side of the road, whereas it was positioned on the right side, damn again! Now I have to stop at haji ali juice centre, which we did had a watermelon juice and replenished water stocks – enough till the end. Before that the stretch from near the bus stand to haji ali was very difficult with very strong head winds slowing me down considerably. Pedder road climb was comfortably done – and just after finishing the difficult portions of pedder road, Milton came by ostensibly in a bus having seen me running got down and joined me from there. He was battling a cold so wisely did a truncated run today. We were comfortably ambling along and turned into marine drive, where I decided to take a second pee break at the public toilet opp Wilson college. Milton went ahead – I decided to run most easy pace and take in the sights of the magnificient marine drive – it was definitely high tide today morning, but the winds which I encountered at haji ali had died down here – the seas were rough but the water was just managing to keep down – there were no water sprays. Just about half a km to reach NCPA Giles comes by and we start pumping up the pace till we were like sprinting down to the end. It was great fun – more than 35 runners today – many from new Bombay – went down to the stadium restaurant near churchgate station had bhurji pav and irani chai and went home to a satisfying morning.

Fast Track Exit Scheme for companies

When MCA had come out with a draft suggestion paper on requirement of companies to file their annual accounts before filing any event based filings, they had invited comments from stakeholders. I had made a suggestion that companies should have the facility of closing down if they are not doing any business and this should be available on the tap for all such companies. It seems MCA has accepted this suggestion and made available a scheme for easy exit of companies which are not doing any business for the last one year or which has not done any business since its incorporation/ inception and this is available on tap across any period without any closure time limit. Circular no. 36/2011 dated 7th June 2011 has been issued by MCA in this regard, which is available on the MCA portal viz. www.mca.gov.in



Listed companies, however cannot take advantage of this Scheme as also companies where the promoters are fighting amongst each other, among other exceptions to the Scheme. Of course there are the usual conditions such as no asset, no liability, no secured loan, no government tax dues etc. and documentary requirements such as statement of account, affidavit, indemnity bond etc. Fees has been hiked to Rs.5000/- per application, which I would say, is quite okay to get a company off your shoulders.



Scheme conditions are quite okay, so it would be in the interest of companies and their promoters, who are not doing any business in such companies or which has been incorporated and kept idle without doing any business to bury the company by following this procedure. Hithertho, conditions were more onerous such as the previous one required no business rule from 2008 onwards and even otherwise the provisions of liquidation of a company is quite cumbersome in Indian company law.

duplicate ration card

Got a chance to make a duplicate ration card yesterday – quite an experience – first we had to go to the ration office to get a form, understand the formalities, then rush to a lawyer’s office to make an affidavit stating the facts that the ration card was lost, giving details of the family members mentioned in the lost ration card, date of loss, place of loss, signed & notarized – all done quick time by the eager and willing lawyers – bless them. Next step, had to make a dash to the local police station to get a F.I.R registered – again they needed the affidavit, so had to make a second trip to collect the affidavit and submit to the police station. The police station guys were grumbling about work pressure but still they made out a form for us in about 15 minutes (that’s fast!) and had to give a rs.100 note to the person who made the document. Next step go to the ration shop to get their signatures – this was in a filthy, decrepit place, overflowing with garbage (probably not seen by municipal workers for the past five decades -). Done that, form submitted to the ration office, stand in a queue, got in touch with somebody inside the office who promised to help. Now wait for the duplicate to arrive in about a month’s time.  

BMS Syllabus

Had a look at the BMS syllabus from the prospectus booklets bought by my daughter for her college admissions - a look at the subjects and i am zapped - there are about 36 subjects to be covered in six semesters - subjects as varied as Business Law, Managerial Economics, Operations Research, Environmental Management, Strategic Management, Retail Management, Logistics & Supply Chain management, Business Ethics & CSR, Co-operatives & Rural Markets and Entrepreneurship and Management of Small and Medium Enterprises among others. The usual culprits such as finance, cost management, accounts, quantitative methods are all there as well - This looks like an absolutely fabulous course - a crunching tough one too. There are project works and Electives in the last two semesters. Looks like a winner to me, not sure how corporates treat this for employment purposes.

Two Brothers

"Two Brothers" is a beautiful movie about tigers - the brothers are the tiger cubs who lose their parents to poachers and who are separated -  they are re-united to fight in an open arena - it is a beautifully shot movie, a must watch for tiger lovers