Coping with market volatility
October 5, 2015
Collective investment schemes Collective investment schemes: All you wanted to know about…Calls Have you ever been tempted by easy instalment schemes to buy plots of land? Or by the prospect of high returns from growing teak, tending to apple orchards or rearing goats and emus? If you have, you should be warned that such schemes are illegal unless they have registered as collective investment schemes (CIS) with market regulator SEBI. Only last week, SEBI slapped a mammoth fine of Rs. 7,269 crore on PACL (formerly Pearl Agrotech) and its directors for running an illegal CIS which promised high returns from redeveloping barren plots into agricultural land. What is it? According to the Securities Laws (Amendment) Act 2014, a CIS is
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Fund Basics: Know about unified verification system
October 5, 2015
By registering with a KYC registration agency, you can make changes at a single point KYC is an acronym for “Know your Client,” a term commonly used for the client identification process. SEBI has prescribed certain requirements relating to KYC norms for financial institutions and financial intermediaries, including mutual funds. This is in the form of verification of identity and address, obtaining information of financial status, occupation and such other demographic information. With effect from January 2012, SEBI has set out revised KYC norms to make the process uniform across the securities market and introduced a common KYC application form for all SEBI-registered intermediaries, viz. mutual funds, portfolio managers, depository participants, and stock brokers, among others. Investors who have not
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Banks planning a common portal for education loans
August 26, 2015
Students securing admission to recognized higher educational institutions will no longer have to run from pillar to post to get education loans. Banks are planning to provide them a common online platform to streamline the loan application and sanctioning process. The Indian Banks’ Association, on behalf of banks, has engaged a third party service provider for setting up and maintaining the online platform/portal, said a senior Central Bank of India official.. Mapping of colleges Once the portal is up and running, all that a student will need to do is upload details of the admission and make an online loan application to two-three bank branches that have been mapped to each NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) recognized higher educational
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All you wanted to know about… Real Estate Regulation Bill
August 26, 2015
Ever wondered why stocks, mutual funds and insurance investments are all regulated to death, but not property purchases? Well, that’s what the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, seeks to do. Last week, a Parliamentary panel submitted a crucial report on the Bill to the Rajya Sabha. What is it? The Bill seeks to set up a regulatory framework that will govern contracts between real estate buyers and sellers. So far, home buyers were forced to take what they got from builders — one-sided contract terms, delays running into years, cost escalations, arbitrary changes to the plan — you name it. But this bill proposes to put a stop to such practices by setting up of Real Estate Regulatory Authorities
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All you wanted to know about investor education funds
August 26, 2015
Recently, the SEBI chairman expressed his displeasure at half-hearted attempts by some fund houses on conducting investor awareness programmes. But not just SEBI, but other regulators such the RBI and Ministry of Corporate Affairs also require their constituents such as banks, companies and the stock exchanges to do their bit towards educating and protecting investors. What is it? Most institutions which deal with public money are required by law to chip in with investor awareness initiatives. For starters, the NSE and BSE both operate Investor Protection Funds which are funded by contributions from their members (Rs. 15 per Rs.1 crore of gross turnover) and a part of the listing fees and security deposits collected by the exchanges. Two, the MCA
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