SMALL INVESTORS FORUM

*Sebi bans investment advisors from providing free trials of services* • RIAs must display complaints against them on their own websites and can only accept payments through banking channels • The new rules can also put RIAs at a disadvantage against mutual fund distributors in the mutual fund space The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a circular on December 27, 2019, banning SEBI Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) from giving free trials of their services to customers or accepting part payments for their services. It also laid down that RIAs can only give advice after conducting risk profiling of clients. RIAs must display complaints against them on their own websites and can only accept payments through banking channels. Registered Investment Advisors are a type of intermediary created by SEBI in 2013. They are authorized to give investment advice on all types of financial products in return for a fee. “The SEBI regulations are aimed at curbing the a...

The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was placed before the Parliament on 25 th  July, 2019.  While the Bill, 2019 is largely to enact into Parliamentary law the provisions already promulgated by way of Presidential Ordinance, the Bill also brings some interesting changes. The key feature of the Bill is to replace the existing system of judicial prosecution for offences by a departmental process of imposition of penalties. As a result, while the monetary burden on companies may go up, but offenders will not be having to face criminal courts and the stigma attached with the same. Some of the other highlights of the changes are as follows: Dematerialisation of securities may now be enforced against private companies too It is notable that amendments were made by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017 effective from 10 th  September, 2018 effective from 2 nd  October, 2018, whereby all public unlisted companies were required to ensure that the issue and tra...

ALERT CITIZENS FORUM OF INDIA A7/303, Saket CHS LTD., Thane (W) 400601 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- November 6, 2019 Shri Amitbhai Shah ji, National President, Bharatiya Janata Party. Respected Sir, We know that this is not your subject as Home Minister. However, this letter is addressed to you as the National President of the party with the confidence that you will pursue this matter with the concerned and help provide relief to lakhs of people in the country. Sir, the last big change in the maximum limit of deposit insurance cover for depositors in Banks was made in the early years of liberalisation in 1993 when the insurance cover of all deposits from savings to term deposits was increased from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh . The objective was to provide comfort to depositors that their deposits up to Rs 1 lakh are safe in case the bank goes bust. However, 26 years on, the limit h...

For Favour of Publicity The Alert Citizens Forum of India (ACF) has welcomed the Relief package announced by the Governor of Maharashtra for farmers whose crops have been damaged by unseasonal rains. Dayanand Nene, President of the ACF said that all people should understand that this is a initial relief given and once a proper govt is installed in the state, additional relief can be given. He asked the political parties to refrain from playing dirty politics with the farmers and said that the entire blame of the given situation rests on the shoulders of all political leaders. It is their greed and lust for power which has put the state in this difficult situation. The Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari after talking stock of the damage to crops caused by unseasonal rains during October and November, today announced initial financial relief to the affected farmers. A relief of Rs 8,000 per hectare up to two hectares for agricultural Kharif crops and relief of Rs ...

ALERT CITIZENS FORUM OF INDIA A7/303, Saket CHS LTD, Thane West, 400601. November 14, 2019 The Hon. Governor, Maharashtra State. Walkeshwar Road, Mumbai 400 035. Sub: Appointment of an OSD immediately to handle emergency financial aid from the Chief Ministers Relief Fund. Respected Sir, Due to the on-going deadlock between political parties in Maharashtra, the President’s rule came into effect in the state on Tuesday, November 12, 2019.  This has led to many repercussions, one of which is the temporary closure of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund office. A notice has been put out on the door stating, Chief Minister Relief Fund office is closed, don’t make any inquiries. (Photo attached). Patients who had come from far off places, with a hope to receive financial aid from the CM relief fund, had to return empty-handed. This will affect several patients in the state who desperately need this aid to help treat certain diseases. ...

SMALL INVESTORS FORUM A7/303, Saket CHS LTD., Thane (W) 400601 November 19, 2019. Sub: Suggestion to give full Insurance Cover to deposit holders in Banks. Respected Madam, It is Good news that the Govt plans to increase the Deposit Insurance Cover for depositors in Banks from Rs.1 Lakh.   However, how much will it be ? It may be increased from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.3 lakhs or Rs.5 lakhs - but what above that?  Today, Senior citizens and Co-operative housing societies,  Co-operative Credit societies are depositing lakhs of rupees in Co-operative banks to get more interest.  What would they do if system again went wrong? Our suggestions are us under: (These have been arrived at after discussing with experts) 1. IRDA should come out with a Deposit linked Insurance product with no cap. 2. Under this, every rupee put in Fixed Deposit will get Insurance cover on a minimum yearly premium.  The tariff of the rate or premi...

*Sebi imposes ₹40 lakh penalty on Indore based investment advisory firm* Text messages, emails or calls from firms in Indore offering stock tips are one of the most common types of spam communications that Indians receive. In a rare instance however, market regulator Sebi has acted against one such firm – Indore based StarIndia Market Research, imposing a penalty of ₹40 lakh on the firm. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) framed a detailed set of rules – the SEBI (Investment Advisors) Regulations in 2013 in order to ensure that customers are treated fairly and offered products suited to their risk profile. However the persistence of stock tip operators and get-rich-quick advisors seemed to indicate that the rules existed on paper only. The regulator’s order in case of StarIndia shows that it is getting serious about enforcing them. According to Sebi’s adjudication order, StarIndia committed 3 types of violations. First it advised high risk products to people who were n...

Crackdown on fraudulent, misleading companies giving share market tips; SEBI bars these websites Certain individuals create unregistered investment advisory websites periodically and lure investors by promising assured monthly income to them. Making money in the stock market or finding a multi-bagger is what many investors dream of. There’s nothing wrong in it. However, when it is not backed by self-driven research and is rather based on tips from friends, colleagues or entities with vested interests, it may even end up with a huge loss of capital. Market regulator SEBI keeps receiving complaints and grievances from investors about certain investment advisory websites cheating them of their money. The modus operandi of such unregistered investment advisory websites is simple – Make investors subscribe to their investment packages and then run away with the money. The investors are promised huge returns and the websites typically use terms such as ‘zero loss’, ‘jackpot’, ‘rumo...

  ALERT CITIZENS FORUM OF INDIA A7/303, Saket CHS LTD., Thane (W) 400601 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------- November 6, 2019 The Hon. Finance Minister, Govt. of India, New Delhi 110 001. Respected Madam, The last big change in the maximum limit of deposit insurance cover was made in the early years of liberalisation in 1993 when the insurance cover of all deposits from savings to term deposits was increased from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh . The objective was to provide comfort to depositors that their deposits up to Rs 1 lakh are safe in case the bank goes bust. However, 26 years on, the limit has not been revised again despite the law having provision for a higher insurance cover.  It is high time for the government to fix a higher limit (at least Rs 5 lakh) to protect the interest of depositors. Here's why: Revision is long overdue Today, it's common for most account holders to have a deposit more than Rs 1 lakh . Th...

Employees earning more than Rs. 15,000 in basic wages plus dearness allowance will not be affected Only allowances that are variable and linked to the employee’s efforts, such as overtime allowance, can be excluded, the court said. EPF deduction According to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act, 1952, 12% of an employee’s basic salary and dearness allowance has to be invested into EPF and the employer needs to invest an equal sum. For example, if your basic salary and dearness allowance add up to  ₹ 12,000, your employer has to deduct  ₹ 1,440 towards PF every month and match it with  ₹ 1,440 from its own pocket. Both these amounts are, typically, a part of the cost to company (CTC). If you earn more than  ₹ 15,000 per month in basic salary plus dearness allowance, employers can limit the PF deduction to 12% of  ₹ 15,000 (  ₹ 1,800) under the proviso to Para 26A of the Employees Provident Fund Scheme, 1952. This also brings down th...

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Naveen Sinha ruled that employers cannot segregate 'special allowance' from basic wages for purpose of PF deductions. The apex court has ruled that employers cannot segregate 'special allowance' from basic wages for purpose of PF deductions. The Supreme Court has passed an order on Provident Fund (PF) calculation that will have far-reaching impact on companies and the salaried class. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Naveen Sinha yesterday ruled that employers cannot segregate 'special allowance' from basic wages for purpose of PF deductions. The court was hearing a clutch of appeals questioning whether "the special allowances paid by an establishment to its employees would fall within the expression "basic wages" under Section 2(b)(ii) read with Section 6 of the Act for computation of deduction towards Provident Fund". Note that employers and employees both contribute 12% of wages in EPF. Un...

The apex court in its judgement has ruled that special allowance is part of the basic wages for computing the employees provident fund. After the Supreme Court held that special allowance is part of basic wages for EPF dues computation, retirement fund body EPFO has decided to take a stringent action against those firms which will not take into account such component in PF contributions. The apex court in its judgement has ruled that special allowance is part of the basic wages for computing the employees provident fund (EPF). The employer as well as employee pay 12 per cent of basic wages each towards contribution for social security scheme run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). "Following the judgement, the EPFO will take stringent action against firms which would not factor in special allowance for computation of EPF contributions. The body is studying the judgement and would soon come out with a detailed plan to implement the judgement," a ...

Reposting my article on Demonetisation written 2 years ago: Understanding Demonetisation: 99% currency coming back into banking system is actually measure of its success, not failure Where the demonetisation debate turns bizarre is when self professed well-informed critics take a single data point, like return of 99 percent of devalued currency, and argue that this signifies "utter failure of the motive" and hence demonetization has failed. This attempt to base a sweeping judgement on a single matrix is being done by that section of the elite upper class and / or leftovers - who suffer from a reflexive derision of Modi, and wouldn't budge from making a political point in the garb of economic prudence. Their problem with Modi is essentially that they are no match to him. Let us analyse their core argument and see how it is flawed. First, nowhere did the government make any definitive claim that a huge amount of devalued currency would never return, much less mention...