नरेंद्र नाथन

How Sebi can control ‘tips’ on social media

On October 7, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a consultation paper on amendments clarifications to the Sebi (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013. Though it contained several points, Sebi’s plan to curb...

Do not underestimate your opponents

Before announcing the recall of Rs 500 and 1,000 notes on November 8, the government had given enough warning to black-money hoarders as part of the first income disclosure scheme (IDS) that ended on September...

Conflict of interest coming back via onboarding fees

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) continues with its efforts to segregate mutual fund advisory and distribution functions. A recent discussion paper, where the public can give views till November 4, is the...

Sebi is only protecting investor interest

It is really sad that the Sebi chairman has to come out and say that Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) is not against the interest of mutual fund industry or its distributors. If...

The dilemma: To invest directly in stocks or not

The argument, whether retail investors should get into stock market directly or through mutual fund route, is not a new one. There is no ready answer to this question because both options have its own...

Clean up the employees’ pension scheme

Though a majority of organised workers are covered under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995, there is still very low transparency level. Many readers might not have even heard about it because EPS is not...

Govt must control unauthorised gold deposits

Some large jewellers have either stopped or modified their gold deposits schemes after new Companies Act put restrictions on them. This is because the new Act has brought ‘gold deposits’ by jewellers also at par...

Financial regulators must enforce rules and not just educate investors

Finally, financial regulators have started coming together for investor protection and the launch of a dedicated site for this by RBI (ie http://sachet.rbi.org. in/) is the latest example for this. In addition to giving a...

Time to allow more trading options for domestic investors

Indian stock exchanges are proactive and are introducing several strategy indices. However, Sebi is reluctant in allowing trading on most of them. And this is despite the fact that trading has already started on these...

Protect financial inclusion buyers from mis-sellers

Government’s financial inclusion drive has started yielding results. With more than 22.37 crore accounts, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has already provided access to banking services to more than 15% of unbanked population. More importantly,...

How to compute returns for your investments

Computing returns is very easy from investment products like bank FD, RD, EPF, PPF, etc. All you need to consider is the series of investments made along with final money received and then, compute annualised...

How to make credit rating agencies more responsible

Market regulator Sebi has decided to make credit rating agencies more accountable after the recent Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) and Amtek Auto rating fiascos. Though credit rating agencies may have their own reasons, investors...

Government backtracks on small-savings rate reforms

Recently, the NDA government has initiated two major reforms on small savings rates. First one was to implement a link between small savings rates and yields on corresponding government securities. Though this linkage was there...

ULIP in India: A good concept hit by mis-selling

Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) is one of the most abused financial products in India now. However, ULIP, where you get the insurance and investment together, was not a bad word earlier. Unit Trust of...

How to stop mis-selling by bank branches

Recently, RBI deputy governor SS Mundra warned banks that RBI will take action if they didn’t stop mis-selling third-party products. Banks do mis-selling at two levels. First, bank employees persuade you to buy a product...

Time to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes

Increased currency in circulation is a burning issue we are facing now. As on April 29, total value of currency in circulation has reached Rs 16.50 lakh crore, an increase of 15.32% compared to same...

Another welcome move on NPS to make it more user-friendly

The government has made another move to make the national pension system (NPS) more user-friendly. And the government employees will be allowed to choose their own NPS fund managers. As of now, the government employees...

Standardise return assumptions in MF illustrations

Investors’ interest comes first for Sebi, and therefore it is well ahead of other financial market regulators on issues related to investor protection. However, it is lagging behind the insurance regulator, IRDA, on two fronts....

Reduce the expense ratio of direct plans

Since their introduction in January 2013, direct plans have made major inroads. The main reason for this, of course, is the low expense ratio. Since investors approach a mutual fund directly, no commission is paid...

Need to impose MCLR on NBFCs and HFCs as well

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) on banks from April 1. MCLR is a major improvement on the previous base rate system. First, banks never...

Sebi’s next frontier: Mutual fund consolidation

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has ‘restarted’ its push for consolidation of mutual fund schemes. Instead of coming out with detailed regulations, Sebi is trying to achieve this objective indirectly by putting pressure...

Disclosure norms for new mutual fund commission: Ball in IRDA court

And as usual, discussion about ‘new mutual fund commission disclosure norms imposed by Sebi’ has turned its direction and became a chorus against insurance industry and its regulator, IRDA. One mutual fund CEO even asked...

A bold move from Sebi on mutual funds disclosures

Finally, Sebi has taken the ‘bold step’ and asked mutual funds to disclose commissions they pay to distributors, including gifts and sponsorships. I am using the word ‘finally’ here because Sebi’s efforts to implement this...

PFRDA should allow SWPs in lieu of annuities

Despite making 40% withdrawal at the time of retirement tax free in the recent Budget, there is no reduction in investors’ anger against the National Pension Scheme (NPS). This anger is more among the first...

Roll back EPF changes or allow free withdrawal

Subscribers of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) are really upset with the recent changes in rules. First, the government gazetted a notification on February 10 saying that EPF subscribers can withdraw the employers’ contribution only at...

Time has come to treat all pension products equally

India doesn’t have a social security system in place, so we are forced to save for our retirement through various products provided for that. However, investors are confused now because there is no taxation parity...

Retail Dilemma: To time or not to time market

By Narendra Nathan  Should equity investors try to time the market? If you are a direct equity investor, answer is an emphatic yes and you may be doing it already. For example, you are doing...

Divestment on regular basis key to meeting target

The central government is staring at a failed divestment programme in this financial year too. Compared to an ambitious target of Rs 69,500 crore, the total money raised in this financial year is only Rs 13,300...

Why ETFs need to be saved from clutches of manipulators

Fall in volumes is a common phenomenon in bear markets, but evaporating volumes is a dangerous sign. And this is precisely what is happening with trading volumes of exchange traded funds (ETF) now. Since only...

Bring standard deduction back for the salaried

Ten years ago, then finance minister P Chidambaram did a great injustice to salaried class by withdrawing standard deduction available under the head income from salary. Standard deduction as a concept has been there from...

For sake of investor interest, mutual fund distributors should ditch their anger

Mutual fund distributors are the ‘angry birds’ of the financial services industry now. They are angry with market regulator Sebi for challenging their business plans by introducing direct plan for mutual fund schemes and by...

Why Modi government should stop selling gold coins

With great fanfare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced three gold schemes on November 5 — the Gold Monetisation Scheme, the Sovereign Gold Bond and the India Gold Coin. The Gold Monetisation Scheme aims to mobilise...

Instead of micromanaging mutual funds, Sebi & AMFI should work towards reducing overall expense ratio

Mutual fund regulator Sebi and industry body AMFI are now at loggerheads with several asset management companies (AMCs) on three issues. The first contentious issue is the ‘high salary structure’ of key functionaries (like CEO,...

EPFO money: Give subscribers choice to invest

With the stock market in a correction mode, the contentious issue of whether the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) should invest part of their corpus in stock market has flared up once again. The government...

Small savings need rule-based rate regime

The ‘reduce small savings rates’ chorus has increased its decibel levels once again. Speaking at the post credit policy news conference, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has also reiterated his demand that...