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CAG is hiring more than 10,000 accountants and auditors around the country

New Delhi, Dec 12 () Parliament on Thursday passed a bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all financial activities in international financial services centres (IFSCs) in the country.
 The Rajya Sabha passed the bill by a voice vote. The Lok Sabha had approved the proposed legislation on December 11.
 The first IFSC in India has been set up at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
 Speaking in the Upper House, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the authority would also be responsible for regulating any other IFSC centre which comes up in the country in future as well.
 She was responding to Congress member Jairam Ramesh who said the authority has been set up to just cater to one centre in Gandhinagar.
 Sitharaman said all the laws of land, including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, will apply on the centres while adding that the unified authority would be subject audit by the CAG.
 On a separate query she said that all transactions at the centre are going to be in foreign currency and therefore there was no question of rupee convertability.
 Giving details about the operations at Gandhinagar centre, the Finance minister said that two stock exchanges have been set up there and a daily trade volume currently stands at USD 4 billion.
 "Besides, there are 13 international banking units operational there..ECB lending has happened from there," she said, adding that the IT enabled financial services has provided 10,000 jobs at the location. 
 The International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019, was introduced in the Lok Sabha after withdrawal from the Rajya Sabha.
Currently, the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators -- the RBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
The bill amends 14 Acts, including the SEBI Act, the IRDA
Act and the PFRDA Act.
The dynamic nature of business in IFSCs necessitates a high degree of inter-regulatory coordination and it also requires clarifications and frequent amendments in the existing regulations governing financial activities in IFSC.
On the criticism on why it is being set up in Gandhinagar, she said, the Gujarat government had applied for setting up financial sector Special Economic Zone and the approval given by the then Congress-led UPA in 2011.
She also said that there is no limit on how many IFSCs can be set up but others can come up after first centre (GIFT City) becomes fully operational. MSS ANB MR
MR

Parliament passes bill to set up unified body to regulate IFSCs

Mumbai, Dec 16 () Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal on Monday said if the government reduces its stake in public sector companies and banks to 50 per cent, they will work more efficiently.
 Currently there are 14-15 banks and around 40-45 companies in the country where government has a significant stake.
 "Government has no business to be in the business," Agarwal said during a fire chat at the india economic conclave 2019.
 He said his company acquired four government companies and all of them are three times more productive.
 "Today government holds on an average 87 per cent stake in these companies including banks. If they bring down their holding to 50 per cent they will get USD 1 trillion and become much bigger," Agarwal added.
 He further said even if they (government) give up 5-10 per cent stake in each of the companies to the private sector, it will do much better.
 "When we talk to the government (regarding stake sale) they say we will sell the asset. But what I feel is government should not be revenue minded and should go in a very simple manner and let wealth be created," he added.
 Agarwal further said the government is sitting with the largest and best reserves of oil and gas and coal along with gold and diamond and the country is spending around USD 500 billion for import of resources, which will go up to USD 1 trillion.
 "It is not that the government company can't function very well but it is important that they make them free. So companies that are into oil and gas or those like Coal India can be given to someone else.
 "Even government law says if the government control or holding is reduced to 50 per cent then CAG and all other extra audit goes away and the CEO can work independently. Even the stock markets will appreciate such a move. If we can free all our natural resources companies and even the banks, India will have a positive repercussion of this " Agarwal said.
 He emphasised on the need for reduction of bureaucratic interference in the functioning of the businesses.
 "Bureaucracy still has an interference and that should be reduced. Their job is make policy and not execution. They should only make strategy," Agarwal said.
 He further said the government's role is to govern and have a regulator.
 On the issue of environmental concerns, he said, "we are not even 4.5 per cent of what the US is. We are not even polluting as much as they are. I believe self certification is important. We don't want to go to the government but we should self certify ourselves and if the industry violates any norm then we can be penalised for that," he noted.
 Agarwal further added that whenever the government has entrusted the private sector with any responsibility, they have delivered the best be it in case of airports, telecom or even power. PSK AA DRR

Govt has no business to be in business: Agarwal

New Delhi, Dec 11 () The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a
bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all financial activities in international financial services centres (IFSCs) in the country.
 The first IFSC in India was set up at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
 "... we are bringing several regulators together as one unit to the limited extent of dealing with various institutions which are present in the IFSC," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
 The unified authority will act as a single-window for regulating various financial activities in the IFSC, she said.
 All the laws of land, including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, will apply, she said, adding the unified authority which will be independent would be subject audit by the CVC and the CAG.
 Together with this, it will define various financial products including IT enabled services in the financial sector, she said, it has provided 10,000 jobs.
 The government has already given some tax concession to help this centre develop as global financial hub in line with London and Singapore.
 There will tax holiday only for 10 years in the IFSC, she said, adding it will not become a tax haven.
 Replying to concerns raised by members on the economic slowdown, the Finance Minister said, "I am not undermining the challenges (economic). A blip in quarter should not prevent us from setting up the centre."
 On the question of stake of crisis-ridden IL&amp;FS in the GIFT
City, Sitharaman said the Gujarat government wants to take over
the stake in IFSC.
 The Gujarat government has already appointed a new CEO replacing the IL&amp;FS nominee.
 The International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019, was introduced in the Lok Sabha after withdrawal from the Rajya Sabha.
Currently, the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators -- the RBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
The bill seeks to amend 14 Acts, including the SEBI Act, the IRDA
Act and the PFRDA Act.
The dynamic nature of business in IFSCs necessitates a high degree of inter-regulatory coordination and it also requires clarifications and frequent amendments in the existing regulations governing financial activities in IFSC.
On the criticism on why it is being set up in Gandhinagar, she said, the Gujarat government had applied for setting up financial sector Special Economic Zone and the approval given by the then Congress-led UPA in 2011.
She also said that there is no limit on how many IFSCs can be set up but others can come up after first centre (GIFT City) becomes fully operational. PR DP CS MR
MR

LS passes bill to set up unified body to regulate IFSCs

Mumbai, Feb 22 () India has some distance to go in fully shifting from pro-crony to pro-business policies, Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian said on Saturday. It will be the pro-business policies that will enable the "invisible hands of the market" and also take the country to the goal of USD 5 trillion GDP, he added. "Pro-business policies are those that enable fair competition in the country. We have some distance to go in terms of enabling that fully. Pro-crony policies on the other hand just help incumbents and that is something that we have to stay away from in enabling the invisible hands of the market," he said at an alumni conference of his alma mater IIT-Kanpur here. Indian policymaking has been criticised for favouring crony capitalists in the initial decades after Independence, till the country shifted gears by adopting liberalisation in 1991. Subramanian said after the CAG's report on telecom spectrum allocations came out in 2011, investor returns from "connected companies", a euphemism for crony firms, have been very low as compared to the broader indices. The problem with cronyism is that it is not better business models and processes which drive the growth, he said, adding that we should always aim for "creative destruction" where the incumbents are challenged. In a critique of the dominant policy choices in the initial decades after Independence, Subramanian said "the tryst with socialism did not deliver the tryst with destiny", referring to first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's famous speech when India attained freedom. He also made a strong case for not depending only on recent work in economics to make policy choices and neglecting age-old texts like the Arthashastra. "Scholarly work isn't something that was written in the last 100 years but dates back millennia," he said. The Arthashastra stresses on ethical ways of creating wealth, he said, adding that we need to focus on creating trust in the markets as well. If governance standards have to be increased in the country, there has to be a greater focus on disclosing related-party transactions, the CEA said. The comments come in the wake of frauds like the one at non-bank lender DHFL. The Union Budget's thrust on 'Assemble in India' should not be seen as substitute to the government's flagship 'Make in India' programme, but as a complementary aspect which will act as a precursor to other goals, he said. On the focus on 'Assemble in India', Subramanian cited the case of Suzuki's entry into the country in 1980s and the developments in the auto sector since then to illustrate that simple assembly of parts to make a car is a precursor to manufacturing and also intellectual property creation. Pointing out to the recently released Economic Survey, he said over four crore well-paying jobs can be created in the country by 2025 by focusing on assembling for the world, and the same can go up to eight crore by 2030. Asked about the Budget's thrust on imposing tariffs on certain sectors and how it has been criticised as being protectionist by some, Subramanian said we need to make a distinction between duties that are imposed on finished products against those on raw materials or intermediate goods which hurt exports. "We need to move towards far more open trade policies on intermediate goods and raw materials to enable exports," he told reporters. To a question on external member of the Monetary Policy Committee Chetan Ghate's pitch for more structural reforms, Subramanian said all measures like rate cuts and reforms work with a lag and we should allow time for their benefits to accrue. AA ABMABM

India needs pro-business, not pro-crony policies, says CEA

Globally renowned economist <keyword id="6358908" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="raghuram-rajan">Raghuram Rajan</keyword>’s latest lecture at the Brown University is being used by the opposition in India to slam the government for its majoritarian approach while the supporters of the Narendra Modi administration are trolling the former governor of the <keyword id="6354335" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="reserve-bank-of-india">Reserve Bank of India</keyword> (RBI) for an alleged political attack on the government. The fact of the matter is Rajan pointed out both the flaws and positives of the Modi regime in India and shared some ideas on how the currently sagging economy can be revived and put back on a high-growth path. “Let us not dismiss some of the good things that the Modi government did…. Consumption growth supported by borrowings and transfers as well as the household measures like the free cooking gas, really gave the people a sense that they were better off; despite the fact, unlike NDA-I, there were few deep reforms that liberalised growth and markets,” Rajan said in his lecture on October 12. “But what the Modi administration did in economic performance, it is not sustainable. And therefore, unless it changes we’re going to have problems down the line,” he added. So what is it that the government can do to improve India’s economic growth. Here’s Rajan’s “wishlist”, as he called them, in his own words. <ol><li>We need to further move to de-politicise appointments of leadership at democractic institutions and reduce interference/intervention in their functioning. There is no more important institution than the Supreme Court but also investigative agencies like the CBI, CAG, CVC, CIC including the vice chancellors of different universities.Universities are an important source of independent ideas and to politicise appointments there is to reduce the flow of ideas to what is more politically convenient. </li><li>There is a need to go back to the path devolving funding from the Centre to the states but also from the states to the local bodies. The states have also been remiss in pushing funding to the local bodies. It is important that we not only devolve funding but also devolve powers. It will allow the people to hold the government accountable. The more localised it is, the more we can see what the government is doing and can object. Local police paid by local funds will be much more sensitive to local needs than for example the local police that is employed by the state and responds to commands from the state capital rather than the locals. </li><li>There is no point in offering more stimulus in the economy if the stressed sectors-- real estate, construction, banking, non-banking financial firms-- hold back any possible economic growth. There is a need, in such stress situations, for the government to come in through the regulator, look through the balance sheets of these companies, figure out which ones can be saved and which one cannot be, and figure out a way for the ones that cannot be saved to be put them in some form of receivership so that they don’t serve as an overhang in the market. This is the classic game plan for distressed situations even if it involves private sector firms so long as these can be systemic. Given that non-banking financial firms are 17% of the economy, you can’t avoid doing this. If you keep avoiding it, eventually the problems will spread more widely. Unless the government is completely sure that each one of these stressed companies is isolated from the rest of the system, it is extremely important that you do that ‘search and rescue’. Providing <keyword id="6355375" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Liquidity">liquidity</keyword> is not enough. Release the stressed assets, like unsold apartments for example, into the market at a reasonable pace. Some of the decisions are going to be arbitrary, some of them are going to be the source for future governments to accuse you of shenanigans and investigate the process and send the CBI etc after you. But this is governance, and it is about taking hard decisions. You can make it as transparent as you can. </li><li>Improve the functioning of the factor markets -- land, labour, finance, regulations. India has workers who you can hire and fire at any time -- they have no rights whatsoever -- and those permanent labour who have all the rights and you can’t fire them. We have both those and nothing in the middle. India would be better off if it would ‘grandfather’ those guys who have permanent jobs, but find a way to move the guys with temporary jobs, contractual jobs to more security by giving them multi-year contracts and building up their stake in the firm by, for example, increasing severance pay over time. There are things you can do to improve labour markets even while adding more flexibility-- things that would improve job security. Not everyone will have a permanent job but it would give people much better than what they have today, which is really contractual uncertainty. One of the biggest stumbling blocks in India is acquiring land. We are a democracy and we need to acquire it in a fair way, which gives the person who sells the land substantial revenues in the future e.g. land sharing agreements. Take 5 acres, develop all 5 and give back 2 acres to the farmer or whoever you have taken it from. Many of these work but we need to find the best practices here and not get stuck in an equilibrium where we can’t buy the land-- the land that the farmer actually wants to sell. But we can’t buy it because we can’t agree on a price that is reasonable and not subject to political intervention later. </li><li>Prune some regulations while improving others. There are some areas where we are under regulated. If you see the way houses are built in hill stations, we will know that whatever zoning laws we have don’t seem to function there. </li><li>Reduce the public sector presence. Part of the reason why governments in India have so much power is because they control financing. 70% of the banking system is in the hands of the government, there are also a number of state-owned companies, the Life Insurance Corporation is under the thumb of the government. When you have so many ways to favour some and dis-favouring others, it is a temptation for any government. It is a source which can affect people’s actions.We need to reduce this as it will make India far more democratic and also far more amenable to growth. </li><li>Keep tariffs relatively low, keep them relatively predictable, that will bring more foreign direct investment. We need to focus on making India more export competitive but we can focus not just on manufacturing but non-traditional exports like education. Improving our educational institutions and getting students from the rest of the world would be a way of exporting. Similarly, healthcare. We can provide doctors to the rest of the world. Why not export Indian services by getting patients to come to India. That means make their experience much easier. Tourism is, of course, a big service factor. Even for manufacturing exports, we need a more transparent, institutionalised process for changing regulations and tariffs on investors. Today, it’s on a whim and can be changed overnight. This was a complaint that Amazon and Walmart had. They thought they were buying into a particular regime and started investing on that basis and the rules changed on them overnight. We need a more transparent process for this. If we move towards a government with more checks and balances and a more market-driven economy, not only will the private sector become more efficient and independent, it will become a more of a check on the government, like in this country (US). I am not saying that the private sector in this country (US) is perfect. I am just saying, in industrial countries there is a power that is independent of the government, that is the private sector and that is a good thing. Without stronger growth, distributive policies, which have been quite effective, will overwhelm revenues, driving the economy into a hard corner. </li><li>Ignore fiscal deficit at your own peril. There is sometimes a sense in India that fiscal deficit doesn’t matter-- let’s spend more. That would be disastrous. One of the things that India has done well over the last few decades has been to run a reasonably tight ship. There have been populist pressures but we have reversed them in times of trouble. For example, the efforts taken in 2012 to reduce spending and deficits protected the Indian economy during the ‘taper tantrum’ by the US in 2013.</li></ol>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/narendra-modi-pmeac-comments-on-indias-economic-slowdown/articleshow/70954078.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Here’s what Narendra Modi’s closest advisors have been saying about economic slowdown</a>

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