Category: Infographic

Meet Dattatreya Hosable: The new RSS General Secretary

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has elected Dattatreya Hosabale as the ‘Sarkaryawah’ or General Secretary of the Sangh. He has been promoted from Sah-Sarkaryawah or Joint General Secretary on Saturday. He will lead the Sangh in 2024 Lok Sabha elections and RSS centenary celebrations in 2025.

Hosabale will replace Suresh Joshi, the 73-year-old incumbent who assumed the role for the fourth time in 2018.

The decision was taken after the elections that took place at the two-day annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS). This sabha is the annual meeting of the topmost leaders of RSS.

Here is a brief profile of new RSS General Secretary:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global arms industry: A deep dive into the world’s largest importers & exporters of arms

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United States of America remained the world’s largest exporter of arms for the period between 2016 and 2020, accounting for 37 percent of the world’s total arms trade.

A report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) revealed that the US supplied arms to 96 countries in the aforementioned time period.

Following the USA on the list is Russia at 20 percent. Countries such as France, Germany and China came in at third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

The report also found Saudi Arabia, at 11 percent, to be the world’s largest importer of arms, followed by India, Egypt, Australia and China.

Who are the largest exporters?

The US held on to its top position, thanks to imports from Saudi Arabia that contributed to 24 percent — nearly a quarter — of the country’s arms exports. Following Saudi on the list of recipients of US’ arms are Australia at 9.4 percent and South Korea at 6.7 percent.

Russia managed to maintain its second position despite a 22 percent drop in exports in the said time period. A major reason for the drop in Russia’s exports was attributed to a contraction in its business with India. However, India continues to account for 23 percent of Russia’s arms sale. China at 18 percent and Algeria at 15 percent are Russia’s next most coveted customers.

France witnessed tremendous growth of 44 percent in its overall arms export, accounting for an 8.2 percent share of the global market between 2016 and 2020. India with 21 percent, Egypt with 20 percent and Qatar with 18 percent remained its top three clients.

Germany came fourth on the list with a 5.5 percent share in the global arms market with South Korea at 24 percent being its strongest client. China, thanks to a 38 percent export share to Pakistan, came in fifth with a global market contribution of 5.2 percent.

Who are the largest importers?

It comes as no surprise that Saudi Arabia — USA’s biggest client — is also the largest importer of arms in the world. With a global market share of 11 percent, the country purchases 79 percent of its arms from the USA, followed by 9.3 percent from the United Kingdom and 4 percent from France.

Coming a close second is India with a global market share of 9.5 percent in arms import. The country came in second despite seeing a 33 percent fall in arms import between 2011 and 2015, and 2016 and 2020. India’s drop in imports was largely attributed to its complex procurement processes, combined with an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms, the report said.

“India is planning large-scale arms imports in the coming years from several suppliers,” it added.

In terms of sellers, India continues to favour Russia, importing 49 percent of its arms from the country, followed by France (18 percent) and Israel (13 percent).

Egypt — the third-largest importer at 5.8 percent — appears to have found a favourite in Russia, which accounts for 41 percent of the country’s total imports.

Following Egypt are Australia and China that account for 5.1 percent and 4.7 percent of import shares in the global arms market, respectively.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

View: InvIT – A potential catalyst towards India’s ‘Net Zero’ future

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Climate change currently is a central theme in the investing universe globally and we are witnessing record capital allocations towards sustainable investments. There is a clear focus on the transition to a lower carbon economy, and renewables as an asset class, provide investors long term cash flows contracted with creditworthy counter parties.

A significant portion of this capital has been allocated towards India which has witnessed a meteoric rise in renewable energy assets being created in the last decade or so. India has seen a significant amount of overseas investment in the sector and has received an amount of $4.8 billion through FDI in the past five years.

Renewable energy investments in India have become more suitable to foreign institutional investors as the sector has matured from small size, high risk-high return investment to large size, medium risk-moderate return investment. However, despite the increasing foreign investment flows, the renewable sector still primarily remains a market where the funding is largely available through bank, financial institutions and non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs).

This is where InvITs (YieldCos) are emerging as a vehicle to invest in renewable energy assets. Indian public markets do not provide many opportunities to access renewable energy assets, however, there is a significant pool of assets available in private markets.

The fundamental idea behind InvIT is to acquire low risk, operating assets and help developers recycle their capital. The market is witnessing a clear transition wherein existing renewable platforms are migrating/or are evaluating migration into an InvIT structure. The objective behind exploring InvIT migration is to provide a platform that is scaled up, offer access to long-term cash flows in a tax-efficient manner and adhere to high standards of corporate governance.

InvITs can be a game changer for the renewable sector in India and should be considered as an alternate mode of making an investment in this space in India. With increased governance and more clarity in policymaking, it is expected that the patient capital from large pension funds, insurance funds and sovereign wealth funds will also find its way into the renewable sector through InvITs.

InvITs were initially introduced as a listed vehicle with certain restrictions, which made it unviable for the renewable sector. Especially, the cap of leverage of 49 percent on Enterprise Value (EV), increased to 74 percent of EV with AAA rating along with other conditions. However, SEBI, subsequently, in 2019 came out with the concept of unlisted InvITs wherein only corporate and institutional investors were allowed to invest with reduced restrictions. Among others, the leverage cap was done away with for unlisted InvITs. In 2020, the Government also brought unlisted InvIT at par with listed InvIT from a tax perspective and thus, opening doors for investment through this vehicle.

The InvIT advantage clearly emerges from four fundamental pillars: 1. Governance and transparency; 2. Tax pass-through status and underlying distribution efficiencies; 3. Access to low-cost long-term capital; and 4. Debt mobilisation and related refinancing/tax arbitrage.

It is run by independent trustees and investment managers and is governed by SEBI regulations. The board of the investment manager comprises 50 percent independent directors to keep independence from the sponsors. The same certainly provides a lot of credibility to the overall InvIT product for marquee global investors.

The regulations consist of other safeguards/requirements on the governance side, such as semi-annual valuation requirements, disclosure requirements, unitholders approval of specific matters, etc. Secondly, the SEBI regulations have clearly laid down rules for mandatory distribution of 90 percent of cash earnings to investors at regular intervals.

The same forms the backbone of the whole InvIT story as it allows predictable returns to the investors and helps the yield investors to meet their commitments. Thirdly, it allows global investors to get a pie of the operating infrastructure assets in India without actually having to get into the construction/operations of the same.

Further, the tax advantage provides impetus to the InvIT product as it allows foreign investors to repatriate funds from India at a low tax rate of 5 percent for interest and NIL for dividends in case certain conditions are fulfilled. With predictable returns at low tax rates in India, the investor can make better returns on the same set of underlying cashflows. From the experience of existing InvITs, it is seen that InvITs are largely able to refinance the bank debt at the company level as well which allows the InvIT to create an interest arbitrage and further improve the returns for the investors.

The government has laid the groundwork for making InvITs a success in India and the recent increase in interest by the industry are encouraging signs. While the latest changes on the regulatory side (around clarifying and streamlining some of the SEBI InvIT guidelines like de-sponsorisation and rights issue for unlisted InvITs) have been a welcome move, certain other key changes are required especially on the regulatory side.

Allowing Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCI) to invest in the units of InvITs (including by way of swap of existing equity investments), simplification of the regulatory framework for private unlisted InvITs with an aim to provide greater flexibility for unitholders to decide upon the governance of private unlisted InvITs and opening up more avenues for debt investments in InvITs, are some of the key pending asks.

On the tax side, while a pass-through status has been provided, it is important that taxmen understand the nuances of this new regime and we see few successful rounds of tax audits for the InvIT platforms as well as the investors.

Streamlining tax provisions regarding applicable withholding tax on distributions thereby plugging resultant cash leakage, bringing the holding period for units of InvIT at par with shares for capital gain purposes and clarificatory amendments in domestic tax law vis basis of taxation of income in the hands of non-resident unitholders, are some of the additional changes needed on the tax front.

All of this would go a long way in establishing investor confidence and certainty around tax assumptions/positions taken while calculating yields.

InvITs in India are still far from achieving their potential given the operating infrastructure projects and the massive pipeline opportunity. We do have the right fundamentals in place for creating a successful InvITs play for the energy sector – with emphasis on the stable regulatory framework, the focus should be equally on creating better investor awareness, the deeper debt market and continually evolving the tax and regulatory landscape to keep pace with the changing investment trends and sectoral dynamics.

– By Nandita Tripathi, Partner, M&A Tax and PE – Deal Advisory & ENR Tax Lead, KPMG in India and Divyanshu Srivastava, Partner, KPMG in India

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Parliament passes bill to repeal farm laws. Here’s how it will become an act

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha has passed the bill to cancel the three contentious farm laws without discussion in the Parliament’s Winter session that began today. The bill now awaits President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent.

The bill was passed by both the houses in record time, which begs the question, how does a bill become an act?

A bill is a draft proposal, which needs to be passed in the Lower and Upper House, and only after the President gives his assent, it becomes an act. The bill goes through two houses and three readings in both houses to become an Act.

Here’s a look at the entire process.

First House

First reading

A Bill is introduced in either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, by a minister or a private member. Whoever introduces the Bill, moves a motion for leave to introduce it. Once the leave is granted by the House, the Bill is introduced.

At this stage, the bill is not discussed.

After the introduction of the bill, it is published in The Gazette of India. However, it can be published before introduction as well by seeking permission from the Speaker. In this case, the Bill is introduced right away.

Second reading

The second reading has two stages.

First stage: In the first stage, the House discusses the Bill and it can opt to refer it to a select or joint committee of both Houses to elicit an opinion.

Second stage: In this stage, the Bill is referred to the joint committee or a select committee. The committee examines the Bill thoroughly and reports to the house. The house then discusses the Bill, clause by clause. Each clause is voted separately. At this stage, the Bill can be sent back for amendments; however, they are put to vote in the House before relevant clauses are disposed of.

If the amendments are accepted by a majority of the people, they become a part of the Bill.

Third reading

A Bill is put to vote by members of the House after a debate on support or rejection of the Bill. The parliament allows only formal, verbal, or consequential amendments at this stage.

If the bill is rejected by the majority of the members, it is deemed rejected. However, if a majority of the members accept the Bill, it is deemed as accepted by the House.

The Bill is then sent to the second House.

Second House

In the second House, the Bill goes through three readings and the outcome it can either be rejected, kept pending, sent back for amendments or is passed.

Once it is passed, a Bill is presented in front of the President of India.

President’s approval

The President has three choices:

• Withhold assent: The President can withhold his assent, in which case the bill is dropped and it is called an absolute veto.
• Gives the assent: The Bill becomes an Act.
• Return for reconsideration: If the President feels the bill is violating the Constitution, he can return it with recommendations under Article 368. However, the President cannot withhold a Constitutional Amendment Bill passed by Parliament. At this stage, the Bill goes back to Parliament and is revised. However, the houses might or might not decide to make the amendments. The bill again goes to President, and now the President must give his consent.

These cases do not apply to money Bills, because the President himself suggests them. The Bill becomes an act on the date of his consent and is published in The Gazette of India.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

The Funda of funds – Explained

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Save for a rainy day

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Are you a conservative investor? Invest in these popular funds

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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This is a partnered post.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New to stock investing? Here’s how to get started

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow