Amazon India launches Hindi website, shopping app in battle with Flipkart

Amazon.com on Tuesday launched a Hindi version of its mobile website and app for Android smartphones in a bid to make deeper inroads into India's fast-growing e-commerce market, stepping up its battle with Walmart's Flipkart unit.

None of India's other leading e-commerce portals - Flipkart, Snapdeal or Paytm Mall - currently have a local language version of their apps or websites, and the move to launch a Hindi app and website could give Amazon access to tens of millions of new customers in India's small towns and villages.

"What we believe is, Amazon.in in Hindi is a critical step to actually address the next 100 million customers," Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Category Management at Amazon India told reporters at a news conference.

Amazon is looking to win over the next 100 million customers in the country, its India head Amit Agarwal told Reuters in April. The country's e-commerce market is tipped to grow to $200 billion in a decade, according to Morgan Stanley.

Sebi slaps Rs 3.5 mn fine on Zeestar, directors for illegal CIS scheme

Sebi on Wednesday imposed a total fine of Rs 3.5 million on Zeestar Multi Club and Tours as well as its directors for illegally raising fund from investors through unregistered Collective Investment Scheme (CIS). The directors of Zeestar -- Mrinal Atal, Surendra Kumar and Shailendra Prasad Badoni -- were acting as directors of the company during the mobilisation of funds, Sebi said in an order. Sebi in an examination found that the firm and its directors in 2010 had offered schemes whereby the investors had to pay an initial amount towards the construction of cottages and other infrastructure for tourism purposes. 

The company then promised to put such cottages on rent and had assured monthly reimbursement/ income to the investors. Noting that the scheme carried out by Zeestar constituted collective investment scheme, Sebi said the firm was carrying out CIS activities without obtaining a certificate of registration in accordance with the provisions of CIS regulations and thereby contravened CIS norms.

Incumbent distributors confident despite talks of Paytm's MF foray

The widely heralded Jio moment of the mutual fund industry is right around the corner. Paytm is set to go live with its mutual fund distribution platform, Paytm Money, anytime this month. However, mutual fund distributors, which at the last count accounted for Rs 1.8 trillion of industry assets, are confident that there is no need for them to reshuffle their business model and reiterated the importance of timely advice for investors.

“Those just looking for transaction convenience and parking surplus funds on a temporary basis would get drawn to platforms like Paytm Money. However, serious investors with long-term horizons would continue to prefer platforms like ours where they can get timely and customized advice. We are going to stick to our business model despite what the competition is doing,” said Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder and chief operating officer of online FundsIndia.

The Chennai-based firm has among the highest assets under management (AUM) of Rs 43 billion when it comes to digital-only platforms, earning Rs 496 million in distribution commissions in 2017-18.The widely heralded Jio moment of the mutual fund industry is right around the corner. Paytm is set to go live with its mutual fund distribution platform, Paytm Money, anytime this month. However, mutual fund distributors, which at the last count accounted for Rs 1.8 trillion of industry assets, are confident that there is no need for them to reshuffle their business model and reiterated the importance of timely advice for investors.

Paytm Money in final stages of testing; MF foray likely to begin this month

Mobile payments company Paytm is tying up all the loose ends before it officially rolls out Paytm Money, its mutual fund distribution platform. The company recently gave access to employees of its parent company, One97 Communications, and Paytm Money to test the beta version of Paytm Money app, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The management is getting ready to launch the app in August.

Paytm Money — which will be offering direct plans, and not regular plans — has led to quite a bit of excitement within the 42-player MF industry. According to industry sources, several fund-houses have already empanelled themselves with Paytm Money.

To make sure investors get proper advice about various mutual fund schemes, Paytm Money has tied up with third-party mutual fund research firms such as Value Research and Morningstar. Direct plans come with lower expense ratios, but they bypass distributors that hand-hold retail clients, especially first-time investors.

Sebi proposes changes to norms governing raising of equity capital

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday proposed a slew of changes to norms governing raising of equity capital.
Among the changes suggested by the Sebi include an increase in threshold from Rs 5 million to Rs 100 million for filing of a “draft letter of offer” for a rights issue. The regulator has also proposed to reduce the time gap between announcement of the price band and launch of an initial public offering (IPO) from five working days at present to just two working days.

Further, the Sebi has proposed to allow companies to extend the IPO time period from three days without reducing the price band. Sebi has also proposed to merge the provisions of the institutional placement programme (IIP) with those of qualified institutional placement (QIP). Changes have also been proposed for the small and medium enterprises (SME) platform. Among them are increasing the maximum post-issue face value capital for a SME public issue from Rs 250 million to Rs 500 mn. Also, provisions for SME follow-on public offer and rights issue.

Sebi evolving according to the economy's needs: Arun Jaitley

Latest News - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday credited the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for being a professional organisation which has been evolving as per the needs of the economy and the markets.

Jaitley's comments on the evolution of the Sebi's role came after he addressed its board at a post-Budget meet.

"Sebi is a professional organisation with considerable experience," Jaitley said adding that it has been evolving according to the needs of the economy and the markets.

According to the minister, during the meet, discussions on various issues relating to the securities markets were held.

The meeting was attended by (Read More)

Sebi wishlist for Budget 2017: Here are the key points

Latest News - Ahead of Union Budget 2017, the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sent its list of recommendations to the Finance Ministry. Sebi has asked the government to encourage stock trading and investments in mutual funds by easing tax rules. 

The regulator has also recommended lowering the securities transaction tax (STT) for tax trading and a slew of other measures, a report published in Economics Times said. 

Lower STT for trading 

After its introduction in 2004, STT was fully deductible against the income tax payable. But, after (Read More)