Business

MUMBAI: Sebi on Friday banned 59 entities, including actor Arshad Warsi, his wife Maria Goretti, from the market for up to 5 years. The move is related to misleading videos on YouTube channels – like Moneywise, The Advisor and Profit Yatra – luring investors to buy TV channel Sadhna Broadcast’s shares. The markets regulator fined the couple Rs 10 lakh, and they will have to disgorge illegal gains worth Rs 92 lakh from the stock price manipulation.Warsi and his wife Goretti played a role in promoting the stock of Sadhna (now Crystal Business System) through videos on YouTube, which were uploaded by one of the masterminds of the scheme.In its 109-page order, Sebi whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia stated that the way the whole incident played out painted “a disturbing picture regarding the increasing use of social media platforms, which have immense reach and influence in the digital age, as tools for market manipulation”. Sebi ordered disgorgement of illegal gains totalling about Rs 58 crore and imposed fines of up to Rs 5 crore on the entities. The overall conduct of the people involved in the scheme revealed a classic pump-and-dump scheme, the report said. “The price was systematically pushed upward through collusive trading, followed by aggressive promotional activity to draw in retail investors, and finally, a coordinated sell-off by the promoters. Retail investors, misled by this staged market activity, were left holding the shares at distorted valuations once the manipulators, including the promoters, exited,” the report said.Sebi found that three individuals, Gaurav Gupta, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, and Manish Mishra, were the masterminds. Subhash Aggarwal, a director with Skyline Financial Services, the registrar & transfer agent of Sadhna Broadcast, was the middleman. These individuals “were the central characters who planned and executed the manipulative scheme”, Sebi said.Modus Operandi: First, the entities executed trades among themselves to steadily inflate the price of the scrip and create a false appearance of market interest. Second, misleading promotional videos were disseminated across YouTube channels operated by Manish Mishra.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at U.S. Steel Corporation’s Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant, Friday, May 30, 2025, in West Mifflin, Pa
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel from 25% to 50%, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and vowing to deepen his trade war.

“We are going to be imposing a 25% increase. We’re going to bring it from 25% to 50% the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States,” he said at a rally in Pennsylvania.

In February Mr. Trump raised steel and aluminium tariffs to a flat 25% “without exceptions or exemptions” in one of his first moves to aid the struggling industries.

The tariffs would apply to millions of tons of steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and other countries that had been entering the U.S. duty free.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said India is sustaining its GDP growth momentum as the fastest-growing economy for the fourth year in a row, aided by manufacturing, services, and farm sectors.“India is sustaining growth and it is the fastest-growing economy now for the fourth year continuously, thanks to the work of small, medium, and large industries; industries which are coming in and making sure our manufacturing capacity, our service capacity are all intact. Agriculture has also sustained us even during Covid and subsequently,” Sitharaman said at the Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award.She drew comfort from the industrial growth numbers, pointing out that there were fears that inadequate investment in capacity addition would impact the economy. “I’m glad, India’s industry and the manufacturing activity have all been good during the fourth quarter,” FM said after data was released.Earlier, chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said the provisional estimates for FY25 were in line with the expectation of 6.5% growth, and India fared much better than contemporary economies at a time when expansion was difficult. “India’s growth is holding up in a growth-scarce environment,” he said.For the current financial year, govt has retained its outlook at 6.3-6.8%, with private consumption, especially the rural rebound, and resilient services exports as the key drivers, he said. “Food inflation remains benign due to good rabi harvest, higher summer sowing, healthy procurement, and above-normal monsoon. Exports remain robust, forex reserves provide 11 months of import cover. Declining crude oil prices will potentially lower import bills, create fiscal space, and alleviate external economic pressures,” he said in a presentation.Sitharaman said govt is constantly working to remove regulatory difficulties and bring soft-touch regulation, which will allow people to do business without suspicion. “We are at that part of India’s history where it just requires all of us to have confidence in our country’s abilities and belief that we can definitely deliver that goal… how long more are we going to say we are a developing country. When our own people are going all over the world and working at leadership levels in various sectors. It’s time for all of us to get out of the suspicion that we have in our minds, will India be able to do, will India be able to reach? Yes, we can,” the minister said.

Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said government has no plans to provide any relief on the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) front to telecom companies after the Supreme Court struck down their plea for a waiver of interest and penalty. In an interview with TOI, the minister also made it clear that beleaguered Vodafone Idea will not receive any further equity conversion from government beyond the current 49%, and it’s now the company’s responsibility to take care of profit and loss and the balance sheet. Excerpts:Struggling Vodafone Idea has come to govt time and again for support. How long can you give this long rope to the company? Every company has to chart its own path. Profit and loss and the balance sheet are the responsibility of the management of each company – be it BSNL, Vodafone Idea, Jio, or Airtel. Based on govt policy, we converted close to Rs 36,000 crore of Vodafone Idea’s dues into equity. We are today at 49%. I do not see us increasing that equity stake in the near future, at all. It’s the responsibility of each company.How long can you wait for a turnaround? At least some bit of accountability is needed because this is public money going into saving a company… They have to define their own path at end of the day. That’s the job of CEO of Vodafone Idea.Are you in regular touch with them?I don’t believe in meddling in a company’s affairs, whether it be a PSU or where govt has a stake. But if and when they come to us, we certainly meet them and hear them out.SC has refused relief to telcos on AGR matter. Does govt plan to bring out legislation to protect the companies from penalty and interest?There’s nothing on my table at this point, so I can’t comment. I think the Supreme Court has ruled on the matter, and that’s where it stands..Trai has given its recommendations On satellite communications. When will DoT approve them?We will start processing it. The department will look at it and then take a call.When will satcom services begin?I can’t give you a very definitive timeline, but I can assure you that we are trying to do this sooner rather than later.Any healthy market has a mix of local and global players. Elon Musk is coming with Starlink and Amazon wants to come with Project Kuiper. Do you think it’s good to have global competition?I can only say my market is open for you. Whoever wants to come into my market, check all the boxes in terms of the rules and regulations and processes, we want you here. For me, the choice for my customers is paramount. Just like the fixed line space or the mobile space or the broadband space, similarly in satellite, I want competition. Everyone is welcome here. Tick the boxes. Hurry up and start business.

MUMBAI: RBI is looking to introduce interest rate rules for non-banking finance companies similar to those that govern banks. The goal is to improve how changes in monetary policy pass through to borrowers and to make loan pricing more transparent.As of now, when RBI changes its benchmark repo rate, banks pass on the changes quickly to borrowers with floating-rate loans. However, NBFCs, including housing finance firms, adjust more slowly or in ways that are less transparent. “The extant regulations on interest rates on advances vary across all regulated entities,” said RBI. “In order to harmonise the same, a comprehensive review of the extant regulatory instructions is underway.“RBI has been consulting internally and with key industry stakeholders about how to standardise interest rate frameworks. “In order to solicit wider public feedback, it is proposed to issue a discussion paper delineating the various imperatives of moving to a harmonised regime for interest rates on loans and advances across all regulated entities,” the central bank said in its annual report.

Analysts say the current system creates gaps in oversight. “Banks have repo rate-linked loans, MCLR (marginal cost of lending rate) loans, etc, which are all well defined and RBI can track how transmission happens,” said Suresh Ganapathy of Macquarie. “NBFCs don’t have these repo-linked or MCLR loans and they price their loans off some antiquated PLR (prime lending rate) concept. Of course, eventual end-pricing will be determined by competitive forces. Having said that, this entire process is super opaque and hence it is essential a proper alignment is sought,” Ganapathy added.RBI also wants to overhaul how it supervises NBFCs broadly. One change involves reviewing its risk-based approach to monitoring compliance with anti-money laundering rules. It will examine whether KYC framework is being applied effectively, especially for higher-risk firms.The regulator also plans a thematic review to ensure NBFCs follow interest rate guidelines, particularly to prevent customers from being charged excessive rates. At the same time, it is studying how to bring more NBFCs under a risk-based supervision model, where regulatory attention depends on the complexity and risk profile of each firm. RBI also plans to simplify rules for borrowing and lending in rupees, and to streamline the process by which companies are authorised to handle foreign currency under India’s foreign exchange law.

Representational image
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The government on Friday (May 30, 2025) approved an additional instalment of ₹81,735 crore as tax devolution to States, which will be released on June 2.

This release is in addition to the regular monthly instalment of tax devolution of ₹81,735 crore, which will be released on June 10, 2025.

“The Union Government has approved an additional instalment of ₹81,735 crore as Tax Devolution to the State Governments, which will be released on June 2, 2025,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The additional instalment of devolution to States is in line with the principle of cooperative federalism and the aim of becoming ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047, it added.

“The additional instalment of devolution will enable the States to speed up their Capital spending, finance their development and welfare-related expenditure and also make available resources for priority projects/schemes of the States,” the Ministry said.

Currently, 41% of taxes collected by the Centre is devolved in instalments among States during a fiscal year.

According to the SEBI circular dated August 2024, a migrated venture capital fund will be considered an Type 1 AIF. 

Indian Venture Capitalist Association (IVCA) directed venture capitalists who have not migrated to AIF framework, to do so before the SEBI deadline of July 19, 2025, according to a statement. 

“Despite the regulatory clarity and incentives provided under this framework—including a simplified re-registration process, fee waivers, and tailored compliance requirements— the response to the said scheme is understood to be tepid. This low uptake is a cause for concern,” IVCA said in its statement. According to the SEBI circular dated August 2024, a migrated venture capital fund will be considered an Type 1 AIF. 

“The old VCF (Venture Capital Fund) guidelines were existing even in the late 1990s, and in 2012, the AIF regulations were introduced. Every fund has a limited life of generally 8-10 years. There are a lot of VC funds registered with SEBI. And as of date, many of the VCs while their tenure has got over, have not completed their winding up and termination process via-a-vis erstwhile VCF regulation of SEBI,” said Rahul Shah, Executive Vice President of IVCA. ”

He further added that the members of IVCA felt that the July 19 deadline was too quick for them to comply and that they’d prefer liquidating the VC funds first before migrating.” He further added that the VC fund managers were of the view that they rather than make efforts liquidating the current investments in the fund by the given deadline and then apply for migration, the IVCA was pushing them to complete the migration process before the deadline.