Securities Scams In India

Securities Scam 1992 In April 1992, press reports indicated that there was a shortfall in the Government Securities held by the State Bank of India. Investigations uncovered the tip of an iceberg, later called the securities scam, involving misappropriation of funds to the tune of over Rs. 3500 Crores. The scam engulfed top executives of large nationalized banks, foreign banks and financial institutions, brokers, bureaucrats and politicians: The functioning of the money market and the stock market was thrown in disarray. The tainted shares were worthless as they could not be sold. This created a panic among investors and brokers and led to a prolonged closure of the stock exchanges along with a precipitous drop in the price of shares. Soon after the discovery of the scam, the stock prices dropped by over 40%, wiping out market value to the tune of Rs. 100,000 crores. The normal settlement process in Continue reading

Fiscal Policy – Definition, Objectives and Techniques

The term fiscal has been derived from the greek word fisc, meaning a basket to symbolize the public purse. Fiscal policy thus means the policy related to the treasury of the government. Fiscal policy is a part of general economic policy of the government which is primarily concerned with the budget receipts and expenditures of the government. All welfare projects are completed under this policy .It also suggests measures to control economic fluctuations which may become violent and create great upheavals in the socio-economic structure of the economy. It also outlines the influence of resource utilization on the level of aggregate demand through affecting the level of aggregate consumption and investment expenditure. Definitions of Fiscal Policy According to U. Hicks “Fiscal policy is concerned with the manner in which all the different elements of public finance, while still primarily concerned with carrying out their own duties, may collectively be geared Continue reading

Employee Benefits and Compensation

Benefits and compensation in workplace offers a labor friendly condition to the workers to ensure that they give fully their potential. Compensation is an approach that is systematic to ensure that employees are provided with monetary value in exchange of the work performed. The purposes that the compensation is able to achieve include recruitment, job performance and job satisfaction. While benefits are a kind of compensation, that are given to employees in additional to what they get as wages and salaries. People during the pre-industrial era treated workplace and home place as one place, which change significantly with emergence of the machines and factory. Industrialization thus brought socioeconomic hierarchical that was accompanied with gender role stereotypes. This means that men were the one who were able to access the paid jobs while the women worked at home. The quality of the family was affected very much by the socio-economic hierarchy Continue reading

What is Corporate Restructuring?

Corporate restructuring is one of the most complex and fundamental phenomena that management confronts. Each company has two opposite strategies from which to choose: to diversify or to refocus on its core business. While diversifying represents the expansion of corporate activities, refocus characterizes a concentration on its core business. From this perspective, corporate restructuring is reduction in diversification. Corporate restructuring is an episodic exercise, not related to investments in new plant and machinery which involve a significant change in one or more of the following Pattern of ownership and control Composition of liability Asset mix of the firm. It is a comprehensive process by which a company can consolidate its business operations and strengthen its position for achieving the desired objectives: Synergetic Competitive Successful It involves significant re-orientation, re-organization or realignment of assets and liabilities of the organization through conscious management action to improve future cash flow stream and to Continue reading

Principal Functions of Investment Banks

Global investment banks  typically have several business units, each looking after one of the functions of investment banks.  For example, Corporate Finance, concerned with advising on the finances of corporations, including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; Research, concerned with investigating, valuing, and making recommendations to clients – both individual investors and larger entities such as  hedge funds and mutual funds regarding  shares and corporate and government  bonds; and Sales and Trading, concerned with buying and selling shares both on behalf of the bank’s clients and also for the bank itself. For Investment banks management of the bank’s own capital, or Proprietary Trading, is often one of the biggest sources of profit. For example, the banks may arbitrage stock on a large scale if they see a suitable profit opportunity or they may structure their books so that they profit from a fall in bond price or yields. In short the principal Continue reading

Different Products and Services Offered by Banks

Broad Classification of Products Offered by Banks The different products in a bank can be broadly classified into: Retail Banking. Trade Finance. Treasury Operations. Retail Banking and Trade finance operations are conducted at the branch level while the wholesale banking operations, which cover treasury operations, are at the head office or a designated branch. Retail Banking: Deposits Loans, Cash Credit and Overdraft Negotiating for Loans and advances Remittances Book-Keeping (maintaining all accounting records) Receiving all kinds of bonds valuable for safe keeping Trade Finance: Issuing and confirming of letter of credit. Drawing, accepting, discounting, buying, selling, collecting of bills of exchange, promissory notes, drafts, bill of lading and other securities. Treasury Operations: Buying and selling of bullion, Foreign exchange. Acquiring, holding, underwriting and dealing in shares, debentures, etc. Purchasing and selling of bonds and securities on behalf of constituents. The banks can also act as an agent of the Government Continue reading