Money market is a market for short-term loan or financial assets. It as a market for the lending and borrowing of short term funds. As the name implies, it does not actually deals with near substitutes for money or near money like trade bills, promissory notes and government papers drawn for a short period not exceeding one year. These short term instruments can be converted into cash readily without any loss and at low transaction cost. Money market is the centre for dealing mainly in short — term money assets. It meets the short-term requirements of borrowers and provides liquidity or cash to lenders. It is the place where short-term surplus funds at the disposal of financial institutions and individuals are borrowed by individuals, institutions and also the Government. Features of Money Market The following are the general features of a money market: It is market purely for short-term funds Continue reading
Indian Financial System
The Insurance Regulatory And Development Authority (IRDA)
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is regulatory and development authority under Government of India in order to protect the interests of the policyholders and to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry. It is basically a ten members’ team comprising of a Chairman, five full time members and four part-time members, all appointed by Government of India. This organization came into being in 1999 after the bill of IRDA was passed in the Indian parliament. The creation of IRDA has brought revolutionary changes in the Insurance sector. In the last 10 years of its establishment the insurance sector has seen tremendous growth. When IRDA came into being; the only players in the insurance industry were Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), however in last decade 23 new players have emerged in the field of insurance. The IRDA also successfully Continue reading
Junk Bonds in India
Sharp movements in the Indian equity market may be par for the course. But when it comes to the market for corporate bonds, it’s constantly stagnant. The reason is, we don’t have a corporate bond market. But this is overwhelmingly dominated by government securities (about 80% of the total). Of the remaining, close to 80% again comprises privately placed debt of public financial institutions. An efficient bond market helps corporate reduce their financing costs. It enables companies to borrow directly from investors, bypassing the major intermediary role of a commercial bank. One of the important instruments in corporate market is Junk Bonds which could be great source of financing for countries like India where markets are not much regulated. A speculative bond rated BB or below, “Junk bonds” are generally issued by corporations of questionable financial strength or without proven track records. They tend to be more volatile and higher Continue reading
Inter-Connected Stock Exchange (ISE)
The formation of NSE changed the way in which the stock exchanges were functioning. Modern infrastructure, technology, transparency and corporate governance are now becoming the features in the corporate the world. It also forced BSE to adopt the new technology and with this, NSE and BSE crossed boundaries and started functioning, operating throughout India. This affected the functioning of small and regional exchanges. This led to the birth of the Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (ISE). Federation of Indian stock exchanges, in a meeting held in 1996, constituted a steering committee to evolve an interconnected market system. In 1997, the market governing body of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) granted approval to the proposal of the ISE to set up a national level stock exchange promoted by 14 regional stock exchanges. ISE was launched with an objective of converting small, fragmented and illiquid markets into Continue reading
Case Study on FEMA: RBI slapped Rs.125 crore on Reliance Infrastructure
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm, Reliance Infrastructure (earlier, Reliance Energy), to pay just under Rs 125 crore as compounding fees for parking its foreign loan proceeds worth $300 million with its mutual fund in India for 315 days, and then repatriating the money abroad to a joint venture company. These actions, according to an RBI order, violated various provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). In its order, RBI said Reliance Energy raised a $360-million ECB on July 25, 2006, for investment in infrastructure projects in India. The ECB proceeds were drawn down on November 15, 2006, and temporarily parked overseas in liquid assets. On April 26, 2007, Reliance Energy repatriated the ECB proceeds worth $300 million to India while the balance remained abroad in liquid assets. It then invested these funds in Reliance Mutual Fund Growth Option and Reliance Continue reading
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC)
In order to provide export credit and insurance support to Indian exporters, the GOI set up the Export Risks Insurance Corporation (ERIC) in July, 1957. It was transformed into export credit guarantee corporation limited (ECGC) in 1964. Since 1983, it is now know as ECGC of India Ltd. ECGC is a company wholly owned by the Government of India. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce and is managed by a Board of Directors representing government, Banking, Insurance, Trade and Industry. The ECGC with its headquarters in Bombay and several regional offices is the only institution providing insurance cover to Indian exporters against the risk of non-realization of export payments due to occurrence of the commercial and political risks involved in exports on credit terms and by offering guarantees to commercial banks against losses that the bank may suffer in granting advances to exports, in connection Continue reading