Faith in SEBI
In the Hindenburg-Adani case, by refusing to hand over the investigation to the CBI, or Special Investigation Team, the Supreme Court has affirmed its faith in SEBI and directed it to complete the pending inquiries within three months.
Unsurprisingly, Gautam Adani, the chairperson of Adani Group, has hailed the apex court’s verdict. While the market regulator has made progress in its investigations, more contentious issues surrounding the episode still remain unaddressed, such as market manipulation and the ownership of foreign portfolio investors who have significant stakes in Adani Group of Companies.
With the Supreme Court having expressed faith in the SEBI, it has the onerous task of taking its investigations to their logical conclusion without any delay.
M Jeyaram
Sholavandan (TN)
Digital frauds
Apropos, ‘Dealing with digital frauds’, (January 4), the digital banking frauds are rearing their ugly heads. Globally criminal groups employ increasingly sophisticated tools — and frequently collude with corrupt bank staff — to steal large sums.
Unfortunately, despite widespread campaigns and awareness tips, people turn prey to the fraudsters However, with the latest technological tools, awareness among general public and with compliance to the precautionary measures during online operations, the frauds can be significantly mitigated.
N Sadhasiva Reddy
Bengaluru
Benefitting farmers
In the article ‘Financial Inclusion of farmers — The Digital way; the writer has not discussed illustratively how farmers’ woes can be addressed by digital financial products.
The Andhra Pradesh government has launched a doorstep and umbrella service window called ‘Kisan Bharosa Kendra’ that offer several services to farmers.
Availability of credit to actual cultivators, be it sharecroppers or tenant farmers is required, as they form a significant chunk of the farm sector. The absence of contracts between tiller and landowner hinders not only financial inclusion in digital format but restricts services and operations of other agri start ups. So there is an urgent need to digitalise land records and introduce simple lease agreement acceptable to both tillers and landowners.
T Sri Krishna
Bengaluru
Ethics among managers
The commentary ‘When promoters spell ruin for their companies’ (January 4) is interesting. It is common to find conflict of interest among promoters, directors and senior management who may hold significant equity stake in their companies.
They could act with short-term personal benefit objectives rather than the overall well-being of the organisation.In some companies, they may possibly act to shore up quarterly profits and share prices (to the benefit of ESOP holders) by denying wage increments to employees.
Their stake as shareholders is higher than as employees. Whether this is illegal is debatable; it seems immoral or unethical and surely not in the long-term interest of the company.
V Vijaykumar
Pune