The amount of money lying unclaimed with the Life Insurance Corporation of India dwarfs the budgets of many ministries. There was Rs 21,539.5 crore which lay unclaimed with India's largest insurance company, according to details in the initial public offer (IPO) document it filed over the weekend. The regulatory documentation is ahead of LIC selling shares to the public through the stock exchange for the first time this financial year. This will be India's largest ever public listing.

Companies spent less money buying back their shares from the public last year than at any time since 2015. They announced buybacks of up to Rs 14,341 crore, show numbers from primary market tracker Prime Database. The total amount spent was Rs 13,597 crore. Both the amounts are lower than what was offered (Rs 39,564 crore) and spent (Rs 36,517 crore) in 2020.

Outperforming peers following a crisis in the debt markets is an act that ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company fund manager Manish Banthia has pulled off more than once.

The value of unclaimed securities and other assets was nearly Rs 20,000 crore in March 2020.

New projects fell 6.3 per cent in the December quarter compared with the September quarter. The value of new projects in the just-concluded quarter was Rs 2.1 trillion, according to the data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), which was lower than the Rs 2.2 trillion seen in the September quarter. It is, however, higher than Rs 1.5 trillion recorded for the quarter ended December 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This data ties in with the November data for core sector growth, an index of eight core industries, which grew at its slowest pace since early 2021.

There are more of them now and the total value of such companies--out of reach for small retail players--may surprise you. Shares topping the five-figure price mark were rare ten years ago. A look at March-end figures across the listed universe in 2011 shows only one such share. There were two by 2013.

The Indian banking system's latest record on wilful defaulters shows Rs 62,970 crore, or around 10 per cent increase, in the additional amount outstanding since the pandemic began. The total outstanding amount increased to Rs 6.85 trillion in June from Rs 6.22 trillion in December 2019, shows a Business Standard analysis of numbers from the TransUnion CIBIL database. India recorded its first case of Covid-19 in January 2020.The amount outstanding to wilful defaulters had touched a post-pandemic peak of Rs.7.6 trillion in December 2020 (or Rs 1.4 trillion more than pre-pandemic levels).

LIC owns 3.69 per cent of the total listed universe based on available disclosures, the lowest since at least June 2009.

Chartered accountants are readying themselves for a higher onus on individuals to report violations that they come across as part of their work. There has been a scramble to understand the implications as the non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) comes into effect in less than six months. It is applicable from April 1, 2022 after being deferred earlier because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rally in the broader markets, a spate of new listings, and the influx of retail investors have resulted in a boom for research and this has spurred a surge in the number of entities providing such services. From 467 entities that provided research services as of March 2018, the number jumped 57 per cent to 733 as of March 2021. And, another 46 entities have been added to the list in the six months since, to take the total number of registered research analysts to 779 as on September 13. However, the total number of analysts could be a multiple of this number.

More people using the internet for financial and e-commerce transactions has led to job creation in a niche segment. Specialists who can help deal with rising technology (tech) frauds are in high demand amid the surge in electronic transactions during the pandemic. Demand for tech fraud experts has risen upwards of 35 per cent, reveals employment and human resource services company TeamLease Services.

Independent directors

A lot of gains have been driven by foreign portfolio investors. Lower interest rates globally have forced foreign investors to seek avenues for growth. They have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 2.5 trillion over the trailing 12 months, including May, reports Sachin P Mampatta.

The regulator is more carefully scrutinising applications by infrastructure investment vehicles that have a limited number of investors. They have been asked to broaden their investor base before application approval, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Securities and Exchange Board of India is concerned about the structure being used for getting around tax requirements, according to one of the sources.

Only 10 per cent of stocks account for 93 per cent of investments.

The government has been in discussions to promote such international financial services centres within India as alternatives to places like Singapore.

Discussions are said to have been heating up over how long a tax indemnity clause, which is part of such deals, should run, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Lawyers say compensation may be an uphill task for investors because of a lack of judicial precedent and broader institutional difficulties.

Companies providing portfolio management services (PMS) had a tough time beating the benchmark index in January, with more than half of the schemes invested in large companies underperforming in the run-up to the Union Budget. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.5 per cent during the month. Only around 44 per cent of PMS schemes did better, among the schemes investing in large-cap companies. The analysis is based on data from industry tracker PMS Bazaar. Half the mid-cap schemes outperformed, while the rest underperformed.

The Union Budget 2021-22 has made it easier for sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in Indian infrastructure projects, but some of the new rules may need more clarity, experts said. The proposed regime requiring investments through holding companies may have adverse tax implications for such funds and may create an arbitrage between the new and old projects, they said. Besides, the ownership structure of holding companies through which investments are to be made requires further clarification, they added.