Tuesday 17 May 2016

Sebi Plans to Relax InvITs Rules to Draw Business Houses

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in 2014, had introduced InvITs -- an investment vehicle which would enable promoters to monetise completed assets -- to make it easier to raise funds for infrastructure projects.


However, InvITs have failed to garner due attention from business houses in the country.
With Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) failing to catch due attention, markets watchdog Sebi plans to ease rules, including by reducing mandatory sponsor holding to hold 10 per cent.
Now, the regulator plans to revamp InvITs regulations after receiving recommendations from the industry and may bring in a consultation paper proposing amendments to InvITs regulations, sources said.
The issue in this regard is likely to be discussed at Sebi's board meeting this week.
Under the proposal, Sebi may allow InvITs to Invest in two-level SPV (special purpose vehicle).

Currently, InvIT holds a controlling stake in SPVs that do not invest in other SPVs.
Besides, Sebi is considering reducing the mandatory sponsor holding in InvIT to 10 per cent of the total units of such units on a post-issue basis for a period of three years, from the current requirement of 25 per cent.
The current requirement may limit monetisation for sponsors and reduce release of capital for them. Further, in certain circumstances, it may lead to sponsors putting money out of their own pocket in the InvIT to maintain the required 25 per cent stake.

Monday 25 April 2016

Education a New Generation of Entrepreneurial Leaders

Entrepreneurial Leaders

Education a New Generation
Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world,” said the late Nelson Mandela. What can we do to develop a new generation of empowered and entrepreneurial leaders through our schools? We often pay lip service to ideas such as “21st-century learning” and “entrepreneurial leadership development,” but the reality is that the vast majority of schools are not adequately preparing students to lead and collaborate with others to create positive change in the world. Fortunately, there are shining examples of schools from which we can learn—schools that take responsibility for preparing all of their students to become changemaking leaders.




A continent away, at the Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C., students between the ages of 5 and 18 are exposed to experiential lessons on self-agency, teamwork and collaboration, innovation and execution, resourcefulness, and adaptive persistence while they strive to put their change projects into action.





Yet, even as young people want and expect more, opportunities are elusive. Job growth is not keeping pace with the increase in schools and college graduates. The current state of youth unemployment is equally dramatic in the wake of economic downturn in parts of Europe; youth employment exceeds 50 percent in Greece and Spain.

Thursday 17 March 2016

Ankara blast Kurdish group TAK claims bombing

The Kurdish militant group TAK says it carried out Sunday's deadly attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara.



In an online statement it said the attack, which killed 37 people, was in revenge for military operations in the mainly Kurdish south-east.
The TAK, an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), had already said it was behind another bombing in Ankara last month.
Authorities in Turkey have blamed the latest attack on the PKK.


In a further development, Germany closed its embassy in Ankara and its consulate and a school in Istanbul on Thursday.