Arbitrage Magazine - FEBRUARY 2019 - Finance & Investment Club | IIM Rohtak

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Arbitrage By- Kammra Shushmendra Kumar

Arbitrage in simple terms can be defined as

from

Buy at low and sell at high. It takes advantage

acquisitions. Especially in case of hostile

of price differences in different markets by the

takeovers, when companies attempting to

simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset

initiate the takeover will pay high price for

such as gold, foreign exchanges, financial

the target company’s stock than market price.

securities or commodities. There is no chance

Risk arbitrageurs who expects the stock price

of arbitrage exists in perfect market scenario,

will increase buy target company’s stock

but it exists in real world due to market

before merger and want to sell it after merger

inefficiencies. It is a necessary activity in

to make profit. But it won’t result always in

economic

profit as mergers might end in fail.

theory to

reduce

the

price

large

number

of

mergers

and

disparities in various market and to increase the market’s liquidity.

Arbitrage is used in various financial sectors like bond market, stock market, commodity

Arbitrage can be classified as risk and

market, derivatives market and currency or

riskless. Arbitrage is riskless when it requires

forex market. Foreign exchange arbitrage

no investment of capital and there is no

involves the exchange generally in more than

chance of losing money. But it is not so

two countries. It takes advantage of the

straight forward as it majorly relied on trader

exchange rate variation between different

advantage of opportunities on the available

countries. Interest rate arbitrage occurs when

information and make a profit and the

there is difference in money rates among

opportunities are highly speculative. Risk

countries. In Simple terms, you borrow at

arbitrages came into prominence in 1980’s

lower interest rate and reinvest it at higher

when many inventors began to take advantage

interest rate. Financial securities and gold

3


arbitrage work alike commodity arbitrage in

high expenses in high tax regions. It also

the domestic market, but the former ones are

occurs when investor purchases stock before

highly relied on exchange rates than latter.

the ex-dividend rate and sell later.

Index arbitrage will occur when one takes

Arbitrage opportunities are measured using

advantage of the price difference in stocks

certain

versus future contracts of a company.

Evaluation Techniques�. These methods are

techniques

called

“Efficiency

used to quantify the arbitrage opportunities International arbitrage is the one when one company is listed in multiple countries. For example, if a foreign company issues ordinary shares in their stocks and it can issue American depository receipts or global depository receipts to allow investors in other countries. This will lead to spread or differential pricing from time to time. Convertible debentures are the one when company issues debt that can be converted into shares in the future. So, it will pay lower interest rate than on non-convertible or

that are present. The techniques can be categorized into four main categories: i) Parametric deterministic (Aigner-Chu model) ii) Parametric stochastic (stochastic frontier estimation or SFE) iii) Non-parametric deterministic (data envelopment analysis or DEA)

iv)

Non-parametric

stochastic

techniques (stochastic DEA or SDEA). DEA is most commonly used technique followed by SPE. DEA models studies the efficiency of input-output

units to

produce different

outputs.

"straight" debt that comprises of a straight debt instrument plus an embedded call option.

When it comes to financial arbitrage there are

Convertible arbitrage takes advantage of price

different types such as: Arbitrage betting,

differences associated with embedded option

covered interest arbitrage, fixed income

in the convertible debenture. Usually, it takes

arbitrage, political arbitrage, remarketing

place

arbitrage,

when

investor

purchasing

the

statistical arbitrage,

triangular

convertible security and then selling a series

arbitrage etc. To have a successful arbitrage,

of hedges.

the

Regulatory arbitrage is the practice where

relationships with suppliers so they know to

companies took advantage of loopholes in

call the person when they have the product.

regulatory systems. It is difficult to prevent

The person needs to make sure the drivers and

but can manage it by limiting the prominent

common carriers are carded everywhere the

loop holes thereby increasing the costs

person pull an arbitrage. The arbitrage should

associated with the regulations. Tax arbitrage

stay relatable with the person key carriers by

is the practice where one can profit from the

maintaining consistent business relationships.

difference in tax treatments for different

There are certain situations where the person

purposes. Business take advantage of it by

should avoid arbitrages, such as the savings

incurring high revenues in low tax region than

aren’t ideal, facing a customer run-out

person

needs

to

maintain

trusted

4


situation, a lengthy delay at the rack, logistics

Even if it is highly risk and may prompts to

costs outweigh the savings etc. When going

illegal activities like insider trading, it is legal

for an arbitrage, you need to make quick

in many countries like United States as it

decisions or you risk missing out. Arbitrages

highly serves to the market efficiency and

are complex and they require seamless

increases market liquidity. In countries like

communication between supply and logistics

India, it is not legal as it would not allow buy

teams. It is important to have goals, rewards

from BSE and Sell at NSE at the same time

ahead of time to ensure that you can act

and vice versa. Common arbitrage in Indian

quickly when the opportunity arises.

equity market is cash-futures arbitrage or cash

Arbitrage opportunity can come from any sources, such as making the best buy at a single rack, racks in different places, PADDs or Origin Points, Indexes and Market Timing etc.

and carry arbitrage where it takes advantage of the price discrepancy in stock and future contract. Currency arbitrage or futures-futures arbitrage occurs between different exchanges like INR bought in NSE at low price and sold in MCX at high price.

If you don’t have strong relationships with your suppliers, then you have options of all suppliers and you can compare prices then you can have arbitrage opportunity, this is making the best buy at a single rack. If you keep close contacts with suppliers in different areas and observe prices, then you may observe arbitrage opportunity, this is racks in different places.

5


Banking Sector in India – Challenges By- Deepanshu Panjwani (IMS DAVV INDORE)

India is moving ahead towards a journey

day operations, risk management, fraud

of noteworthy changes like the ease of

prevention and etc. Hence, these issues

doing

are pertaining to a varied section of

business,

insurance,

universal

financial

health

inclusion,

banking

operations

but

are

digitization, infrastructure development

interconnected with each other in vital

along

aspects.

with

the

growth

of

the

manufacturing and service sector.

Challenges faced by banking sector in

Globalization of the Indian Economy has

India are:

led to new boulevard and challenges for

Financial Inclusion

Indian banks. It has also been a reason for

It means making useful and affordable

the restructuring of the banking sector

financial

services

accessible

and

through a sequence of mergers and

available,

to

businesses

and

amalgamations.

individuals irrespective of their status.

In the last two decades, the Indian

Banks by connecting and updating its

banking system has been through a

customers with the ongoing services and

transformational phase in accordance

delivering them in a responsible and

with the forward movement by the real

sustainable way are holding an important

economy. This period is an evidence of

role in making this an enormous success.

adaptation of the bank’s innovative

However, for a population count like that

approach from brick and mortar branch

of India, it becomes a great challenge to

system to implementation of pioneering

make the services known to all. Various

delivery channels like internet banking,

schemes that are brought in the frame, to

ATMs, call centers, automated kiosks,

ease the lives of poor people and needful

chatbots and other automation with the

are completely unaware about them.

assistance of artificial intelligence.

Lack of financial literacy also acts as a

In respect to the banking sector, the

great

business is bound to face the issues

achieving a high rate of financial

which are

and constantly

inclusion. Rural and Semi rural markets

evolving, both internally and externally.

are the least touched in terms of financial

It comprises of third- party management,

literacy.

familiar

workforce management, banking day to

hurdle

all

for

policymakers

in

6


1. Capital Adequacy and Infusion

increasingly

audacious

Banks initiate provisions, to be protected

organized gangs with or without backing

against bad loans. This money cannot be

by state players have come to light,” the

used for any other purpose even lending.

RBI said.

Capital adequacy ratio or Capital to Risk

3. b. Fraud Risk

Assets ratio measure the funds/capital

Banking regulators are also concerned

bank has. Decrease/Fall in this ratio is a

with the increased number of fraudulent

worrisome sign as it leads to using

transactions in banks. And banks are

depositors’ money for lending. This

often seen unwilling to report these

money is, however, riskier than their

cases. All corporate loan-related fraud

own. There is a standard minimum

cases get seasoned for two to three years

percentage a bank needs to maintain as

as NPAs before they are reported as

CAR as per the Basel III norms, failing

fraud,” the RBI said in the report. In the

to do that results in severe issues. To

last five years, the volume of bank fraud

fulfill the minimum capital requirement

has increased by 19.6% to 5,064 cases.

in order to keep the banks in race

4. NPA

government infuses capital. Infusion of

It stands for non-performing assets. The

capital has multipurpose; it is majorly

assets (loans) which stop generating

introduced to NPA drowned banks so

income for the bank as the repayment of

that they can swim through it. The capital

principle

infused further can be used for major

doubtful which are classified as Non-

investing activities, to generate revenue.

performing assets. The mounting NPA

2. a. Cyber Security

and Stressed asset are day by day

With the rise of digitization in India,

becoming major concern. Aggregate

there has been trending upsurge in

gross

penetrations of computers, laptops, and

Commercial Banks) have gone from Rs

smartphones which facilitates the access

3, 23,464 cr, as on March 31, 2015, to Rs

of the Internet to Indians for opting the

10, 35,528 cr, as on March 31, 2018.

digital channels in order to perform their

There are 2 groups of defaulters who

banking transaction. The RBI classifies

have majorly contributed to this. The first

fraud as a transaction involving any

group is big companies and corporate

cheating, negligence, misappropriation

houses. Public Banks, possibly under

of funds, or forged documents. “Not only

political and economic pressure gave

simple attacks using phishing, vishing

loans to a lot of companies who

and social engineering, but also

defaulted. The 2nd group is that of

or/and

NPAs

of

attacks

interest

SCBS

by

becomes

(Schedule

7


farmers. Loan waivers just before the

task for the Indian banks to meet the

elections being the root cause, additional

service

to it the uncertainty of weather conditions

international standards.

also affect the overall productivity return

As there have been lower entry barriers by

from agriculture. One major hurdle in

the authorities, many players like private

recovering these loans is Indian law, as it

Banks, foreign banks and non-banking

treats an individual and his company as

finance companies etc. entered the banking

two different entities. So if a company

sector. The foreign banks and new private

has borrowed loan and defaults, at best

sector

bank can seize properties of the

technology revolution.

company, but cannot seize the property

7. Technology Management

of an individual. There are many

We

companies which have defaulted but

technological change and the emergence

their promoters have properties worth

of

billions of dollars. This allows the

acknowledging

individuals to corner fund irrespective of

implementing several technologies like

the loss his/her company bears.

risk

5. Payment banks

system, Information management and

There has been a significant rise in the

analytics, unique payment gateways and

number of the launching of the payment

internet banking. All these points to a

and small finance banks. A specific

flourishing

industry

segment is being targeted by these banks

technology

management.

and is determined to increase their share

while there has been significant action,

in the near future. As per the current

there are a lot of challenges and problems

scenario, these banks aren’t making

which are yet to be taken care of. Some

enough profits and doesn’t meet the

of them are that most banks do not yet

shareholder expectations in parlance with

predict

return on equity or return on investment.

transactions of their customers, in fact,

and

banking

banks

live

new

have

in

operation of

started the

times

of

paradigms.

and

this

the

real-time

constant

Banks change

compliance

high

are and

management

focused

on

However,

risks

and

they even do not have a multi6. Rigorous Competition

dimensional

The globalization has the outcome in

platform, cyber threats, heavy back- end

fierce competition for the domestic

workflows, frauds, lack of operational

banks. With the opening for foreign

efficiency, information security, lack of

banks in India, it has become a herculean

transparency, risk management, etc.

-

real-time

analysis

8


Budget 2019: Populism meets Financial Prudence By- Gaurav Badve (KJSMIR) On 1st February 2019, the interim Budget

the unorganized sector and low- income

was presented by the Indian Finance

salaried citizens. It lists down the macro-

Minister for the financial year 2019-20. The

economic plans for boosting the GDP

Budget was presented in the backdrop of

growth. These plans include expending

the national elections which are slated to

capital towards building next generation

take place in the months of April and May

physical infrastructure, a strong health

this year.

system, focusing on rural industrialization, farm production, and the creation of a

The Budget focussed its attention on the

Digital India, amongst others.

domestic rural and agricultural economy, Table 1: Receipts

2017-

2018-

2018-

2019-

2019-

2018

2019

2019

2020

2020

Budget

Revised

Budget

Estimate

Actual

Estimat

Estimat

Estimat

d

s

es

es

es

Growth

Receipts

1.

143523

Revenue

3

Receipts 2.

2018-

2019-

2019 (as 2020 (as %

of %

of

GDP)

GDP)

Revised

Budget

Estimat

Estimat

es

es

1725738

1729682

1977693

14.34%

9.27%

9.55%

1480649

1484406

1705046

14.86%

7.96%

8.23%

245089

245276

272647

11.16%

1.31%

1.32%

Tax

Revenue (Net

124248 to 8

Centre) 3.

Non

Tax

192745

Revenue

9


4. Capital Receipts

706742

716475

727553

806507

10.85%

3.90%

3.90%

15633

12199

13155

12508

-4.92%

0.07%

0.06%

100045

80000

80000

90000

12.50%

0.43%

0.43%

624276

634398

703999

10.97%

3.40%

3.40%

2442213

2457235

2784200

13.31%

13.17%

13.45%

5. Recovery of Loans 6.

Other

Receipts 7. Borrowin gs

and 591064

Other Liabilities 8.

Total

Receipts (1+4)

214197 5

All figures are in (In â‚š crore) Table 1 provides the different sources of receipts for the government and their Budget estimates (forecasting the likely receipts based upon pre-budget presentation trends), Revised estimates(a mid-year estimate based on six months actual trends and likely forecast of receipts for the remaining six months). Once the budget year is over, the Actuals show the actual details of receipts.

10


Table 2: Expenditures

2017-

2018-

2018-

2019-

2018

2019

2019

2020

Budget

Revised

Budget

Expenditures

Actuals

Estimates Estimates Estimates

2018-

2019-

2019-2020 2019 (as 2020 (as % Estimated GDP)

of %

of

GDP)

Growth Revised

Budget

Estimates Estimates 9.

Total

Expenditure

2141975 2442213

2457235

2784200

13.31%

11.87%

14.92%

1878835 2141772

2140612

2447907

14.36%

11.47%

13.12%

528952

575795

587570

665061

13.19%

3.15%

3.56%

191034

195345

200300

200740

0.22%

1.07%

1.08%

263140

300441

316623

336293

6.21%

1.70%

1.80%

(10+13) 10.

On

Revenue Account

of

which 11. Interest Payments 12. Grants in

Aid

for

creation

of

capital assets 13. Capital

On

Account All figures are in (In â‚š crore)

11


Table 3: Deficit

2017-

2018-

2018-

2019-

2018

2019

2019

2020

2019-2020

Deficit Budget Actuals

Revised

Estimated

Budget

Estimates Estimates Estimates

Growth

2018-2019

2019-2020

(as % of (as % of GDP)

GDP)

Revised

Budget

Estimates

Estimates

3.40%

3.40%

14. Fiscal

591064

624276

634398

703999

10.97%

Deficit

Table 4: GDP

GDP

Nominal GDP(Approximate)

2018-2019

2019-2020

2019-2020

Revised

Budget

Estimated

Estimates

Estimates

Growth

1,86,58,765

2,07,05,853

10.97%

Table 5: Debt

Debt

As on 31st March As on 31st March Estimated 2019

2020

Growth

87,97,766.30

95,29,549.00

8%

External debt

2,58,959.18

2,68,269.18

4%

Total

90,56,725.48

97,97,818.18

8%

Internal debt and other liabilities

All figures are in (In â‚š crore)

12


Debt Position

leakages of cash that occur in case of

Internal Debt consists of loans raised in the

subsidies or loan waivers. It will be

open market, from compensation and other

interesting to see how the government

bonds, etc. External Debt is a loan in

manages this without deviating from its

foreign currency and is very low and not a

fiscal deficit target.

cause of concern for the government. Similarly, the budgetary allocation has Total Debt of 97 lakh crore is only central

been made towards social security benefits

government debt and doesn’t contain state

in the form of pension schemes for workers

government liabilities.

in the unorganized sector.

It is a very small percentage of GDP and

Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan

should not be a cause of concern.

one of the world’s largest pension schemes plans to provide workers in the unorganized sector with monthly income up to ₹15000

Major Schemes

an assured monthly pension of ₹3000from the age of 60 years on a monthly

Reforms have been proposed with the aim

contribution of a small affordable amount

of increasing disposable income of farmers

during their working age. For example, an

and the Indian middle class.

unorganized sector worker joining pension Yojana at the age of 29 years will have to

Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAmman Nidhi PM - KISAN has been introduced which proposes to provide minimum guaranteed

contribute only ₹100 per month till the age of 60 years however a worker joining at the age of 18 years will have to contribute as

income to small and vulnerable farmers. It

little as ₹55 per month. This will be

is a Direct Benefit Transfer under which

followed by deposit of an equal matching

farmer families holding cultivable land up

share by the government in their pension

to 2 hectares (86% of farmers in India come in this bracket) will receive income support of ₹6000 in three equal instalments of ₹2000 being directly transferred to the bank

account every month. This scheme costing an estimated ₹500 crore is likely to benefit at least 10 crore workers in the unorganised sector in the next 5 years.

accounts of beneficiary farmers. For providing relief to small taxpayers, the It is expected to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers directly without the

Budget offers a full tax rebate for individuals whose taxable annual income is

13


below ₹5, 00,000. No changes are however

to be processed digitally within 24 hours

proposed in the income tax slab rates for

under this project. It would be interesting to

individuals or corporates, and persons

see how these proposals are implemented

earning income over ₹ 5, 00,000 remain to

and whether they can minimize challenges

be taxed in the same manner.

of

unreasonable

and

high-pitched

assessments by the tax authorities. Tax deduction has been raised from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000 for salaried persons this

The Budget also provides an impetus to the

is estimated to provide a tax benefit to 3

real estate sector. Proposals include:

crore salary earners and pensioners. •

Tax exemption on notional rent

Another benefit of this scheme is that as

earned by a person on two self-

more people start getting the tax benefit it

occupied houses; •

will encourage them to enter the tax base

Non-taxability of notional rental

which will ultimately drive the tax base to

income on unsold inventories for

increase.

two years; and •

An encouragement is also given to

up to ₹ 2 crores from investment in

technological development, creation of digital

infrastructure

and

two residential houses.

digitized

governance. The Budget proposes to create

year which is further likely to

assessment platform, where anonymous

accelerate construction and provide

scrutiny is proposed to be carried out and in

a boost to affordable housing.

a speedier manner. Tax returns are expected

(A)

Core

of

the

Core

Schemes

Mahatma National

2018 Actual

Gandhi Rural

55166

Tax exemptions for development of housing projects are extended by a

a taxpayer friendly, technology-driven, tax

2017-

Benefits of rollover of capital gains

2018-

2018-

2019-

2019

2019

2020

Expected

Budget

Revised

Budget

Growth

Estimates Estimates Estimates 55000

61084

60000

-1.77%

14


Employment Guarantee Program(MNREGA) Umbrella Scheme for Development

of 5061

5183

7609

5395

-29.10%

2287

1550

1227

-20.83%

Scheduled Castes Umbrella for

Programme

Development

Other

of

Vulnerable

1574

Groups All figures are in (In â‚š crore) The decline in the allocation of funds to

It is however surprising that the Budget

MNREGA in the Budget Estimates could

estimates for Income Support and Direct

push down wages even further when annual

Benefit have grown significantly, but those

revisions happen in April.

for Aircraft and Aeroengines have reduced with respect to the revised estimates. This

There has also been a decline in the

has been done to achieve a more populist

allocation of funds towards Umbrella

balance in light of the upcoming elections.

Scheme for Development of Scheduled Castes and Other Vulnerable Groups by more than 20%.

(B)

Major Central Sector Schemes

Interest

20172018 Actual

Subsidy

2018-

2018-

2019-

2019

2019

2020

Expected

Budget

Revised

Budget

Growth

Estimates Estimates Estimates

for

Short Term Credit to 13046

15000

14987

18000

20.10%

Farmers

15


Income

Support

Scheme Aircrafts

and

75000

275%

1778

1813

2369

2115

-10.68%

13097

16478

16478

29500

79.02%

of 23892

29663

37321

36691

-1.68%

Aeroengines

Direct Benefit Transfer

National

20000

Highways

Authority India(NHAI)

All figures are in (In â‚š crore)

The reason for this is it was estimated that

Impact on Debt and Equity Markets

the income support schemes would increase Equity market

or the share

market

disposable income and increase spending

experienced a slight boost as Sensex ended

and will lead to an inflationary play as a

212 points up after Budget announcements.

result.

Stocks of automotive industry such as Maruti

Suzuki

and

Heromotocorp

experienced huge gains in the Sensex, ending up to 7% higher. Agriculture stocks got

a

boost

due

to

favourable

announcements made for the farmers. Defence

stocks

rose

following

Conclusion The Government targets a fiscal deficit of 3.4% of the total GDP and current account deficit of 2.5% of the GDP for FY 2019-20. While this is a prudent target, in order to

the

implement the above reforms, further

announcement that the Defence Budget for

reforms may be required to maintain these

FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh

ratios. These targets are based on the

crore.Debt market experienced an increase

expectations to achieve a nominal GDP

in 10-year bond yield on the budget day

growth rate of 11.5% in FY 2019-20, along

however before the budget it had declined.

with higher tax collections, due to the GST.

16


One does get the feeling however that the government might have overestimated

References: https://www.indiabudget.gov.in

incomes and underestimated Fiscal Deficit. https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/ub2019Whether India is able to achieve its estimates also depends on the emerging global trade tensions. All-in-all, the Finance Ministry had to present a populist Budget keeping the elections in mind this summer

20/rec/annex9.pdf https://www.financialexpress.com/budget/ 2019-indian-union-budget-day-sharemarket-live-updates-sensex-nifty

but it also tried not to deviate from financial

https://www.ndtv.com/business/union-

prudence.

budget-2019-defence-budget-increased-by6-87-to-rs-3-18-lakh-crore-1987049

17


IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PEOPLE WHEN INVESTING IN STOCK MARKET By- Rohit Garg (IIM- Shillong) Most of the people in the world want to be rich and live a lavish lifestyle. But lavish style requires money, so we become greedy and want to earn more money without working hard and having a proper rationale as to how to do the same. People flock to the lottery, some people do illegal business, and some think to invest in stocks as a shortcut to become rich. But the question is whether the investment in the stock market makes us so wealthy that we can live a lavish lifestyle? Sometimes the path which seems rosy has a lot of thorns in it, and we tend to forget that. The shine of gold influences us without actually inspecting the materials.

Indians make their investment decision? An owner of the medical shop bought shares of XYZ company because his neighbor told him that stock will reap profits and that there is insider information on the stock that its price will rise. The owner's children were growing up, and in 2 to 3 years he wanted to get her daughter married and wanted to gift her a car in the marriage. The neighbor had a good reputation and had earned money in the market; this influenced the person to listen to his neighbor. Other people are those who invest in the same stocks as recommended by the analyst in the news channel. People believe whatever they see in the news is true because they have this notion that an analyst cannot be wrong, but they must understand that if all

In India, a large portion of the population is

the analysts were always right then why

in the middle-class bracket who are bored

they are giving their analysis on television

of their mundane job and want fame and

when they could have invested in the stock

money for themselves and their family

and have earned a lot of money from it.

members. I mean who doesn’t want to be

Why would I like to share my wealth with

rich. The primary motive in the lives of

others if I think that I possess exclusive

people is to earn money.

information about something? I am here to

Stocks market in India is pretty small as

do business and not to do the charity.

compared to the US and China. Most of the

Management pays money to the news

people are not literate and do not have

channel to publicize their stocks so that the

sound financial knowledge; other people

stock price can rise and they could

influence them. So how do most of the

18


manipulate the market and make money out

Another bias which affects the investor is

of it.

the disposition effect that is they "hold on

The investors get affected by various types of behavioral bias as well. Only 0.01% of the investors earn huge money. There are money biases which stop the people from making more money in the stock market. Most of the people don't accept their mistakes, and when they win, they give credit to themselves, and when they fail, they put the blame on others. This is known as self-attribution bias. An investor should understand that they can not be right 100 percent of the time. Even the most prominent investors of the world like Waren Buffet do not have a hundred percent success rate. People should accept this fact and try not to blame others for their own mistakes.

to the sellers and sell the winners soon." This implies that an investor will sell assets that have increased in value while keeping assets that have dropped in value. The investor should always have a stop loss for his/her decision and strictly adhere to it. One should not hope while trading that a stock will reach its previous trading value. Suzlon was one of the most famous stock which many people had faith in, and many people kept it on hold even when there was a lot of erosion of shareholder's wealth just on the belief that share price will return. One of the recent stories which I will share with you is about the latest happenings. After the government had implemented long term capital gains tax, I told my father to sell stocks of Deepak Fertilizers as I found it overpriced, but he did not sell the

19


shares because at that time it was trading at

But the research conducted so far has found

Rs.460 and had made a high of Rs.500

out that very few people can beat the market

some 10 - 15 days earlier. This is another

in the long run and most of the people

bias which we find in people as they do not

should try to overcome their biases and

want to sell when there is a right time and

have a clear objective while making an

want to wait until the share reaches its

investment decision. So it is better for

previous high price.

investors to invest in the market portfolio

Most people are overconfident that they can beat the market in the long run and from here the concept of active trading comes into the picture.

after their analysis. They should not be dependent on another person to do the same. There is nothing wrong in failing but not accepting the failure is a crime for investors.

20


Peer-to-Peer Lending – Are we ready for it? By-Rohit Khanna, Shivam Mehra, IMI New Delhi

Peer-to-peer lending, also abbreviated as P2P lending, is the practice of lending Borrowers

P2P management team assess the lender capacity

Investor pumps the money to P2P

Investor pumps the money to P2P

Borrowers Borrowers

Investor decides the borrower and P2P management just provides platform

Borrower(s)

money to individuals or businesses through

Lending Market is projected to grow at a

online services that match lenders with

CAGR of 51.5% from 2016 to 2022, to

borrowers.

reach value of $460,312 million.

The

social

network

of

individuals can be utilized to enhance the confidence and examine the risk in a better manner by studying the social behavior of individuals. The online platform matches peer lenders with borrowers in order to

There can be two fundamental operating methods for lending procedure on P2P platform. In first method, the lender puts money in a pool of funds. The P2P lending company dispatches the money to different

provide unsecured loans. It is a blessing in

borrowers. In this pattern, a lender doesn’t

disguise for borrowers as it provides hassle-

know the borrower’s information. The

free borrowing experience at competitive interest rates and boom for lenders who wish to invest their money in a completely

investor pours in the money and goes away, and is not part of the operational end of the lending.

new asset class with higher returns. P2P

21


Another method is the lender chooses a

multiple investors. All the investors for a

borrower on the platform, and provides the

particular loan will enjoy the same interest

money to him/her. In this case, the lender

rate to avoid any speculation and should

assesses the borrower’s capacity or takes

lead to the fair discovery of market-based

further business motive into consideration

assessment of borrower's risk profile.

if any. The borrower starts bidding in terms of his requirements and capacity to reach out to investors. The borrower needs to add Guarantor

who

takes

guarantee

of

borrower requesting the loan. The lender and borrower are allowed to negotiate the terms of the loans i.e. interest rate, tenure

Once the terms of loan are finalized and requisite documents have been collected, agreed loan terms are embedded in smart contract. A smart contract is a computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts

etc.

The platform doesn’t guarantee fixed or

allow

minimum rate of returns to any lender nor

transactions without third parties. These

guarantee the principal amount to lenders.

transactions are traceable and irreversible.

The major job of platform is to ease the

After that, investors are obligated to

decision making process by providing

transfer the money to the Nodal Escrow

relevant information about the borrowers

Account

and lenders to each other. To mitigate

disbursal. Money from Nodal Escrow

the

performance

(non-interest

of

credible

bearing)

for

investment risks, a loan can be funded by

22


account is transferred to the borrower’s

here to fulfill his/her dreams. There was no

bank account on priority basis.

cap on total investment per lender or on total amount that can be borrowed. When

Provision of Fees

government woke up for licensing, the Fees are generally paid to the platform by

industry had already grown to 1.3 trillion

both the lender as well as the borrower.

yuan (US$191 billion). The regulations

Borrowers pay an origination fee as a

were enforced suddenly which led to

percentage of the loan amount raised --

winding up of companies as most of them

according to their risk category. The lenders

operated in unregulated manner.

pay administration and additional fees if they choose to use any additional service for example, legal advice, recovery support etc. which the platform may provide. Failure of P2P platforms in China However, in the recent times Peer-to-peer lending platforms in China are shutting down at a rapid pace. According to

Many players like Ezubao were indulged in

Bloomberg report, 4500 P2P lending

Ponzi schemes which took money from

platforms in China have closed in last five

new investors to pay money due to earlier

years. The P2P lending industry in China

investors. These platforms also issued

has 50 million registered users and $192

wealth management–type products that had

billion of outstanding loans, according to

maturity mismatches, putting them at the

the Bloomberg report. There is a need to

risk of a run if investors pull out their

study the failure of these global start ups

investments. Initially, when P2P industry

and plan it in a better way for India.

was in growth stage, no regulator wanted to

According to a 2015 study by the Associate

take responsibility of the same. Hence rules

of

Accountants

were laid down without much responsibility

(ACCA), only 9.6% of Chinese people are

and enforcement was left to local or

able to get proper bank loans. This led to

provisional

government.

sudden rise of P2P industry in China,

platforms

registered

however in quite unregulated manner. The

governments and funds collected from

exaggerated

tempted

investors were diverted for government

ordinary citizens to invest large amount

projects that banks would not fund. It is

Chartered

Certified

return

figures

These with

P2P local

23


interesting

to

note

that

municipal

compared to its operations. When these will

government was overseeing the platforms

turn to P2P companies in India, there would

which were funding across the country!

exist high risk of default. According to

Road ahead for India

financial services firm Morgan Stanley, US-based CircleBack lending reported

For India, such issues are not expected to

losses of more than $126 Mn in 2015 due to

arise as RBI has already declared norms for

defaults. This is where AI and analytics

P2P companies. However it is necessary for

come into play. Till now, statistical models

regulatory body to keep check on extremely

have been employed to check for any risk

high interest rates offered to lenders as

of default. However, these models assume

people might end up investing huge savings

formal relationships between variables in

amount. Also, the Rs 10 lakh limit on lender

the form of mathematical equations, while

side should be relooked as it disinterests

machine learning methods can learn from

high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and

data without requiring any rules-based

premium customers. The Rs 10 lakh cap for

programming. Machine learning helps to

P2P lending may be a hurdle in the long run

study

as SMEs and MSMEs use this platform

monotonic behavior of variables in the data.

complex

non-linear

and

non-

extensively. The limit needs to be revised in the next two -three years. The current issue of high operations cost and low margins can be overcome if high volumes are allowed. The RBI guidelines asked all P2P operators to appoint a bank promoted trustee to monitor the flow of funds between escrow accounts of borrowers and lenders. This needs modification as currently IDBI trusteeship is the only one offering such services to P2P lenders enjoying monopoly and high price.

The process of P2P lending requires lot of online document verification like identity cards, bank account statements, income tax returns etc for decision making process. However, fake documents are on rise in the country. Artificial Intelligence can help us to detect fake documents uploaded by any of the parties. Techniques comprise of looking for places where parts of an image appear to be duplicated, such as if a number were copied from one place to another on a form, and looking for inconsistencies in

How Analytics & AI can come into play

coloring and fonts that could stipulate

In India, banks are reluctant to provide

tampering. More technical aspects of

loans to SME’s and traders where the

images, like levels of JPEG compression

company has relatively few capital assets

across a file or metadata that indicates

24


certain tools were used to edit the files, can also be used.

References ▪

(n.d.).

Retrieved

from

Anything that assists to bridge borrowers

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/Notifi

and lenders is a useful contribution to the

cationUser.aspx?Id=11137

financial system. connection perpetual

However any such

requires difficulties

conquering

the

of

and

costs

dramatic rise and fall of online P2P lending in China. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/01/

information. At this stage, P2P advantages

the-dramatic-rise-and-fall-of-online-

might not be explicit that would make them a significant part of the financial system in

Liu, J. (2018, August 02). The

p2p-lending-in-china/

Mittal, A. (2018, December 03). RBI

long term, but experimentation is a good

Directive: P2P Lending Platforms -

thing and we shall witness how the efficient

Peer to Peer Lending in India.

and coherent P2P platforms develop.

Retrieved

from

https://www.paisabazaar.com/blog/ rbi-directive-p2p-lending-platforms/

25


Study on Economic slowdown in Emerging Economies By- Sayyed Shahil (NITTE) Introduction

Therefore, economic slowdown may lead to

Economic slowdown is defined as the

multiple systemic

decrease in the economic growth over a

financial crisis (Sassower, 2019).

period of time (Ben-David & Papell, 1998).The commonly used measure of economic growth of a country is Gross Domestic

Product

(GDP).

Therefore,

economic slowdown is a situation when the GDP of the country slows significantly but not decline. For instance,a country’s GDP has continues grow at the rate of 3 percent, 4 percent and 5 percent in three years respectively.

Subsequently,

the

GDP

failure and global

In objectives of this article are in two folds. First, we assess if there is an economic slowdown in the emerging markets and are all the emerging markets slowing down. Second,

we analyse causes

for the

slowdown. We collect the relevant data of the countries which are categorised as emerging markets by Morgan Stanley Capital International. The list of countries is presented in the Table 1.

growth decreases to 4.5 percent, 4.6 percent Table 1: List of Emerging Markets

and 4.7 percent. This situation is called as economic

slowdown.

The

economic

Region Country

recession (DePillis & Isidore, 2018).

Brazil

India Pakistan

Therefore, it is very important for the policy

Americ

Colombi

makers or the investors watch out for the

a

a

early signals and avoid slowdown turning

Chile

into a full blown recession.

Peru Mexico

The emerging markets is said to be the

Czech

the 21st Century (ECB, 2016). The

the global trade integration. Further, $225

Europe

Asia

Indonesia South-

Malaysia

Republic Greece

Thailand

Hungary

Philippine s

billion dollar denominated debt of the emerging markets is maturing in 2019.

China

Korea

major drivers of global economic growth in

affect the developed economies too due to

Country

n

slowdown may even lead the economy to

slowdown in the emerging economies may

Regio

Poland

Taiwan

26


Russia

no economic slowdown in emerging

Egypt

markets in general. Africa

Middle

Qatar

-East

Turkey

South Africa

UAE

Further, we analyse the growth in emerging markets region-wise i.e. America, Europe, Africa, Middle-East and Asia. The region-

The relevant data for the article is collected

wise Real GDP growth is presented in Figure 2.

from Bloomberg. Is there a Slow Down in Emerging

Figure 2: Real GDP Growth in Emerging Markets - Region-wise

Markets?

AMERICA

The Figure 1 presents the average of Real Peru

GDP growth of all the emerging markets

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Mexico

8.00

(listed above) from 2011 to 2018 and two

6.00

years Bloomberg estimate of the GDP

4.00

growth.

2.00

0.00

Figure 1: Real GDP Growth in Emerging

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018 2019E 2020E

-2.00

Markets -4.00

6.00 4.00 2.00 0.00

-6.00

EUROPE

Czech Republic

Greece

Hungary

Poland

Russia

8.00

Source: Bloomberg Above figure indicates that there was an

6.00 4.00 2.00

economic slowdown in the emerging

0.00

markets from 2011 to 2016. However, there

-2.00

2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 2 0 1 9 E2 0 2 0 E

was a sign of recovery in the year 2017 and

-4.00 -6.00

2018. The Bloomberg estimates for the year 2019 and 2020 looks stable. We may note

-8.00 -10.00

that the economic outlook of the rating agency Moody’s is also ‘broadly stable’ for emerging markets for the year 2019 (Lee, 2018). Therefore, we conclude that there is

27


employment, production and export of the

ASIA India

Korea

Thailand

Malaysia

Taiwan

Philippines

Pakistan

China

country as UK is the major trade partner. This is main reason for the decrease in the expected GDP of Poland.

10.00 8.00

Korea unemployment rate is increasing and

6.00

it is the highest since 2010. Unemployment

4.00 2.00

being the leading indicator, we may expect

0.00 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 82 0 1 9 E2 0 2 0 E

Source: Bloomberg From the Figure 2 it can be observed that Peru, Chile, Poland, Korea, Taiwan,

Korea will experience the slowdown. The Figure 3 presents the unemployment rate in Korea from 2009 to 2018. Figure 3: Unemployment Rate in Korea

China, Turkey, and South Africa are the slowing markets. Causes and Effects of slowdown Peruis one of the emerging countries that earned lower score of -0.13 in the World Bank’s

assessment

of

government

effectiveness because of the weak political stability. This is leading to decrease in YoY GDP growth rate. Chileunemployment rate has been raising

Source: Bloomberg

since 2014. The foreign reserves of the country which provide a defensive against short-term dislocations from sudden shifts in

funding

is

below the thresholds

recommended by the IMF. This is reason GDP

of

the

country

is

decreasing

significantly. Poland economy is expected to decline in

Taiwan is facing downward trend in export orders since 2009 it has not recovered from then. By the end of 2018 YoY export growth was -2.10. This is purely because decrease in the demand for smart devices around the globe. This lead to the decrease in countries GDP.

coming years, because of trade relationship with United Kingdom which is said to be exiting the European Union. This will affect

28


Figure 4: Real GDP (yoy%) vs Export

Figure 5: Turkey Consumer confidence

orders (yoy%) of Taiwan

index

Source: Bloomberg Source: Bloomberg South Africa jobless rate stood at 27.5 China

be

percent in 3rdquarter which is the 15 year

attributed to the rising quality and quantity

highest. Unemployment rate being the

of work force, efficient capital allocation

leading indicator we can expect the

and end of demographic dividend (Hedrick-

slowdown to continue (Mark, 2018). South

2018). As a result,

China’s

Africa stands 3rd place in most vulnerable

manufacturing purchase manager index

country in Emerging-Market vulnerability

(PMI) continued to fall, in January 2018 it

scorecard. It indicates that country is liked

was 51.3 and in December 2018 it

to get effected by any panic in the African

decreased to 49.4.International Monetary

region.

Fund also stated that china holds reserve

Probability of recession, African economy

below the thresholds recommended by

recession probability is 22.5 percent.

Wong,

economic

slowdown

can

According

to

Bloomberg

IMF. These reserves will help china to bulwark against short-term dislocation from sudden shifts in funding. Turkey is experiencing high inflationary pressure which iscurrently at 20.30 percent, highest in the last five years. Turkey has outstanding debt of $45.98 billion maturing in

2019-20.

The

Chief

Middle-East

Economist for Bloomberg has predicted a recession in Turkey for the year 2019. This is because there is plunge in the consumer confidence index.

Source: Bloomberg The higher interest rates in South Africa’s is also posing challenge for its banking Industry. Further, we see the consumer confidence index declining from 2016. In 2016 it was 95.25 percentwhich declined to 84.57 percent in 2018. All these leading

29


indicators show that the slowdown in South

DePillis, L., & Isidore, C. (2018). Five

Africa may continue.

ways to tell if a slowdown will turn into a recession.

Conclusion

Retrieved

from

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/02/econo The data presented in the article shows that

my/slowdown-recession-warning-

there is no economic slowdown in

signs/index.html

emerging markets in general. However, we observe the economic slowdown in some regions. The slowdown in China because of high tariffs

imposed

by USA.

The

slowdown in European region is due to the

ECB. (2016). The slowdown in emerging market economies and its implications for the global economy. ECB Economic Bulletin, 2(3), 1–15.

Brexit of United Kingdom from European

Hedrick-Wong, Y. (2018). The Reality Of

Union. In the Asian region, we see

China’s Economic Slowdown. Retrieved

slowdown in, Korea and Taiwan.

from https://www.forbes.com/sites/yuwahedrick

References

wong/2018/08/23/the-reality-of-chinasBen-David, D., & Papell, D. H. (1998). Slowdowns

and

Meltdowns:

economic-slowdown/5a875ad94d86

Postwar

Growth Evidence From 74 Countries. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 80(4), 561–571.

Johnson, S., & Orlik, T. (2018). Who Loses If

Panic

Returns?

Retrieved

from

Bloomberg Global Insight

https://doi.org/10.1162/003465398557834

30


How do elections impact the macros of the Indian Economy? By- Shipra Agarwal (XIME Bangalore) Actions driven by perception, the need for

create a mirage of a great rule that people

prosperity and the integrating world are the

can reflect upon while casting their vote.

reasons for the commotion around the

Due to this reason right before the election

globe. A slight increase in the momentum

government spending goes up but the

in any of these factors spurs a chain reaction

question that is overlooked is how does this

disrupting the balance that we are trying to

expenditure really impact the economy?

maintain. Disruption can be associated with the economies of the world which have time and again created chaos given their inherent sensitivity towards the exogenous and indigenous events taking place on a realtime basis.

The past records show that during the elections government's actual expenditure exceeds the budgeted estimates which lead to an increase in the fiscal deficit. Government embarks upon the journey of populism and spends heavily on social

Moving on to the Indian economy, every

security schemes, farm loan waivers,

five years it goes through the process of

salaries of public servants, etc.

disruption with the change in the ruling government. In this world driven by network connectivity and data, different political parties have identified their own set of stakeholders whom they try to manipulate using social media. Every party has

chosen

different

religion

Politicians stress upon the need of the hour for the farm and non- farm sector to justify their actions. But the glaring reality is that this kind of expenditure increases the stress of the economy and does little to relieve the farmers of their burden.

and

communities as their stakeholder to win the

In truth, the majority of the small and

favor of majority and this is the main reason

marginal

for the persistent culture divide in the

unorganized sector to borrow money. Farm

country.

loan waivers increase the state debt and

farmers

simultaneously Foundation of elections is laid upon the promises made by the politicians to the public and the despairing fact is that an initiative is taken towards the fulfillment of

still

increase

approach

their

the

interest

payment obligation. Also, NPAs of the banks providing agricultural loan shoot up which makes them wary of the risk exposure in the districts with a high

these promises close to the next elections to

31


probability of loan waivers. On the other

manipulated and it is difficult to point

hand, another reality is that in India big

fingers when corruption is prevalent at all

farmers are able to get the loans easily

levels of the system. For the next elections

because of bureaucracy and corruption

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley came up with

prevalent in the country. Waivers create a

electoral bonds to make the funding process

moral hazard which is the reason behind big

transparent, but how successful it will be

farmers deliberately not repaying the loans.

when the identity of the donors is kept

Elections are a costly affair and the

secret, is yet to be seen.

economy does not gain anything from this

Oil prices are another sensitive issue in

non-productive

Political

India and most of the political parties claim

parties spend large sums of money on

to bring them down while campaigning for

advertising,

voter

elections. For this reason, oil marketing

mobilization, propaganda and campaign

companies increase the oil prices in the fear

material printing.

of

expenditure.

transportation,

A fact that we all know but needs to be pointed out is that previously mentioned expenditures made are all explicit but the major portion of the spending goes on swaying the voters to their side. Now, where does this money comes from? The major sources of funding are corporates and big business houses which transfer their

government

intervention

during

elections to keep the prices in check. This affects the stock prices of the oil marketing companies and they are exposed to the risk of both oil price trajectory and government policy during the election. Currently, OMCs are also facing the possibility of dilution of stake by the government in these companies.

black money to the parties to do their

In business parlance, investors expect a

bidding in return. This directly attacks the

return for the efforts made but in India, we

competitive environment and affects the

are witnessing a cycle of change of

growth rate.

governments with low significant growth.

In 2008, the government took the first step towards

making

political

funding

transparent with the Right to Information act which allowed disclosure of income tax returns of political parties. But this step has shown little to no effects as reports can be

In the midst of opportunistic politics, the greater good of the public is overlooked. The opportunity cost of the elections is the development of infrastructure and longterm benefits to the economy. We are still struggling for the survival of the majority of

32


the population when the world is moving

Even with a hazy vision of a foggy future,

ahead with artificial intelligence.

we still hope for a better government, a

A dream is what we chase, the reality is what we face, a fusion of the two is the hope

better economy and a better tomorrow. "Acche Din Aayenge�

that we keep in our fragile hearts with the slight trepidation that one day this all will fade.

33


The Nudge Theory By- Shalini Balakrishna (KJSIMR) Have we ever pondered about a technique

without

to prevent someone from doing something

significantly manipulating their economic

that is detrimental to his or her well-being,

incentives. Since nudges are not meant to

without actually harping about the folly?

penalize people, they are considered to be

Or, a technique that will make someone

more effective and certainly less prone to

behave or act in a manner that we want?

resistance

The Nudge Theory throws light upon

instructions and forbiddance. In this article,

exactly this facet. Popularized in 2008 by

we will be looking at various domains

Nobel Memorial Prize awardee, Richard

where the Nudge Theory is applied, the

Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their book

benefits associated with it, along with some

“Nudge:

contradictory views, and latest trends.

Improving

Decisions

About

Health, Wealth, and Happiness�, this concept remained an enigma until the mid2000s. Falling under the purview of not just Behavioral Economics, the Nudge Theory

forbidding

as

any

compared

choices

to

and

outright

A very famous technique adopted as a sub-conscious nudge in order to render a cost effective solution is the image of a fly that is baked in the ceramic of urinals at

has garnered application across various

Amsterdam’s

domains, particularly involving citizenry

seemed to be a ridiculous proposition,

and

nudge

proved out to be beneficial when, Jos van

essentially refers to coaxing or providing

Bedoff, during his military service in the

positive reinforcement of a set of human

1960s, observed that an army urinal bearing

behaviors, with the help of hints and

a small dot was much cleaner as compared

suggestions, that can either consciously or

to all other urinals. This idea was later

sub-consciously facilitate, motivate, and

implemented in 1980s in the urinals at

alter human actions in a predictable way,

Schiphol airport and there was a remarkable

consumer

behavior.

A

Schiphol

airport.

What

34


reduction in the after installation, spillage

Nudge in Banking – The banking sector

and

by

can use the Nudge concept to benefit

approximately 80%, following the sub-

customers. Real time analytics are used to

conscious targeting of the fly by the urinal

facilitate transactions, save time and effort.

users.

Alerts pertaining to spending patterns are

subsequent

cleaning

costs,

Application Areas of the Nudge Theory

provided to the customers such that they plan expenses appropriately.

Analytics Marketing Nudge and Analytics are seen to be intertwined.

Behavioral

science

understanding of human behavior are significant

tools

for

any

analytics

professional.

Nudge is a real driver which influence consumers. It involves learnings from behavioural

economics.

To

better

understand human behaviour and it’s both rational and irrational dimensions, it

Nudge in Telecom Analytics – Leveraging

becomes more efficient to take actions and

data-driven technologies such as image

to modify the behaviour as we wish. To

recognition,

analytics,

avoid marketing campaigns which are not

Telecom

efficient. It is an advanced process of

operators use data science and machine

decision-making process. Benefits involve-

behavioral

predictive clustering,

etc.

learning to extend the applications of Nudge theory.

Remarkable power through costeffective actions.

35


Example- For increasing significantly low

design thinking, consultancy. Now, let us

pension saving rates across private sector

see how nudge theory works:

employees, the UK Government mandated employers to establish an “automatic enrolment” scheme in 2012. This scheme would make savings as a default feature of the employment for the employees, thus incentivizing them to do whatever they

Anchoring - If someone asks us the following question, “Population of Chicago less or more than 5million” or “Population of Chicago less or more than 500”, people are more likely to respond a higher number to 5miilion.

want and stimulate savings. With this scheme, the active membership of private

Loss Aversion - People tend to avoid loss

sector pension schemes increased from 2.7

than making gain. Making use of this

million to 7.7 million in 2016.

consumer buying behaviour, companies

tend to have a policy of one free samples Low

cost,

simple,

effective

technique to the new behaviours Obama government uses Nudge to bring the ideas that informed Nudge to bear on White House decisions on everything from shaming companies so they pollute less to getting people to make use of their tax-free pension plans. •

Improve

ROI

from

marketing

decision. Social Pressure - We like to think that we are individuals but we also love to jump on a bandwagon. We have a pull towards conformity. See the milligram experiments.

proof that out of 7 people in a room, with one person that can change the single

Campbell uses Nudge theory to understand a decision you make about the way choices that are presented. What is the order in which we list options? What is the description given to each option? What is the typical length of the form that is asked to be filled by the respondent? Can it easily comprehend? In Vivo BVA has also introduced a predictive real life thinking involves

when they have to make a purchasing

In psychological experiments it is been a

strategies

which

etc. so that consumers won’t want to lose it

creativity

techniques,

person’s opinion on something which is scientifically correct. But how can theory of nudge be used to pursue people to do good things like blood donation, helping other etc. We need to set up our own feedback systems. How can people know things are going wrong better still how can they know things are about to go wrong? Fitness trackers tell us how many steps were taken and how many calories burnt today

36


expecting errors. It helps us by knowing

with regard to the benefits of programmes

what can go wrong. We can build in

such as Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana,

measures to prevent this from happening.

Digital India and Skill Development. The

Tourist destinations like London have

modus operandi used was social messaging

unavoidable look right slogans on the side

and new advertisement campaigns, that

of the pavements. In cafeteria, healthy food

helped in widening the scope and reach of

is kept in the shelf which is on the view of

such flagship programs.

the buyers and the junk food is kept on the upper and lower side, away from the direct sight of buyers. This determines the individual’s behaviour. These are some methods used by the government that help to shift the society. The Nudge Theory in recent times In September 2016, it was announced that the government think tank NITI Aayog was going to set up a “Nudge Unit”. The Nudge Unit was an important topic of conversation in 2010 when former British Prime Minister David Cameron established a Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to work upon a wide range of projects.

If the nudge unit has only been an idea on paper till now, then the time is opportune for the Government to now invest in and begin using behavioral insights. Some public policy outcomes can be drastically improved by targeting a change in the behavior of people. Take for instance, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). While the Prime Minister himself said that SBM requires behavioral change on a large scale, the efforts of the mission have been directed mostly towards construction of toilets. Stepping-up the compliance of tax is the other area of discussion. India could take a clue from UK’s experiment with using insights from behavioral economics

NITI Aayog had tied up with the Bill &

to get more people to pay their taxes on

Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to

time. Similarly, if financial inclusion is to

work on the changing behaviors of people

be brought about in true spirit, mere

which would prove to be an impetus to

opening of accounts, through the Jan Dhan

make programs and policies of the

Yojana, is not going to be enough. It is

government more effective. The project

necessary to have a framework which is

was established when the think-tank was

propelled towards the upliftment and

riddled with complaints from various state

empowerment of the poor by dealing with

governments on policy implementations.

the psychology of the poor.Unless policy

The aim of the unit was to sensitize people

interventions are designed to change

37


behaviors, problems stemming from deep-

“authentication”

rooted cultural and social norms will not be

voluntary identification platform intended

rooted out from our society. This does not

for welfare services, demonetization and

necessarily mean that policies designed

the insistence on cashless payment, as well

using behavioral insights will solve all

as the Goods and Services Tax. All of these

problems or will even be effective in the

have a common feature: war on cash.

Indian context. The crux of the Nudge

Though

theory would comprise the identification of

demonetization

opportunities and the implementation of

problematic for Thaler, his nudge theory is

changes in the purview of India.

completely in sync with the shaping of the

Though India is a young country with great potential, it suffers from extreme wealth inequality. Some studies claim one in five Indians as being poor. A host of social issues is faced by a poor population with multiple regional and societal differences, as

female

infanticide,

deep

superstitions, drug abuse among youth (in certain states), child marriage, dowry, littering,

the

from

implementation might

have

a

of been

cash-is-bad global narrative.

The Road Ahead

such

programme

non-payment

of

taxes

and

corruption, etc. Thus there is a large gap where subtle nudging measures could create a tremendous impact. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has championed Richard Thaler as a certificate for Narendra

The ‘Nudge Theory’ finds its potential applications in varied fields such as healthcare,

public

policy,

influencing

citizen behavior, investment planning and personal finance. For example, tax breaks under Section 80C are a nudge to encourage people to invest in financial instruments such as equity-linked savings schemes and the Public Provident Fund instead of gold or

property.

The

‘nudge’

of

lower

premiums on life covers are used by insurers to encourage customers to stay away from smoking. Similarly, mutual fund SIPs, are also a nudge to investors to allay fears and panic during market falls, by

Modi’s demonetization. This constitutes

making regular investing the default option.

the first step towards going cashless and a

Lack of knowledge, poor incentives or

good beginning to reduce corruption. A

inertia often causes us to select sub-optimal

number of major policies shaped the Modi

choices. If a nudge helps us choose an

government’s narrative since his election in

option which is also socially desirable, it

May 2014. These include transformation of

could result in better social harmony, civic

Aadhaar into a mandatory, universal digital

sense and public healthcare.

38


Pledging of shares- Indication of India’s own subprime? BY-TRIPTI LAL (SRCC) the lender can sell the shares in the market so as to maintain the margin.

What exactly is pledging of shares? Pledging of shares is a tool used by a company’s

promoter

or

even

retail

Now, when promoters borrow against their

investors to secure loans by keeping their

shareholdings, they usually do to meet their

shareholding as collateral to any bank,

working capital needs or just keep the firm

NBFC or any other financial institution. A

afloat, which makes pledging a very risky

promoter of a company pledges his shares

proposition. Also, high leverage may shake

as collateral to raise money with the

investor confidence which might lead to

valuation of prices lesser than the market

selling of shares, leading to a fall in share

value.

price. As share prices fall, the margin value

The difference is known as the margin which acts as a cushion or a security to the lender. If the margin falls below the predetermined level ( level ascertained by both

increases and fall in the value of collateral leading to promoters selling more shares which further pulls down the share prices. This increased volatility can create a debt trap for the promoters and reduce the firm’s

valuation. lender and borrower in consultation), the

Current scenario

promoter must pay in cash or pledge more

Recently, Anil Ambani’s RCom pledged Rs

shares as collateral or sell shares in market and pay the raised money to the lender. If the promoter fails to maintain the margin,

8.15 crore shares or 2.95% stake to Axis Trustee in addition to already pledged Rs17.25 crore or 6% stake at Axis Trustee.

39


It was a measure to arrest the slide in the

ledging shares fuelling greater risk and

prices of its stocks as L&T finance and

volatility in the market.

Edelweiss Group sold some already pledged shares of RCom.

The pledging spree began in 2014 after the rise of NBFCs and as they resorted to

Not only RCom, but firms like Subhash

aggressive lending, promoters could easily

Chandra headed Zee group too pledged

raise funds from NBFCs by pledging their

some of its shares to secure loans to meet its

shares. The shares pledged were the mid

working capital needs and other expansion

cap and small cap ones, which created more

projects.

Indian

volatility in the market as sentiments started

Corporations, the new trend is where their

correcting the market in around 2015,

promoters are pledging shares to secure

leaving promoters reel under debt.

For

most

of

the

loans and keep their corporations afloat. Adani Group, for instance has already pledged shares worth Rs 35,226, a mind boggling figure, and its subsidiaries have pledged close to 50% of shares to various financial institutions. Tata Group, Jindal Steel, Future Group, GMR Group all are walking down the lane of pledging promoter –held shares.

Also, there has been a direct link, direct correlation

established

between

how

promoters of companies in stressed sectors resort to massive pledging of shares to, again, keep their firms afloat. Textiles, Power, Construction and Steel sector firms are already facing insolvency and one of the reasons could be attributed to extensive shareholding pledging. Since these sector

The following data explicitly depicts that

shave long gestation period for the new

how big organisations are resorting to

Greenfield projects, securing loans through pledging shares is seen a much easier and

40


hassle free route, without realising the fact

SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure

that it erodes the shareholder’s wealth and

requirements)

finally a company’s market value.

mandates that at least 20% of the public

The data above depicts that over the time the number of companies that have its promoters pledging its shares has increased and the nominal value of these shares has also increased substantially. What does the Companies Act, 2013 says? The Companies Act, 2013 doesn’t place nay restriction on the quantum or manner in which the promoters might pledge their shares. Also, it doesn’t prescribe the minimum percentage to be held by the promoters. They are free to pledge any percentage although Regulation 36 of The

Regulations

2009

does

issue must be held by the promoters for a minimum lock-in- period of 3 years. Post three years, the promoters are free to sell their shares. Is it an indication of India’s own subprime? When the ‘wealth effect’ over scores the ‘income effect’, it signals an inflating bubble, which soon might burst, paving way for an impending recession or crisis. The ‘pledging bubble’ too is a signal for the same. The ‘promoter funding bubble’ is quite enormous, and its enormity can be judged by the fact that promoters’ loan

41


against shares may be at least Rs 1.2 lakh

environment of high risk and volatility and

crores based on disclosure of Rs 2.4 lakh

tighter liquidity, higher leverage is making

crores worth pledges( total pledged shares

investors lose confidence, and difficult to

are Rs2.4 lakh, out of which 50% are

maintain margin and collateral values again

promoter-held shares, the rest are retail

leading to a fall in the market value of a

shares).

company.

The situation is worse, since it is leading to

SEBI is keeping a close watch since recent

a double whammy or ‘double leverage’

decline in prices of RCom shares on the

since promoters like Subhash Chandra of

allegations by one of its lenders, Edelweiss,

Zee group are pledging their shares,

has led to plummeting of share prices and

borrowing funds and investing in Special

thus fall in the value of collateral and SEBI

Purpose

fears this suit might be followed for other

Vehicles,

which

are

like

repackaging smaller loans to diversify risk.

companies’

shares,

where

This is known as Asset securitisation, the

borrowing is skyrocketing.

promoter

main cause of the 2007 subprime crisis. Pledging of shares is also a signal of corporate governance lapses since in an

42


References:

untouchable/articleshow/67970682.

1) Economic

Times,

“Indian

Inc

forced to pledge shares” [online]. Available

at

:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.c

pledge-India’s crisis”

own

sub-prime

[online].

Available

.com/markets/stocks/news/promote

promoters-forced-to-draw-loans-

r-share-pledge-indias-own-

by-pledging-theirholdings/articleshow/68034070.cm

subprime/articleshow/68105880.c ms

s 2) Economic Times, “Promoter 2942

Available

3) Economic Times, “Promoter-share

at:https://economictimes.indiatimes

om/markets/stocks/news/ind-inc-

stocks

cms

untouchable”

[online]. at:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.c om/markets/stocks/news/promoter-

4) CS

Vikas

pledging [online].

Gupta,

“All

about

shares”,

Tax

Guru

Available

at:

https://taxguru.in/sebi/pledgingshares.html

share-pledges-are-all-these-2942stocks-

43


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