The Evening Wrap: SC calls for protecting Indian investors from sudden market volatility

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the government to produce the existing regulatory framework in place to protect Indian investors, who are mostly middle class and reported to have lost several lakhs of crores in the past two weeks after the U.S.-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research published a report, which led to sudden market volatility following a meltdown in the Adani Group shares. Assuring the SEBI that it does not intend to go on a “witch-hunt” and is more interested in an ‘open dialogue”, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud flagged the court’s concern for Indian investors and highlighted the need to protect them from such sudden market volatility in the future. “How do we ensure protection of Indian investors? Usually, this may happen on a small scale, but reports in newspapers say the total loss suffered by Indian investors may go in the range of several lakh crore in terms of investor value,” Chief Justice Chandrachud addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the SEBI. Chief Justice Chandrachud said the stock market was no longer a place for just “high value investors” to dabble in. “It is also a place now where a whole wide spectrum of the middle class are investing due to changes in the financial and tax regimes… Everybody is in the market now. There is a need for circuit-breakers here like how you have in other areas,” the CJI told Mehta. The Solicitor General said the market took a plunge on “something” that happened outside, beyond the jurisdiction of the SEBI. “That report [Hindenburg] was the trigger point,” Mehta submitted. “Stock market goes entirely by sentiment… What we want to look into is whether we have a robust mechanism in place to protect Indian investors… Capital is moving seamlessly, funds are flowing in and out of India… How do we ensure that what happened does not happen again in the future?” Chief Justice Chandrachud said. The court, on Mehta’s submission, recorded that the SEBI was “closely monitoring the situation and continues to do so”. The Supreme Court clarified in its order that its observations should not be construed as a reflection on the SEBI or other statutory authorities. The court asked the SEBI to submit a note by Monday detailing the legal and factual aspects of the existing regulatory framework for the securities market. The market regulator could also give a “threadbare analysis” of its powers and even suggest whether it needed to grow more teeth to deal with the “new world” of seamless capital movement. If the Centre wanted, the court said it could even consider constituting an expert committee of domain experts in banking and securities along with a former judge to act as a “wise guiding force”. The court made it clear that it did not want to encroach into the policy domain. It would tread carefully, keeping a wary eye against causing any upsets in the stock market. The court listed the case for February 13. The Bench was hearing separate petitions filed by advocates Vishal Tiwari and M.L. Sharma for an investigation into Hindenburg Research’s report. Animal Welfare Board withdraws appeal to celebrate February 14 as Cow Hug Day The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on Friday withdrew its earlier appeal which called for celebrating February 14 as ‘Cow Hug Day’ “As directed by the Competent Authority and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying the appeal issued by Animal Welfare Board of India for celebration on Cow Hug Day on 14th February, 2023 stands withdrawn,” the AWBI said in a statement. On February 8, the Board had appealed to the public to celebrate February 14, a day which is observed as Valentine’s Day in many parts of the world, as Cow Hug Day, claiming that embracing the cow would bring “emotional richness” and increase “individual and collective happiness.” In an appeal signed by its secretary S.K. Dutta, the AWBI had said that the cow is the backbone of Indian culture and the rural economy, sustaining life, and representing cattle wealth and biodiversity. “It is known as Kamdhenu and Gaumata because of its nourishing nature like a mother, the giver of all, providing riches to humanity. Vedic traditions are almost on the verge of extinction due to the progress of western culture over time. The dazzle of western civilization has made our physical culture and heritage almost forgotten,” the February 8 official appeal had said. “This is issued with the approval of competent authority and on the direction of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying,” it had added. Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking complete ban on BBC in India over Modi documentary The Supreme Court on February 10 dismissed a petition filed by the Hindu Sena president to ban the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India and order an investigation into the broadcaster and its employees’ “anti-India and anti-Indian government” reportage and films. A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M.M. Sundresh said the petition filed by Vishnu Gupta was “absolutely misconceived”. Senior advocate Pinky Anand, for the petitioner, pointed out that the government-blocked BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ was timed to create an “anti-India propaganda” at a time when India was a rising economic power. Today you have a position, when you have an Indian as the British Prime Minister. India is rising as an economic power,” it was even argued. “What is this? Do you want us to put in place a complete censorship?” the Bench reacted. The petition claimed the BBC film was surreptitiously intended to disturb the peace and national integrity in the country which has led to “India’s overall growth since 2014 under the Prime Ministership of Sh. Narendra Modi”. It said an “anti-India lobby and media, particularly the BBC, cannot digest the national growth and seemed to be biased. A representation to the Home Ministry on January 27 has so far not yielded a response”, the petitioner said. The Court said there was no merit in the petition and rejected it. PM Modi gave a general speech in Parliament, did not answer Opposition’s queries: Kharge Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that the speeches given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both Houses of Parliament were “general speeches” and did not address any concerns raised by the Opposition. The Congress President termed the Prime Minister’s speech in both Houses of Parliament as an everyday speech and said that the government is “arrogant” and avoiding important questions on inflation, unemployment or those posed on the Adani row. He said that the value of the rupee is continuously falling, 71,000 primary schools are being closed and the number of private educational institutions is increasing all over the country and the Prime Minister is not giving any answers. “PM Modi said that only he can save this country, this is arrogance,” said the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Yesterday in the Upper House of Parliament, PM Modi took a dig at the Nehru-Gandhi family over many schemes named after its members and asked why they were “scared of keeping the Nehru surname”. Replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, PM Modi targeted Congress leaders who accused the government of trying to obliterate the significance of the work done by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The Opposition parties have been demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row. PM Modi said he had read somewhere that more than 600 government schemes were named after the Nehru-Gandhi family. ”Some had problems with the names of schemes of govt and Sanskrit words in the names. I read in a report that 600 government schemes were in the Gandhi-Nehru family’s name...I don’t understand why people from their generation don’t keep Nehru as their surname, what’s the fear and shame?” PM Modi said. South Africa declares ‘state of disaster’ over energy crisis South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday declared a national “state of disaster” over his country’s crippling power shortages, saying they posed an existential threat to the economy and social fabric. “We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis,” Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament. “The crisis has progressively evolved to affect every part of society. We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our water infrastructure and our transport network.” State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark, disrupting manufacturing and hurting businesses of all sizes. The power cuts are expected to reduce economic growth in Africa’s most industrialised nation to just 0.3% this year. Declaring a national state of disaster gives the government additional powers to respond to a crisis, including by permitting emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight. The legislation was used to enable health authorities to respond more swiftly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some analysts doubt it will help the government expand power supply much quicker. “The state of disaster will enable us to... support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators (and) solar panels,” Ramaphosa said. The electricity crunch has been years in the making, a product of delays in building new coal-fired power stations, corruption in coal supply contracts, criminal sabotage and failures to ease up regulation to enable private providers to swiftly bring renewable energy on tap. Ramaphosa said on Thursday he would appoint a minister of electricity within the presidency to focus solely on the crisis. He also pledged to continue with South Africa’s partly donor-funded transition to cleaner energy, with planned investments of 1.5 trillion rand ($84.52 billion) in the next half-decade. In Brief: Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress MP Rajani Ashokrao Patil for the remainder of the current Budget Session for filming House proceedings. Dhankhar, who had earlier in the day indicated that action would be taken against those who had filmed a ruckus during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Thursday, asked leaders of political parties to express their views on the issue. Thereafter, a motion was adopted to suspend Patil for the remainder of the Budget Session, pending a report from the parliamentary privileges committee on the issue. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 10 FEBRUARY 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Hindenburg report on Adani group: SC calls for protecting Indian investors from sudden market volatility [The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the government]( to produce the existing regulatory framework in place to protect Indian investors, who are mostly middle class and reported to have lost several lakhs of crores in the past two weeks after the U.S.-based short-seller firm Hindenburg Research published a report, which led to sudden market volatility following a meltdown in the Adani Group shares. Assuring the SEBI that it does not intend to go on a “witch-hunt” and is more interested in an ‘open dialogue”, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud flagged the court’s concern for Indian investors and highlighted the need to protect them from such sudden market volatility in the future. “How do we ensure protection of Indian investors? Usually, this may happen on a small scale, but reports in newspapers say the total loss suffered by Indian investors may go in the range of several lakh crore in terms of investor value,” Chief Justice Chandrachud addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the SEBI. Chief Justice Chandrachud said the stock market was no longer a place for just “high value investors” to dabble in. [A view of the Supreme Court of India.] “It is also a place now where a whole wide spectrum of the middle class are investing due to changes in the financial and tax regimes… Everybody is in the market now. There is a need for circuit-breakers here like how you have in other areas,” the CJI told Mehta. The Solicitor General said the market took a plunge on “something” that happened outside, beyond the jurisdiction of the SEBI. “That report [Hindenburg] was the trigger point,” Mehta submitted. “Stock market goes entirely by sentiment… What we want to look into is whether we have a robust mechanism in place to protect Indian investors… Capital is moving seamlessly, funds are flowing in and out of India… How do we ensure that what happened does not happen again in the future?” Chief Justice Chandrachud said. The court, on Mehta’s submission, recorded that the SEBI was “closely monitoring the situation and continues to do so”. The Supreme Court clarified in its order that its observations should not be construed as a reflection on the SEBI or other statutory authorities. The court asked the SEBI to submit a note by Monday detailing the legal and factual aspects of the existing regulatory framework for the securities market. The market regulator could also give a “threadbare analysis” of its powers and even suggest whether it needed to grow more teeth to deal with the “new world” of seamless capital movement. If the Centre wanted, the court said it could even consider constituting an expert committee of domain experts in banking and securities along with a former judge to act as a “wise guiding force”. The court made it clear that it did not want to encroach into the policy domain. It would tread carefully, keeping a wary eye against causing any upsets in the stock market. The court listed the case for February 13. The Bench was hearing separate petitions filed by advocates Vishal Tiwari and M.L. Sharma for an investigation into Hindenburg Research’s report. Animal Welfare Board withdraws appeal to celebrate February 14 as Cow Hug Day The [Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on Friday withdrew its earlier appeal which called for celebrating February 14]( as ‘Cow Hug Day’ “As directed by the Competent Authority and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying the appeal issued by Animal Welfare Board of India for celebration on Cow Hug Day on 14th February, 2023 stands withdrawn,” the AWBI said in a statement. On February 8, the Board had appealed to the public to celebrate February 14, a day which is observed as Valentine’s Day in many parts of the world, as Cow Hug Day, claiming that embracing the cow would bring “emotional richness” and increase “individual and collective happiness.” In an appeal signed by its secretary S.K. Dutta, the AWBI had said that the cow is the backbone of Indian culture and the rural economy, sustaining life, and representing cattle wealth and biodiversity. “It is known as Kamdhenu and Gaumata because of its nourishing nature like a mother, the giver of all, providing riches to humanity. Vedic traditions are almost on the verge of extinction due to the progress of western culture over time. The dazzle of western civilization has made our physical culture and heritage almost forgotten,” the February 8 official appeal had said. “This is issued with the approval of competent authority and on the direction of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying,” it had added. Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking complete ban on BBC in India over Modi documentary The [Supreme Court on February 10 dismissed a petition filed by the Hindu Sena president to ban the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]( in India and order an investigation into the broadcaster and its employees’ “anti-India and anti-Indian government” reportage and films. A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M.M. Sundresh said the petition filed by Vishnu Gupta was “absolutely misconceived”. Senior advocate Pinky Anand, for the petitioner, pointed out that the government-blocked BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ was timed to create an “anti-India propaganda” at a time when India was a rising economic power. Today you have a position, when you have an Indian as the British Prime Minister. India is rising as an economic power,” it was even argued. “What is this? Do you want us to put in place a complete censorship?” the Bench reacted. The petition claimed the BBC film was surreptitiously intended to disturb the peace and national integrity in the country which has led to “India’s overall growth since 2014 under the Prime Ministership of Sh. Narendra Modi”. It said an “anti-India lobby and media, particularly the BBC, cannot digest the national growth and seemed to be biased. A representation to the Home Ministry on January 27 has so far not yielded a response”, the petitioner said. The Court said there was no merit in the petition and rejected it. PM Modi gave a general speech in Parliament, did not answer Opposition’s queries: Kharge [Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that the speeches]( given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both Houses of Parliament were “general speeches” and did not address any concerns raised by the Opposition. The Congress President termed the Prime Minister’s speech in both Houses of Parliament as an everyday speech and said that the government is “arrogant” and avoiding important questions on inflation, unemployment or those posed on the Adani row. [Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge speaks during the Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on February 10, 2023.] He said that the value of the rupee is continuously falling, 71,000 primary schools are being closed and the number of private educational institutions is increasing all over the country and the Prime Minister is not giving any answers. “PM Modi said that only he can save this country, this is arrogance,” said the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Yesterday in the Upper House of Parliament, PM Modi took a dig at the Nehru-Gandhi family over many schemes named after its members and asked why they were “scared of keeping the Nehru surname”. Replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, PM Modi targeted Congress leaders who accused the government of trying to obliterate the significance of the work done by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The Opposition parties have been demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row. PM Modi said he had read somewhere that more than 600 government schemes were named after the Nehru-Gandhi family. ”Some had problems with the names of schemes of govt and Sanskrit words in the names. I read in a report that 600 government schemes were in the Gandhi-Nehru family’s name...I don’t understand why people from their generation don’t keep Nehru as their surname, what’s the fear and shame?” PM Modi said. South Africa declares ‘state of disaster’ over energy crisis [South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday declared a national “state of disaster”]( over his country’s crippling power shortages, saying they posed an existential threat to the economy and social fabric. “We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis,” Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament. “The crisis has progressively evolved to affect every part of society. We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our water infrastructure and our transport network.” State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark, disrupting manufacturing and hurting businesses of all sizes. The power cuts are expected to reduce economic growth in Africa’s most industrialised nation to just 0.3% this year. Declaring a national state of disaster gives the government additional powers to respond to a crisis, including by permitting emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight. The legislation was used to enable health authorities to respond more swiftly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some analysts doubt it will help the government expand power supply much quicker. “The state of disaster will enable us to ... support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators (and) solar panels,” Ramaphosa said. The electricity crunch has been years in the making, a product of delays in building new coal-fired power stations, corruption in coal supply contracts, criminal sabotage and failures to ease up regulation to enable private providers to swiftly bring renewable energy on tap. Ramaphosa said on Thursday he would appoint a minister of electricity within the presidency to focus solely on the crisis. He also pledged to continue with South Africa’s partly donor-funded transition to cleaner energy, with planned investments of 1.5 trillion rand ($84.52 billion) in the next half-decade. In Brief: [Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress MP Rajani Ashokrao Patil]( for the remainder of the current Budget Session for filming House proceedings. Dhankhar, who had earlier in the day indicated that action would be taken against those who had filmed a ruckus during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Thursday, asked leaders of political parties to express their views on the issue. Thereafter, a motion was adopted to suspend Patil for the remainder of the Budget Session, pending a report from the parliamentary privileges committee on the issue. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. First Day First Show Stay up-to-date on all things cinema with the "First Day First Show" cinema & entertainment newsletter. 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