GST Council meeting?

Uncertainty remains over when the next meeting of GST Council will take place. And here is why. After the last meeting in June, it was announced that the next one will take place during the first week of August at Madurai with two specific agenda items — online gaming, casinos and horse-racing; and appellate tribunals. Since both were dependent on the Group of Ministers’ reports, and the GoMs could not submit the reports in time, the meeting could not take place as decided. Now, the GoM on Appellate Tribunals has submitted its report, but there is no sign of any report by the other GoM.

And if this was not enough, election in two States and superannuation of Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj on November 30 are adding to the delay.

Meanwhile, the rulebook says meeting should take place once in three months.

This will be the second time when the Council will meet after a gap of six months.

Going down to the wire

With just about 48 hours to go before the incumbent chief of Competition Commission of India (CCI), Ashok Kumar Gupta, demits office, people in official policy circles are waiting with bated breath to hear the name of his replacement. More than 50 people have thrown their hat in the ring.

However, CCI insiders are hoping that the name of the successor will be announced before October 25 evening. Otherwise, not only will the CCI be headless, it also won’t have the necessary quorum to take decisions.

Corporate democracy

The move by a minority group of nine shareholders — with combined stake of nearly 13 per cent — of Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd to “requisition” for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to suspend the powers of the MD and CEO, Shivan JK, has evoked keen interest among corporate governance experts. Why?

Rarely do we see such “requisitioning” of EGM by minority shareholders. Secondly, it is reckoned that the call for EGM and the resolutions sought to be approved on November 22 could be “ultra vires of the articles of association of the bank.”

The legal and governance battle could get messier unless the government or the RBI steps in with some concrete decisions, say banking industry observers.

Hiving off IDBI Bank

The fact that the government looks all set to let IDBI Bank off its back is too visible. The latest government request to SEBI to treat — after the proposed privatisation transaction — its and LIC shareholding (expected to be 34 per cent) as representing “public” and, therefore, enabling waiver of minimum public shareholding norms to the proposed suitor is really the “icing on the cake” to say the least. Why one may ask? The RBI calls IDBI Bank a private bank despite substantial government and LIC ownership (both together own 95 per cent of the bank); the government has sought waiver of minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent.

In sum, IDBI Bank is whatever the regulator calls it.

SEBI mandates a minimum public shareholding for all listed entities, excluding state-owned companies, within three years of listing. Now, how can IDBI Bank become a state-owned company after control goes to a private hand is a riddle wrapped in an enigma.