On 17th June, the Indian government appointed R C Lahoti, former Chief Justice of India, as arbitrator in Rs.200000 million tax dispute with the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone. The appointment of Mr. Lahoti was in response to an arbitration notice served by Vodafone International Holdings BV (its Dutch subsidiary) in April 2014 under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) signed in 1995.
The international arbitration would be conducted under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law….
The new NDA government has recently announced its decision to review India’s existing free trade agreements (FTAs). “I have instructed the ministry to do a complete analysis of each of the FTAs, as not every FTA is seen completely beneficial to India… The ministry will come out with a report on it soon. It has to happen in a fortnight,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of state for Commerce and Industry on June 14, 2014. This decision apparently indicates the willingness…
Brazil will host the leaders of Russia, India, China, and South Africa for the 2014 BRICS Summit during July 15-17, 2014. This Summit is expected to launch the $100 billion Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) and further details on soon to be established BRICS Development Bank will be unveiled. In June 2012, Brazil had proposed the establishment of a BRICS contingent reserve pool and bilateral swap arrangement which could ease short-term liquidity pressures and strengthen financial stability in the event of…
By Kavaljit Singh | Briefing Paper # 17 | July 2014
After operating in the shadows for more than two decades, the murky world of dark pools is coming into the light. On July 1, 2014, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), independent securities regulator of the US, imposed a fine of $800,000 on Goldman Sachs for failing to ensure that trades in its dark pool trading system took place at the best price. Would an $800,000 fine on Goldman Sachs act as a deterrent to stop predatory behavior? The…
The participation of farmers in commodity futures markets is extremely limited. According to market estimates, not even 2000 farmers in India are directly participating in the futures markets. Farmers can benefit directly from futures market by entering into futures contracts to sell their produce at a pre-decided price at a future date or indirectly by growing crops based on the expected future price disseminated through the exchange. However, both these benefits have not been passed on to Indian farmers till…
