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Hans India
5 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
Jane Street urges Sebi to lift curbs
New Delhi US-basedhedge fund Jane Street, which allegedly made handsome gains through market manipulation, has deposited the mandated Rs4,843.57 crore in an escrow account in favour of Sebi and requested it to lift certain watchdog is examining the request, Sebi said in a statement on Monday. Indian capital market lost Rs1.4 lakh crore market capitalisation(Mcap) since Jane Street's index manipulation came to light seven days ago. In an interim order on July 3, the regulator found Jane Street (JS) guilty of manipulating indices by taking bets in cash and futures & options markets simultaneously for making massive gains. Sebi barred the hedge fund from accessing the market and impounded over Rs4,843 crore in gains. The probe found that JS made a profit of Rs36,671 crore on a net basis during the probe period from January 2023-May 2025. In compliance with the interim order, a sum of Rs4,843.57 crore has been credited to an escrow account with a lien marked in favour of Sebi, the regulator said. 'Jane Street has further requested Sebi that, following the creation of this escrow account in compliance with Sebi directions, certain conditional restrictions imposed under the interim order be lifted and that Sebi issue appropriate directions in this regard,' the statement noted. 'This request is currently under examination by Sebi in accordance with the directions of the interim order,' it added. The regulator said it remains committed to following due process and ensuring the integrity of the securities market. Sebi called it a case of 'intra-day index manipulation,' flagging what it described as aggressive, unhedged positions in Nifty Bank options and other Sebi investigation is expected to take another 6-9 months before a final report and show cause notice will be issued to Jane Street. The markets regulator described it as 'non-neutral trading behaviour', a strategic attempt to influence prices rather than simply engage with the market. And the tactic wasn't random; it followed a well-known play in the trading world, which is termed marking the close. Jane Street is a proprietary trading firm, which means it trades with its own capital rather than managing client funds. The firm allegedly made a staggering Rs32,681 crore in profits by manipulating the Indian stock market and repatriating the amount overseas. Jane Street disputed the findings of Sebi's interim order. In its response, Jane Street said:'We reject the premise and the substance of the order in the strongest possible terms'.
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Victims of Bin-Alam Housing scam demand swift justice
LAHORE: Dozens of victims of the Bin-Alam Housing Society scam staged a protest outside the Accountability Court in Lahore on Sunday, demanding urgent justice and compensation after years of legal delays and financial ruin. Chanting slogans and holding placards, the protestors, many of whom are retired individuals, widows, and low-income citizens, urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Chief Minister of Punjab, and senior judiciary members to intervene in the long-pending case. The protest comes years after more than 500 individuals were allegedly defrauded by the private housing project, which began bookings in 2016-17 in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad. Victims say they were promised plots on easy instalments but were neither given possession nor refunded their investments, which collectively amount to around Rs1.4 billion. Following a flood of complaints, the NAB Lahore launched an investigation and arrested four suspects, Kashif, Nazim Alam, Muhammad Azam, and Muhammad Asif. One of the accused remains at large and has been declared an absconder, while another is still on judicial remand. The NAB also seized properties linked to the suspects and filed a reference in the Lahore Accountability Court in 2019, which includes over 400 victims. Despite the passage of five years, only about 100 witnesses have so far recorded their statements, leaving the proceedings stalled and justice elusive. A separate reference involving 126 victims from Rawalpindi and Islamabad was transferred to the Islamabad Accountability Court, but that case also remains pending with little progress. The demonstrators expressed deep frustration over the slow pace of the trial, saying their financial and emotional suffering continues unabated. 'We've waited for years with no resolution in sight. Many of us spent our life savings. We just want our money back or the plots we were promised,' said one protestor. Calling on authorities to expedite the legal process, the victims urged the judiciary and NAB to ensure early verdicts, recover looted funds, and provide long-overdue relief. The Bin-Alam scam remains one of several high-profile housing fraud cases that have tested public trust in accountability mechanisms, with victims now pleading for closure and justice. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Metro's Solar Dream Set to Take Off as MERC Orders MSEDCL to Clear Hurdles
1 2 Nagpur: After being stuck in limbo for over a year, Nagpur Metro's ambitious solar energy expansion is finally gaining momentum. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has directed Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) to update its outdated application system, which was capping net metering approvals at 1MW, despite new regulations allowing up to 5MW. The order is expected to clear the path for commissioning long-idle solar panels and restarting stalled installations across the Metro network. At the centre of the delay is 1.5MW solar capacity installed at Mihan and Hingna depots. The panels, installed over a year ago, remained idle due to Metro's inability to apply for net metering beyond 1MW. This resulted in MahaMetro being forced to rely on costlier grid electricity, incurring monthly losses of Rs12 lakh — amounting to more than Rs1.4 crore annually. During a hearing on July 9, MERC took note of MahaMetro's petition and ordered MSEDCL to operationalise a compliant web-based portal within a month. It also asked the power utility to file its reply within 15 days. With this directive, Metro officials say they are finally in a position to move forward. But the delay did more than just sideline 1.5MW worth of solar power — it effectively froze Metro's entire solar rollout. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo Sources within MahaMetro revealed that once the depot panels were left unused, the agency decided to halt all further solar installations to avoid wasting additional infrastructure. Currently, only Reach 1 (Sitabuldi to Khapri) and Reach 3 (Sitabuldi to Lokmanya Nagar) have solar panels installed across all stations. Reach 2 (Sitabuldi to Automotive Square) has no panels at any station. On Reach 4 (Sitabuldi to Prajapati Nagar), only three stations — Vaishnodevi Square, Dr Ambedkar Square, and Telephone Exchange Square — have solar installations. "We couldn't justify spending more money on solar panels that would just lie there unused like the ones at the depots," said a senior MahaMetro official. "But now, with MERC's directive, we're finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We plan to resume installations across the remaining stations immediately." The Metro set a target of meeting 50% of its power needs through solar, but due to the regulatory deadlock, it only reached around 15%. With the bottleneck removed, officials believe they can move quickly to bridge the gap. The full rollout is expected to bring monthly energy savings of up to Rs45 lakh in the beginning and more in the future, significantly easing the project's operational costs. A senior MSEDCL official said they will comply with MERC's directives and follow them to the letter. "However, we will also need to assess the implementation from our end to ensure it aligns across all operational segments. If any issues arise, we will raise them with MERC for further clarification," the official added. With clear instructions now issued and a timeline in place, Metro's long-postponed solar ambitions may finally become a reality — delivering financial relief and a boost to Nagpur's green energy credentials.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Commercial And Govt Units Owe 1.3L Crore Water Dues
New Delhi: Pending water bills have surged to a staggering Rs1.4 lakh crore, with commercial consumers and govt departments accounting for the lion's share of this outstanding amount. While commercial users owed Delhi Jal Board Rs66,000 crore and govt departments Rs61,000 crore, domestic consumers had unpaid dues of Rs15,000 crore, according to govt data. Relief from "inflated water bills" will be provided to domestic water users, said minister Parvesh Verma on Saturday, disclosing, "The software upgradation process has started and we are hopeful of launching it in two months." He said smart meters would be installed to prevent the problem of faulty billing from arising again. In response to public grievances, especially from household consumers, Delhi govt is planning a full waiver of the late payment surcharges. Common complaints from residents include inflated bills caused by faulty or estimated meter readings, bills issued during Covid lockdowns when homes remained vacant and arrears that snowballing into thousands or even lakhs of rupees. Non-payment of disputed bills also triggered increasing late fees, increasing the due amount, a govt official said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 신차장기렌트 선납금 없어도 월 20만원대부터 가능할까? 써치오토모빌 더 알아보기 Undo You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi Officials said that the proposed waiver excludes commercial users and govt departments and limits it to domestic waivers. No decision has yet been taken on relief of the dues. An official said the was firmly on easing the load on domestic consumers even as the authorities try to recover the unpaid amounts. Verma said that DJB's software would also automatically deduct surcharges and issue fresh bills under the new scheme. However, no relief is currently planned for complaints related to false meter readings. Many users stopped paying the post-Covid bills due to faulty bills. In Oct and Nov 2022, the DJB portal logged over 10,000 complaints about wrong billing. The previous AAP govt promised a one-time settlement scheme last year, but could not execute it. To curb future billing disputes, DJB plans to replace the traditional meters with smart ones. Officials said that the smart meters would resolve all billing inaccuracies. The current practice of meter readers submitting outdated or incorrect images resulted in inaccurate billing, which eventually led to a compilation of underpaid bills. An official said that around 1,000 meter readers managed nearly 26.5 lakh water consumers across 41 DJB zones and this has been seen as ineffective over time. Officials said that Verma had asked the water utility to overhaul the billing and payment system as soon as possible. An application to make the payment process easier is also on the anvil. Sources said the DJB top echelon had been intimated that the current billing system led to many users not paying their bills due to several lacunae. Officials claimed the new metering system would eliminate the role of agents and touts who allegedly accepted bribes to clear bills.
Express Tribune
07-07-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt lifts cap on bureaucrats' fee
The federal cabinet has withdrawn its one-year-old decision to cap the board fees of top bureaucrats at a cumulative Rs1 million per annum after an overwhelming majority of them did not obey the decision. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar were the driving force behind the federal cabinet's decision in June 2024 to limit the fee at Rs1 million and surrender the surplus amount to the national kitty. The board fee goes as high as $5,000 for one board in certain cases, while in the majority of cases, the fees for attending one board meeting of some government-owned enterprises range from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of rupees. The cabinet division withdrew its decision on June 22, according to a notification issued by the finance ministry this month. "In pursuance of the Cabinet Division decision dated 22-06-2025, the Finance Division's letter dated 10-07-2024 and Office Memorandum stand withdrawn ab-initio," reads the notification. In June last year, both the prime minister and the deputy prime minister held the view that these bureaucrats should keep only a portion of the hefty board fees and surrender the remaining amount to the exchequer. The premier had serious objections to bureaucrats receiving up to $5,000 or Rs1.4 million for a single board meeting. At least two government entities, Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL), pay around Rs1 million or more in fees for every board meeting. The secretaries of finance, petroleum, privatisation, and information technology are members of these boards. There are also boards where the fees range from Rs100,000 to Rs250,000 per meeting. In 2023, then-finance minister Ishaq Dar had announced that government servants should retain a maximum of Rs600,000 annually in board fees and deposit the rest. However, this decision was never implemented. The finance ministry has also withdrawn its office memorandum, which stated: "It has, therefore, been decided to reiterate those instructions that the government servants appointed to the Board of companies, organisations, and who become entitled to fees, shall only be allowed to retain remuneration to a maximum of Rs1 million in a financial year. Any amount more than Rs1 million so received shall be deposited by the officer in the government treasury, and a record of the same shall be promptly provided to the administration wing of the respective Ministry and Division." Since hardly any bureaucrats complied with the decision, the cabinet decided to withdraw last year's decision ab-initio, as if it had never been taken. Austerity measures The finance ministry also notified the continuation of austerity measures for the fiscal year 2025-26. The austerity measures will also apply to all federal government-attached departments, state-owned enterprises, and statutory bodies, including regulatory authorities. In the case of SOEs, these austerity measures will be considered a directive of the federal government under Section 35 of the SOEs Act of 2023 and under relevant sections of their respective organic laws for statutory bodies, according to the notification. These measures are introduced annually to reduce expenditures across various government departments, including the abolition of vacant positions, a ban on the purchase of new vehicles and machinery, and restrictions on officials' foreign travel. The austerity measures were adopted to control government expenditures. Under these measures, the government banned the purchase of new vehicles and equipment for various departments. The notification stated that only operational vehicles, such as ambulances and other medical equipment vehicles, fire engines, buses and vans for educational institutions, solid waste vehicles, and motorcycles, could be purchased if needed. However, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has purchased vehicles for federal ministers and officers of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). FBR vehicles bearing the FBR logo, bought last month, can be seen being irregularly used by officers for private purposes. Similarly, the purchase of machinery and equipment for various government departments would also be prohibited. The notification clarified that only machinery and equipment needed for hospitals, laboratories, agriculture, mining, and schools could be purchased. The ministry also imposed a ban on the creation of new posts and temporary posts, except for positions under Public Sector Development Project (PSDP)-funded projects. According to the notification, all posts lying vacant for the last three years would be abolished. Procurement of goods under PSDP-funded projects would be exempt from this ban. Additionally, there would be a complete ban on government-funded treatment abroad and all unnecessary foreign trips. Ad-hoc salary notification The finance ministry has also notified a 10% salary increase for Armed Forces personnel, Civil Armed Forces, and all civil employees of the federal government, as well as civilians paid from defence estimates and contract employees employed against civil posts in basic pay scales under standard terms and conditions. The decision had been announced in the budget. The finance ministry also notified a 7% increase in net pensions for all civil pensioners of the federal government. The increase will also apply to family pensions granted under the Pension-cum-Gratuity Scheme, 1954, and Liberalised Pension Rules, 1977.
