We were pleasantly surprised to see some old agenda items being attended to even as the Maruti strikes have taken over most of the attention outside the markets and the markets continue to wait for substantive buying. Even as DIIs and FIIs continue to take a dip in the Indian bourses, volumes in June and I am really apologetic to see, the Bank Nifty options and futures fail to take off but as surprisingly, have not been stung by repeated news on how India is not really where any of them want to come.  

As I said, news on certain old infrastructure bottlenecks and treaty shopping rules was welcome. The 1000 Acre Singur land saga has become the 600-400 saga as of immediate effect with 400 Acre claimed by the Mamta government by law to be returned to farmers. More may be deallocated in the future as Tatas do not show any inclination to come back. Of the 296 acres to be returned ( Business Standard has the breakdown ) at least 200 acres belongs to people who never wanted oto sell and as such further public land acquisition has to come within 2011/ / 012 to solve the public stand on the same and ensure that someone who invests in India and as been tested for able Corporate governance is not stopped in his tracks later.

The graft cases in 2G were also inact pleasant tio hear ( unless you still have some savings invested in DB Realty) as the vengeance modee of the dysfunctional CBI plus special courts system sprung into action to claim the Rs 200 crs of bribe stash for public discomfort to the promoters in he least. Shahid Balwa may have a few side trades going on inside the prison, but the CBI is not letting him get away with the cash. 

The public saga of Baba and Anna, lasted quite a while before exploding in Baba's face and the now divided camp of the Civic society movement severly limited by its own actions as his own empire of $250 ml was I think shocking to both his supporters and detractors who expected that to be his annual turnover.  Anna and the lawyer father-son duo still maintain their dignity but I thinl mostly look for support and combined action esp with Sanosh Hegde watching over each clause and each piece of action like any self respecting inflation hawk globally.

Last but not the least even as Corporate Law reform and white papers from RBI on FSDC and bank regulations/ new bank licenses have come and gone, the mysterious DTAA negotiations with Mauritius have reached a finite shape with Mauritius looking to cooperate in making sure corporate chicanery is not welcomed in the guise of tax breaks from the island government for pass thru agreements. Whether the cooperation on bank account data and taxation will eventuallly lead into any important breakthrough on Banking secrecy laws remains fuzzy. 

Infosys Board

An interesting footnote to the day would be how no internal woman employee of Infy made it to their board with BG Srinivas and Ashok Vemuri getting support on their new appointment from an ex Unilever Director, Ann Fudge. Also Accenture, CTS and HCL are still facing a ban under BEP procurement of Visas for their staff wishing to travel to the US and with elections around the corner i doubt if further lobbying will help. This H1 season is sure over too

 

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