A couple of months ago, when the market for initial public offerings (IPOs) was extremely promising, one CEO said he was in queue to take his company public because there was a shortage of good investment bankers and the top five or six apparently had a waiting list of a few months. The scarcity of capital market infrastructure is worse, when it comes to Registrars & Transfer Agents (R&TAs)....

It is interesting how action against Sahara India Finance always crops up when the ruling government needs some leverage to arm-twist certain politicians. This time too, Sahara has emerged the winner after the threat of harsh action. After a meeting with RBI officials, Sahara has been told to wind up business by 2011. This is one year more than what RBI had allowed it earlier. Since RBI never...

A couple of issues ago, we wrote that the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) could go the way of India’s 20- odd regional bourses once cross-margining becomes effective. That is because BSE’s derivatives business is inconsequential. It now appears that BSE is nowhere in the race to start currency futures either. That is probably because it is grappling with factionalism and squabbling among the ranks...