Finance Forum India

Can the penalty for aiding and abetting a Rs 7,000-and-odd crore fraud be just Rs 5 lakh and a debarment? That, incidentally, is what the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India – ICAI, the audit profession’s self-regulatory body  â€“ has fined C Ravindranath and P Sivaprasad, employees of Lovelock & Lewes, an affiliate of Price Waterhouse India, for their role in the Satyam Computer Services fraud perpetrated in cahoots with the promoter, B.Ramalinga Raju. ICAI has debarred them from practising as chartered accountants by removing their names from the institute’s register. A BusinessLine report quotes ICAI President G Ramaswamy as saying: “We are proactive in taking action...

Carrefour SA (CA)’s largest shareholders are considering replacing its chairman and chief executive officer, Lars Olofsson, people familiar with the matter said. Groupe Arnault SAS and Colony Capital LLC, which hold a combined 16.15 percent of Carrefour and 22.14 percent of the voting rights, will give Olofsson until the end of the year to improve the Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based grocer’s performance in its domestic and largest market, said the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private. Carrefour has lost about a third of its market value amid an extended slump in France, where it is adjusting prices...

New Delhi: Pentamedia Graphics Limited was once one of India's largest information technology companies. But today, Pentamedia Graphics Limited is "limping" on, with combined revenues of Rs 19 crore, a fraction of the more than Rs 1,000 crore it generated during its heyday. Pentamedia Graphics and its promoters fooled investors and stripped the company of its assets but still continue to hold on to prime land worth Rs 2500 crore. The company's stock hit a high of Rs 2,130 in February 2000, but are now trading at around Re 1. Pentamedia Graphics was also barred from stock markets in 2005 for manipulation...

Olympus Corp. (7733)’s admission that three of its top executives colluded to hide losses from investors fails to address the roles played by other officials, according to the company’s biggest overseas shareholder. The Japanese camera maker’s shares slumped 29 percent yesterday after it reversed weeks of denials that there was any wrongdoing in past acquisitions. The company fired Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori over his role in covering up the losses with former Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who resigned last week, and said auditor Hideo Yamada would step down. Olympus’ biggest overseas shareholder is now demanding investor relations head Akihiro Nambu go...

Ms. Kalpana Morparia is the Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan, India. She shares her insights on the current M&A environment and discusses the skills required to become a successful investment banker.

MUMBAI: Under fire from miffed institutional shareholders, Delhi-based billionaire Gautam Thapar's Avantha Group has decided to ease the burden of a recent aircraft purchase by power equipment maker Crompton Greaves to calm this set of influential investors. Crompton Greaves, which had bought the aircraft for an estimated Rs 270 crore last fiscal, may sell the jet to an unlisted group entity at the price at which it was purchased, said two people familiar with the matter.   Top Crompton officials have been meeting fund managers of mutual funds and insurance companies that hold the stock to convey this decision. The two persons who did not want to...

MUMBAI: In 2002, Sterlite Industries faced investors' wrath after launching a controversial share buyback programme under which it dispatched cheques in advance to shareholders leading to complaints that the offer was forced upon minority shareholders. The Anil Agarwal-controlled company wanted to buy back 50% of its equity from the public through a court-approved scheme of arrangement rather than the normal channels for buyback in the Companies Act. A public furore failed to make the firm backtrack and the case quickly became a cause celebre in Indian investors' long and frustrating fight for better corporate governance. At that time, Anil Singhvi, was...

DG has partnered with Pristine to create this online test system. The questions have been provided by Pristine (http://www.edupristine.com/).   How it'll work? Login with your Facebook or Twitter ID Select the test that you wish to take The test will be timed and should be completed within the stipulated time frame Your score along with the correct results will be displayed at the end of the test 

A Canada-based analyst who had ripped asunder the financials of Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications in July has now decimated the balance sheet of Kingfisher Airlines, virtually calling the company bankrupt. Neeraj Monga of Veritas Investment Research Corp of Toronto, Canada, said not only Kingfisher, but its parent UB Holdings is also on very thin ice. Monga, along with analyst Varun Raj said Kingfisher’s book equity has been wiped out, and the airline is burning cash at a rapid rate. It is in a business which requires capital perpetually and it has no pricing power, they said. The duo also note...

Mr. Vikas Khemani, Executive Vice President & Co-Head Institutional Equities at Edelweiss Capital shares his experience of managing the Wholesale Capital Markets business at Edelweiss.