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Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Wanted: Independent directors for PSU boards. But where is the approval?
Mumbai: Over three-fourths of India's listed public sector enterprises do not have the requisite number of independent directors, as these companies continue to wait for clearance from various government departments. As many as 62 out of 79 listed PSUs lack the mandated number of independent directors, according to data from Prime Database. Despite repeated regulatory reminders, these companies await clearances from their respective ministries, delaying crucial appointments and inviting penalties from stock exchanges. Government-owned firms, including Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp, State Bank of India, National Aluminium Company Ltd. and Steel Authority of India Ltd, did not have the minimum number of independent directors as of 2 June, according to Prime Database, a Mumbai-based market data tracking firm. The list of non-compliant PSUs includes banks, oil and gas companies, metals and mining firms, power utilities, telecommunications, railways, and engineering firms. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India's listing regulations, at least one-third of a listed entity's board members must comprise independent directors. Additionally, if the chairman is an executive director, at least half of the board must consist of independent directors. Also Read: HPCL gets new chief, four more large PSUs in queue Boardroom bottlenecks There are more red flags when it comes to board committees: 64 PSUs lack an independent director as chairperson of their audit committee, and 68 companies do not have independent chairs for their nomination and remuneration panels. Additionally, 14 of the listed PSUs are yet to appoint a single woman director, despite gender diversity requirements, according to Prime Database. 'It's ironic that we are asking all private sector companies to comply with these requirements when government-owned companies themselves are non-compliant," said Pranav Haldea, managing director at Prime Database. With PSUs failing to comply with the market regulator's rules, many have been fined by stock exchanges. Last week, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) was fined ₹33.32 lakh for having only three independent directors—two short of the required five—on its 10-member board. A spokesperson for Nalco said the company was continuously following up with the ministry of mines, its administrative ministry, for the appointment of the requisite number of independent directors. The bottleneck lies in the approval process across various ministries, according to proxy advisory firms. 'The Prime Minister's Office should send a strong message to all concerned ministries and PSU companies that they need to be compliant, as non-compliance by PSUs doesn't send the right message to investors," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm. 'For instance, when the government, as a major shareholder, is involved in abusive transactions or there is trouble with key management, independent directors are the custodians of minority shareholders' interests," Subramanian said. Also Read: India's PSU banks outshine private peers in arresting bad loans Many of the largest money managers, including BlackRock and Vanguard, have voiced their concerns when these companies have sought shareholder approval for the appointment of directors, according to voting disclosures reviewed by Mint. In August last year, Hindustan Aeronautics sought shareholder approval for the appointment of former chairman C.B. Ananthakrishnan. Nearly a fourth of public institutions opposed the decision. 'Nominee serves as chair of the board and bears responsibility for lack of independence. Nominee is an executive director on the audit committee," noted BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, with $11.6 trillion in assets under management. In the same month, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. sought shareholders' approval for the appointment of Pankaj Kumar as a director, but 28.35% of public institutions, including Vanguard, opposed his re-appointment. Despite governance lapses, investor interest in PSUs has surged. The BSE PSU Index, which comprises 63 companies, has outperformed the Sensex over the last five years. The index has gained 301% between 5 June 2020 and 3 June 2025, while the Sensex has risen by 135.5% during this period.
Economic Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Jetking Infotrain invests in Bitcoin: A bold move in India's crypto landscape
Jetking also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Jetking Infotrain, an IT hardware training firm based in Mumbai, has invested in Bitcoin. The company raised ₹6.10 crore through a share sale. It then used these funds and existing cash to purchase Bitcoin. As of May 28, 2025, Jetking holds 21 Bitcoins valued at ₹13.6 crore. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Crypto TrackerPowered By TOP COINS TOP COIN SETS Tether 85.36 ( -0.05 %) Buy XRP 191.62 ( -1.24 %) Buy BNB 57,865 ( -1.36 %) Buy Bitcoin 9,040,602 ( -1.64 %) Buy Ethereum 224,962 ( -1.73 %) Buy Mumbai: In a rare instance, Jetking Infotrain , a Mumbai-based firm in the business of IT hardware training, raised money through a share sale to buy virtual digital asset Wednesday, the company with a market value of ₹79 crore informed exchanges that it had completed a preferential issue of shares , raising ₹6.10 crore by allotting 3.96 lakh shares at ₹154 each. The company did not disclose to whom it sold the shares. Jetking said it deployed the entire corpus and used its cash to buy the shares rose 2% to close at ₹ of March 31, 2025, the company held 15.02 bitcoins on its balance sheet. As of May 28, 2025, the company holds 21 bitcoins acquired at an average purchase price of ₹64.6 lakh, valuing it at ₹13.6 listed firms stick to traditional investments. Jetking's move echoes the bold treasury strategies of US firms like Tesla, but is unheard of in India's stringently regulated, crypto-cautious environment."A company is also a legal entity, can invest in bitcoins, as long as they are disclosing it properly and upfront to the exchanges their purpose of raising money via preferential issue," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern Research also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve reported net sales of ₹5.4 crore for the March 2025 quarter, as against ₹4.4 crore in the same quarter last year. The company posted a net loss of ₹1.3 crore as against a ₹0.6 crore loss recorded in March 2024.
Time of India
30-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Jetking Infotrain invests in Bitcoin: A bold move in India's crypto landscape
Jetking also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Jetking Infotrain, an IT hardware training firm based in Mumbai, has invested in Bitcoin. The company raised ₹6.10 crore through a share sale. It then used these funds and existing cash to purchase Bitcoin. As of May 28, 2025, Jetking holds 21 Bitcoins valued at ₹13.6 crore. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Crypto TrackerPowered By TOP COINS TOP COIN SETS Tether 85.36 ( -0.06 %) Buy XRP 191.86 ( -1.22 %) Buy BNB 57,647 ( -1.78 %) Buy Ethereum 2,24,687 ( -1.81 %) Buy Bitcoin 90,27,169 ( -1.91 %) Buy Mumbai: In a rare instance, Jetking Infotrain , a Mumbai-based firm in the business of IT hardware training, raised money through a share sale to buy virtual digital asset Wednesday, the company with a market value of ₹79 crore informed exchanges that it had completed a preferential issue of shares , raising ₹6.10 crore by allotting 3.96 lakh shares at ₹154 each. The company did not disclose to whom it sold the shares. Jetking said it deployed the entire corpus and used its cash to buy the shares rose 2% to close at ₹ of March 31, 2025, the company held 15.02 bitcoins on its balance sheet. As of May 28, 2025, the company holds 21 bitcoins acquired at an average purchase price of ₹64.6 lakh, valuing it at ₹13.6 listed firms stick to traditional investments. Jetking's move echoes the bold treasury strategies of US firms like Tesla, but is unheard of in India's stringently regulated, crypto-cautious environment."A company is also a legal entity, can invest in bitcoins, as long as they are disclosing it properly and upfront to the exchanges their purpose of raising money via preferential issue," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern Research also held approximately ₹2.2 crore worth of Ethereum as of March 31, 2024. In December 2024, the company said it formally adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve reported net sales of ₹5.4 crore for the March 2025 quarter, as against ₹4.4 crore in the same quarter last year. The company posted a net loss of ₹1.3 crore as against a ₹0.6 crore loss recorded in March 2024.
Mint
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
Uber's lifeline off the table for BluSmart as EV depreciation becomes key contention
New Delhi: Uber has called off discussions to transition about 5,000 electric cars of Gensol Engineering Ltd-owned BluSmart to its platform, according to two people aware of the development. The talks were called off due to concerns over the price being asked for the cars. Talks had started as part of BluSmart's plan to revive operations of its cabs. BluSmart was supposed to act as a fleet partner for Uber. 'Uber has now withdrawn its interest," one of the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. 'Its main concern was the depreciation of cars in the BluSmart fleet. The price being asked for the transition did not meet its valuation." This is the second setback for the embattled Anmol Jaggi-founded BluSmart in as many months. Last month, a ₹ 315-crore transaction to sell 2,997 cars to Chennai-based Refex Group, at a value of ₹ 10.5 lakh per car, was cancelled. Also read | Gensol promoters lose over half of their ownership According to the person mentioned above, an early assessment of BluSmart's fleet was done by Uber's team after the talks started in March. A key concern was that electric vehicles (EVs) have high depreciation, which was not accounted for in the price being asked by BluSmart, the person cited above said. Mint could not independently verify the price being asked by BluSmart. Earlier, Mint reported based on data from used car marketplace players such as Cars24 and Spinny that EVs lose value quicker than traditional fuel vehicles. According to Cars24, popular ICE (internal combustion engine) models can retain 50% of their value in three to five years, unlike EVs. Spinny's observations suggested that old EV models can have price gaps as high as 6% with old ICE models. Another concern that emerged during the talks was the fact that a large share of Gensol-owned Blusmart fleet of about 5,000 cars was hypothecated with lenders Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda). Gensol had taken loans of more than ₹ 663 crore from these lenders to buy the cars, which were then-leased to BluSmart. 'There were doubts over whether the cars can be sub-leased to Uber. The company was advised to not take the risk as there is some regulatory overhang," the person cited above said. Read this | How did Gensol's lenders miss a ₹ 262-crore gap for more than a year? Queries emailed on Friday to Uber and BluSmart remained unanswered till press time. 'There must be concerns among potential buyers about what value they will get from a deal with BluSmart," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm. 'There is considerable liability linked with the cars and questions over the value as well." Subramanian added that buyers are aware that this is a distress sale, so they will negotiate hard on the price. To be sure, Blusmart followed an asset-light business model in which it did not directly own its cab fleet. Instead, it took cars from leasing partners. About 5,000 of its more than 8,000-vehicle fleet came from Gensol while it also worked with some partners such as Japanese financial services firm Orix and Clime Finance. BluSmart's board of directors has co-founder Anmol Singh Jaggi; Sophia Nadur, bp Venture managing director for Asia and Middle East; Inderpreet Wadhwa, former chief executive officer of Azure Power; and Dharmichand Sunil Kumar, who is registered as director in nearly two dozen companies. And this | Gensol fast-charged Blu-Smart. But their ties are a governance puzzle Reportedly, some visuals had appeared in April where BluSmart cars were being rebranded to Uber Green. According to a second person aware of the developments, those cars were not owned by Gensol but another fleet partner of BluSmart, which could have struck a deal with Uber. The fast turn of events since the downgrade of Gensol Engineering's credit to default in March by rating agency Icra has made things difficult for BluSmart. Following Sebi's interim order against Gensol and its promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, PFC and Ireda have also filed complaints against the company with the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police. As per a PTI report, the Enforcement Directorate has raided Gensol and detained promoter Puneet Singh Jaggi. His brother is said to be in Dubai currently. Meanwhile, there have been reports of BluSmart being in talks with climate-focused funds such as Eversource Capital for a slump sale, which has not materialised yet. Since the start of the year, Gensol Engineering's share price has lost over 90% value as against a 2% rise in Nifty. And read | More than half of Uber's 1 million fleet in the country comprises bike taxis and autos
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
IndusInd Ropes in EY to Conduct Another Audit
The IndusInd Bank board has appointed EY to carry out a second forensic audit, specifically to investigate a ₹600 crore discrepancy related to the accrual of interest income in its microfinance portfolio, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The issue was flagged during the ongoing statutory audit for the last financial year, prompting the auditors to issue an additional communication under Section 143(12) of the Companies Act 2013, said one of the persons cited. The auditors then asked the bank to initiate a forensic audit into the `600 crore discrepancy. EY, which has India's largest forensic practice, will conduct an investigation to see if there were any lapses and fix accountability. This is in addition to the forensic audit being conducted by Grant Thornton Bharat (GTB) to probe irregularities in the accounting of IndusInd's forex derivatives portfolio. IndusInd Bank, EY and GTB didn't respond to queries. 'It is not an issue that spans multiple years. It seems to have occurred in the last financial year, possibly within the second and third quarter of the fiscal,' said one of the persons cited. 'But EY will investigate if there was any fraud committed.' A source within the bank has cited time constraints as the reason for roping in EY, with the GTB-led primary investigation given until April end. An EY affiliate, SR Batliboi & Co., had previously served as the bank's auditor (2018-2019) and EY consultants had helped the management review its derivatives portfolio in the March 2024 quarter. IndusInd said in a stock market disclosure on April 15 that PwC, hired for an accounting review of the derivatives portfolio, had estimated potential losses from accounting anomalies at `1,979 crore. That was higher than initial estimates that had pegged the expected loss at `1,600 crore. But PwC's report had substantial disclaimers, said the source quoted above. The bank quantified the impact based on its June 2024 profit and loss. The adverse impact (on a post-tax basis) of 2.27% was based on IndusInd's net worth as of December 2024. Auditors and accountants are questioning both the quality and timing of the bank's disclosures, particularly as two timelines are being used to judge impact on profit and net worth. 'In my opinion, presenting only net-of-tax figures is not the correct thing to do in this case,' said an accounting expert. 'Proper disclosure requires breaking down the gross amounts — by quarter and by year — so the actual impact is transparent. Otherwise, the financial understanding becomes skewed, especially for investors trying to assess the company's true performance.' Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research Services, said the bank needs to make more information available. 'The best thing from a risk-management perspective would have been to disclose these discrepancies to the RBI and shareholders,' Subramanian said. 'The events in the last few days show that the board is not strong enough to quickly change the CEO and CRO in the bank as current risk-management practices seem to be inadequate.' The separate forensic audit comes just days after the bank announced that deputy CEO Arun Khurana would step down from his post as chief financial officer (CFO), which he had taken on as an additional responsibility from January 21. IndusInd Bank revealed in March that a foreign exchange hedging disparity stemming from a divergence in valuation methods led to a `1,500 crore loss, sparking a plunge in its stock price. The bank's treasury function was directly under Khurana's purview. The disclosure about the forex hedging mismatch came as the RBI allowed CEO Sumant Kathpalia only a one-year extension against the three years that had been sought. The bank's chief accountant Santosh Kumar has been elevated as deputy CFO and special officer, finance and accounts, with effect from April 18. Kumar will head the finance and accounts functions of the bank until a full-time CFO is appointed, IndusInd said.
