Partners Column

Dear friends Wish you and your families a very happy and prosperous 2015 Bid adieu 2014 As we bid good bye to 2014, there are few significant events of 2014 which  continue to capture our mind. I would like to spend little time on that. Modi wins India's election with a landslide - New York Post, May 16 2014. Single largest party getting clear majority was a surprise to all, Modi emerged as strong leader and took reins of India. The expectations of people and corporates have gone up significantly due to a strong leader and stable government. I think that during the last few months, the Ruling Party and Central Government have been busy with various state elections due to which promises that have been given are yet to translate into action. The government also has a tough job of getting through the bills in Rajya Sabha and so it has opted for ordinance route while may not be sustainable. Government started focusing on industry and reforms, the following are few steps in that direction:

• increased FDI in insurance and defense to 49%
• ordinance to amend land acquisition act to eliminate major bottlenecks such as social impact assessment and mandatory consent of those effected etc.,
• tabling of GST bill in Parliament

Make in India: PM Narendra Modi approves action plan for ease of doing business – Economic Times  30 Dec 2014 Ease of doing business hit the headlines numerous times in the current year, prime minister himself championing this cause. Primer Minister and Government took this with utmost seriousness and there is a definite plan to improve ease of doing business in India. This has been one of the major  concerns of domestic and foreign investors. Prime Minister had a day long meeting on 29 Dec 2014 and approved an action plan for this.  At the end of the session he said "I want to change the ABCD culture--avoid, bypass, confuse, delay--to the ROAD to success, responsibility, ownership, accountability, discipline. LS Clears Companies (Amendment) Bill – Business Standrad 18 Dec 2014 The substantial provisions of the Companies Act 2013 came into effect from 1 Apr 2014 and corporate Inc surprised with the rules which made doing business difficult. There has been demand from corporates and professionals to revisit some of the harsh provisions in view of this amendment bill has been brought in. This only addresses few issues and lot more issues needs to be addressed by the government including providing exemptions to private limited companies etc., Replying to a debate on the Bill, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said the amendments spanned four types of changes - increasing the ease of doing business, correcting drafting errors, fixing oversight and changing clauses that were "harmful to doing business". Markets hit all-time high; Nifty above 8,500 Nifty reached the all-time high of 8,529 while Sensex hit the fresh record high of 28,514.98 – Business Standard 14 Nov 2014 While the secondary market hit the all time high due to improvement in local business sentiment and global liquidity. The primary markets are yet to revive and some of the reasons could be,  old economy companies are still deleveraging their balance sheets and cleaning up, the government spend on infrastructure is yet to start, no fresh capex plans, poor loan off take, high interest rates etc., Its expected that year 2015 will see lot of action in primary markets. US crude settles at $53.61 per barrel; lowest close since May 1, 2009 – Reuters 29 Dec 2014 The free fall of oil prices from a peak of $ 105 to $ 50 is a big boon for Indian economy and will result in a saving of USD 65 to 70 billion in a year. Welcome 2015 Am very optimistic about year 2015 for India. After hitting lowest GDP growth rates of 4.47 and 4.74 for FY 13 and FY 14 which are lowest in the decade, with the stable government, right policies, better business sentiment,  I am sure 2015 will offer lot of opportunities and better living conditions to everybody. @ R & A I am happy to share that my partner Ms. Rashida Adenwla received the IPA Proficiency Award for 2014. Mr. Ramakrishna Gupta, my other partner has been elected to Southern Regional Council of Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for the term 2015-18 and wish him all the best. With best regards Raghu Babu G Partner raghu@rna-cs.com 31 Dec 2014.