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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, NOV 12: G V Ramakrishna, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has slammed SEBI's share buyback guidelines saying promoters and their friends would be able to fix prices under the current norms.
Though the guidelines provide for prices to be fixed at a shareholders' meeting only, there is no way retail investors spread across the country can attend the meetings as a result prices could be fixed in-house, Ramakrishna, who is chairman of the Disinvestment Commission, told PTI. ``Only 10-12 per cent of shareholders attend the annual general meeting (AGM) of companies and this allows promoters to set their own price for buyback,'' he said.
To guard against price fixing, SEBI could have made postal ballot system compulsory thereby making investors cast their opinion by post.
``Nothing prevented SEBI from making postal ballot compulsory for share pricing in buyback or SEBI could have stopped promoters from casting their votes in this crucial aspect,'' he said.
TheDisinvestment Commission chairman said buyback has raised more expectations among public than it could fulfil. Another area that SEBI has overlooked while framing norms for buyback was of corporate governance, Ramakrishna said. ``SEBI could have made corporate governance provision compulsory for companies going for buybacks,'' Ramakrishna said.
On the impact buyback may have on the stock market, he said in India only few companies were capable for buyback. ``Buyback can have a positive impact only in these scrips,'' he said.
Ramakrishna said the provision that companies cannot tap capital market for two years after buyback was retrograde. ``SEBI could have restricted this to one year instead of two years,'' he said.
Asked if government could ask cash-rich oil PSUs to buy back their shares to help it meet the disinvestment target of Rs 5,000 crore during the current fiscal, Ramakrishna said the companies might not agree to this as many of them had firmed up massive expansion programmes.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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