Supreme Court ,SEBI and Short selling-who is Calling the Shots!

 It looks like Corporate War fought through Proxies- what is visible is Supreme Court being egged on by Advocates and Lawyers like Prashant Bushan to go against SEBI(a Government arm).but men behind it are with deep pockets of short selling and international funding, who wanted to sabotage the dreams of retail investors and small investors of LIC& PSU banks etc. by hurting the business group of Adani. Ingenious game of Cloaks & Daggers- all in the name of election funding of Modi &BJP through the so-called "tainted money" by Adani.

Smoke screen tactics and optics to divert the issue as an international fraud and financial malfeasance by planting motivated reports in foreign press and newspapers through NGOs OCCRP and the hit and run job of Hindenburg for the benefit of a Short-selling syndicate remote controlled by big foreign political & financial manipulators!

Finally Supreme Court had to appoint a Committee of eminent professionals and jurists who in their wisdom rightly observed that there is no prima facie evidence of wilful wrong doing either by Adani or by Sebi in the matters referred to them based on Hindenburg report.Now Supreme Court has mildly said Hindenburg report and other foreign news agency reports are not gospel truth!!It has chastised Prashant Bushan for being economical with the truth!

This case has to be viewed along with another expose. That in the Parliament one of the opposition MPs raised questions on Adani-Modi link and this MP stand exposed in unsavoury episodes of quid pro quo for raising queries on Adani-Modi in the floor of the Parliament. Alleged indiscretion & impropriety on the part of MP led to Indian Parliament security being breached thereby exposing it to Foreign based third party entities and individuals.Now Lok sabha has amended its login rules of its MPs to eliminate to plug the pledging or mortgaging of login credentials on quid pro quo basis by MPs!! 

The shoot & scoot report of Hindenburg according to me will not end there. Till Lok Sabha elections this game of subterfuge will be pursued by Modi detractors who are basically corrupt.

Supreme Court and Governors!

 IMHO, Supreme Court is Supreme and no Court can deny this- let alone a humble citizen like me!

But without contempt and malice for the Supreme Court, I want to submit few points of view on the latest judgment of Supreme Court on the role of Governors.

1) SC has stated the obvious- Governors are not elected but titular heads of States.

2)They cannot sit tight on the legislation passed by Legislature indefinitely.

3)They will have to function in harmony with the State CM and his Cabinet.

4)they will have to abide by Article 200 of the Constitution of India.

Nothing stated above are any new findings but simple platitudes repeatedly told to Governors.

However the larger question of how can a State Legislature pass a bill which calls for replacing Governor by State CM for appointing Vice-Chancellers of Universities and expect Governor to give his assent to such a bill- the simple question as to how a Governor or for that matter, a CM be a judge in his own cause. Is there not a inbuilt Conflict of Interest ?Simple logic.

When SC is going to answer this- as a Citizen am I entitled to expect an answer within reasonable time from SC?Will all Courts in the country give their judgments within reasonable time without agreeing on adjournments?or judgements are meant only for others?

Now Governor without giving his assent will forward the bills to President for consideration- what will happen?Supreme Court will question the President of India?

When there is no mens rea established or proven Governor is presumed to have acted in the public interest or in the best interests of the State.Is he not innocent until proven guilty?A Constitutional Authority like Governor must be respected by Courts atleast, until proven guilty- being elected by the people or not is a spurious argument IMHO- who will safeguard the minority who voted against the present elected Government?These are the checks and balances of a democracy-the only touchstone should be proof of "mens rea"- otherwise everybody is innocent until proven guilty?

Trade deficit in Oct 23 is jarring-other macro factors pleasing!

 India's trade deficit widened to a record high of $31.46 billion in October 2023, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This was significantly higher than the $19.37 billion deficit in September 2023 and the $20.50 billion that economists had forecast.

(all the above figs in US $ Billions)

The widening trade deficit was mainly due to a sharp increase in imports, which grew by 26.2% year-on-year to $54.54 billion. This was driven by higher imports of crude oil, gold, and electronic goods. Exports, on the other hand, grew by a more modest 5.4% to $23.08 billion.

(Imports Figs above are in US $ Billions)

(the above Exports Figs in US $ Billions)

The widening trade deficit is a concern for the Indian economy as it puts pressure on the rupee and could lead to higher inflation. The government has announced a number of measures to boost exports, but in view of dampening Global Trade volumes which are exacerbated by wars in Europe and Middle East theaters , the exports may lag behind severely in the coming months of FY 24.The situation looks bleak with trade volumes falling till the end of first half of 2024.

Here are some of the reasons for India's widening trade deficit:

• Rising global commodity prices: The prices of many of India's imports, such as crude oil, have been rising in recent months. This has made it more expensive for India to import these goods.
• Weak global demand: The global economy is expected to slow down in 2023, which could hurt demand for India's exports.
• Supply chain disruptions: The COVID-19 pandemic and the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza have caused disruptions to global supply chains. This has made it more difficult and expensive for India to export goods.

The Indian government is taking a number of steps to address the widening trade deficit. These include:

• Promoting exports: The government has announced a number of initiatives to promote exports, such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
• Diversifying export markets: The government is also trying to diversify India's export markets, with a focus on emerging markets in Africa and Southeast Asia.
• Improving infrastructure: The government is investing in infrastructure to improve connectivity and reduce logistics costs.

But the short term outlook for Exports look uncertain and shaky which may have a bearing on Manufacturing and Services GDP, even though the domestic demand conditions are robust.

Inflation is well-behaved, IIPs, Composite PMIs, stable monetary policy despite Election spending liquidity buildup, aggressive Capex spending by both Central and State Govts, well managed Fiscal deficit backed up by robust tax collections(both Direct tax and GST ) etc. are all on even keel indicating good GDP nos.Only Trade deficit is the party spoiler!