Fresh battle breaks out over Ulips
The stage is set for a fresh regulatory war over unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) as IRDA rejected SEBI’s proposal to register 14 firms before launching new plans.

The recent spat between SEBI and IRDA just exposes the problems arising out of multiple and overlapping jurisdictions of the regulators. In our view the way ahead is a forward-looking inter-regulatory cooperation and coordination in the larger interest of financial stability. The finance ministry’s proposal of a Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), proposes to create an overarching coordination body, with no legislative sanction. This just adds another layer of "regulation" ignoring the existing arrangement for coordination among regulators. The RBI amongst other functions has the defined role of a regulator of banks and other financial institutions. It is precisely in this function that the coordination function can be strengthened rather than creating another body. Moreover, it is important to note that there is nothing that a FSDC could have done to prevent an inter-regulatory scrap that the finance ministry or the HLCC could not have done. The SEBI-IRDA stand-off is already in the courts, but the principle of inter-regulatory panels to resolve differences and come to terms with such phenomenon as lack of symmetry of information between market participants clearly needs to be institutionalized, maybe within the RBI.

Draft copyright Bill introduced, could transform film, music biz
The Union government has introduced the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010, in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to amend the Copyright Act, 1957.

In the current regime The Indian Performing Rights Society Ltd. (IPRS) acts on the behalf of the author and composer and paid a weighted average Rs. 660/- per needle hour of music broadcast. This is shared between the lyricist (20%), composer (30%) and publisher (50%). Here, quite often the publisher is the music company or rarely it’s the film producer if he has not sold the rights to the music company.
In the proposed Bill the authors and composers can directly negotiate the royalty rates with the broadcasters than going trough a representative society. Though, this seems to be fair for them but from a transaction cost perspective performance societies are the preferred route. Once there is a society representing the composers and authors, then the royalty rate determination is akin to tariff setting of a regulated monopoly. Moreover, the contracts that the artists sign with the producer can reflect better revenue sharing arrangements. The problem is that bulk of these artists work for a lump sum upfront fee and voluntarily waive their rights and have now approached the Copyright board to give them a right which they have voluntarily given up!

TELECOM

3G auction highlights Raja’s 2008 sham
The sheer success of 3G spectrum auctions might once again reinforce the allegations of massive revenue losses incurred by the telecom ministry by not auctioning 2G licences in 2008.

At the risk of repetition we included this item again in this issue as it is important to emphasize that these auctions have revealed that the traditional system of radio spectrum allocation (adopted till as late as 2008 for licensing of 2G services) has inefficiently restricted wireless services and have undervalued spectrum given that the last 2G licence went only for 1641 crores, while here a single 3G licence can get the government as high as 8352 crores. Liberal licenses ceding de facto spectrum ownership rights yield incentives for operators to maximize airwave value. These authorizations have been widely used for mobile services in the U.S. and internationally, leading to the development of highly productive services and waves of innovation in technology, applications and business models. Liberal licenses efficiently accommodate rival business models (including those commonly associated with unlicensed spectrum allocations) while mitigating the constraints levied on spectrum use by regulators imposing restrictions in traditional licenses or via use rules and technology standards in unlicensed spectrum allocations.

NEWS WITH ANNOTATES

Govt proposes to make land-losers stakeholders
The government is considering a proposal to make it mandatory for companies like Vedanta Resources and ArcelorMittal to offer shares to those displaced by their future mining projects.

The industry and the government should agree on how to include the displaced farmers in the future income streams of the project for which the land that has been vacated. This maybe a workable solution. The land loss and loss of livelihoods causes the hold up problems and until there is a solution to this we are going to face more Maoist violence (not that we endorse it).

Capacity addition target too steep to meet: govt
Power capacity addition target in the five years ending March 2012 is too steep to meet, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said.

Not surprising at all! It is very simple with distribution still missing link chary investors will not invest in generation. Which business will like to engage with bankrupt buyers?

Govt may delay refiners’ compensation till May
The finance ministry will wait at least until the end of May to gauge oil companies’ losses before deciding on compensating refiners for selling fuels below cost last fiscal.

Rationalization of fuel prices and settling the under recovery problem of PSUs had been recommended by Kirith Parikh Committee report, but these reports are prepared to gather dust!

Power companies overcharging 90% of consumers: CCI
Consumers all over the country could benefit from a landmark investigation by the competition regulator, which found that the capital’s power distribution companies are overcharging 90% of their customers

The first instance of the competition authority performing its role of consumer protection.

Finmin to set up panel to reform small savings interest rates
The Finance Ministry will constitute a committee to suggest ways to link interest on small savings instruments, like public provident fund schemes, with market rates.

Govt plans 4G mobile services auction
Government plans to hold an auction of ultra-high-speed fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone spectrum soon after completion of 3G access now underway, a report said.

Trai seeks stakeholders' views on HITS policy
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued a consultation paper seeking views of stakeholders on tariff dispensation issues related to Headends in the Sky (HITS) policy.

PlanCom adopts new poverty estimate
The Planning Commission has adopted new methodology for poverty estimation, which includes spending on education and health, besides food, taking the number of the country’s poor to a whopping 37.2%, from 27.5% estimated earlier.

Oil regulator to hear case on fuel pricing
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) will resume hearing the case on petroleum product pricing between private oil companies and government oil marketing companies (OMCs).

Plan panel backs strategic sale in sick PSUs
The Planning Commission has pitched for strategic sale in sick public sector undertakings (PSUs) to help them find a partner for revival.

Food subsidy up 65% in 2009-10
India’s food subsidy bill is estimated to have crossed Rs 72,000 crore in 2009-10, a 65% jump from the previous year, mainly due to increased procurement and rising cost of foodgrain.

FSDC not a super regulator: Pranab
The government has said the proposed Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), an inter-regulatory agency headed by the finance minister, would not act as a super regulator.

Govt allows compulsory education for children
The landmark Right to Education Act, providing free and equal educational opportunities to all children between the age of six and 14, has came into force.

Sibal welcomes foreign educational players to India
With India opening its doors to foreign universities, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has asked international education providers to come to India to set up low cost centres for development of human resources.

‘Scrap SEZ policy’
The first ever National People's Audit on Special Economic Zones in the country found the current SEZ policy unconstitutional and unsustainable, and demanded that it be scrapped.

Number portability gets stuck again
After missing several deadlines, mobile number portability (MNP) is now stuck with the home ministry over clearance for the porting process for numbers under lawful interception.