Mumbai, March 23
A panel set up by the government has proposed a unified regulator for markets, insurance, commodities and pensions, while monetary policy and banking would remain under the Reserve Bank of India, according to media reports on Saturday.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) has also backed the creation of an independent debt management office to manage the government's debt and borrowings, now overseen by the RBI.

The FSLRC, set up in March 2011 to suggest changes to financial sector laws and headed by retired Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna, submitted its report to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday.

He is expected to brief the prime minister and make the report public within four days, a media report said.

The panel has proposed a Unified Financial Agency (UFA) to subsume the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and Forward Markets Commission.

The report said Srikrishna told reporters that the panel did not feel that the central bank should be merged with the UFA, but that could happen at a later date.

The panel has also sought to replace multiple regulations with a single Indian Finance Code and proposed a Financial Sector Appellate Tribunal that would subsume the Securities Appellate Tribunal and hear appeals against the RBI for its regulatory functions.

The panel has backed the creation of a Resolution Corporation that will oversee financial institutions and a Financial Redressal Agency to address consumer complaints against financial sector companies.

The present Securities and Appellate Tribunal will be converted into Financial Appellate Tribunal, which will hear appeals against both RBI and the unified regulator, the committee has suggested. The report has also mooted doing away with multiple agency structure for foreign capital inflows. — Agencies

Mumbai/New Delhi, march 23
Not every executive challenges his regulatory tormentors to a televised debate, but Subrata Roy, who heads Sahara conglomerate, is not your typical CEO.

"Enough is Enough," Sahara said in full page ads this week, days after the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sought Supreme Court approval to arrest Roy and two Sahara directors, escalating a battle between the regulator and one of corporate India's most enigmatic personalities.

In the ad, Roy asked the capital markets regulator's top officials for a live 60-minute televised faceoff.

The regulator accuses Sahara of raising billions of dollars from small investors through an outlawed financial scheme and failing to comply with a court order to refund the money.

An unlisted conglomerate best known as the lead sponsor of the Indian cricket team and more recently as a buyer of overseas luxury hotels, Sahara argues it has repaid most investors.

It says its total liability is less than the Rs 51.2 billion it had deposited with the regulator as the first repayment installment following the top court's ruling that the bonds it issued were illegal.

The money it raised from small investors, many of them poor villagers who don't have bank accounts, was to be invested in real estate and other projects, according to regulatory filings. Sahara's other businesses include media and retail.

The regulator declined to comment on the case, including Roy's challenge to the televised debate. Roy was not immediately available to be interviewed.

Like Sahara, Roy, 64, has long operated outside the mainstream of corporate India. Based in Lucknow, Roy calls himself managing worker and chairman of Sahara and "chief guardian" of the world's biggest family, with nearly a million staff and agents. The conglomerate's full name is Sahara India Pariwar, which means family.

Sahara says the founders have taken an oath that neither they nor their family members can share the profit or assets of the company, although Roy lives in a sprawling gated complex of low white buildings and lawns called Sahara Shaher. His wife, Swapna, and two sons work for the company.

Sahara's website says it had assets with a market value of Rs 1.17 trillion as of April 2011, the most recently available figure on its website.

Beijing, March 23
China is on course to become the world's largest economy "around 2016", a survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has forecast.

"From a long-range perspective, China has now overtaken the Euro area and is on course to become the world's largest economy around 2016, after allowing for price differences," the Paris-based group said in its survey of China.

Living standards will continue to improve fast, provided reforms are implemented, most of which feature in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the survey report.

With US $8.3 trillion, China is the second largest economy. It stands next only to United States which has $15.7 trillion strong economy.

The OECD report predicted China to grow at 8.5% this year from last year's 7.5% saying the economy is set to regain momentum.

"The gradual pickup in activity provides a strong background for the ambitious reforms China needs to put in place to continue on the road to prosperity," OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said. China was well placed to enjoy a fourth decade of rapid catch-up and improving living standards, notwithstanding various risks, OECD said.

The new survey of China examines three closely interlinked sets of issues: urbanisation, relations between central and local governments and the environment. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Gold, silver prices slide on weak global cues
New Delhi: Both the precious metals fell in the capital on Saturday, following stockists selling on sluggish demand amid lower global trend. While gold fell by Rs 75 to Rs 30,255 per 10 grams, silver dropped by Rs 765 to Rs 54,415 per kg on reduced offtake by jewellers and industrial units. The sentiment turned bearish after gold fell in the global markets as lawmakers in Cyprus debated measures needed for a bailout, crimping demand for gold as a store of value, traders said. Gold in New York, which normally sets the price trend in India, fell by US $5.60 to $1,609.20 an ounce and silver by 1.44% to $28.76 an ounce.

Vodafone’s plea for extension of permits in 3 zones rejected
mumbai: The government has rejected a request by a unit of Vodafone Group Plc's to extend its cellular licenses in three key service areas, the operator said, escalating a feud between carriers and the government in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market. The telecom ministry has asked Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel to win back airwaves in an auction in areas where they complete 20 years in November 2014.