In this edition, we talk about the new amendments to the finance bill that have implications for debt mutual funds. We also talk about the Fed rate hike and UBS’ rescue of Credit Suisse and why it may not be such a good deal after all.
Welcome to Kuvera’s weekly digest on the most critical developments related to business, finance, and the markets.
tl;dr Hear the article in brief instead?
In a crucial development for debt mutual funds, the government has removed the benefit of 20% tax with indexation benefit that these categories of mutual funds presently enjoy.
Simply put, debt mutual funds will now be taxed on a par with fixed deposits. This is as per an amendment to the Finance Bill of 2023, which was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and passed in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Effectively, gains on redemption of mutual funds where not more than 35% is invested in equity shares of domestic companies will be taxed as short-term capital gains if they are bought on or after April 1, 2023.
That is, capital gains from debt funds, international funds and gold funds, irrespective of their holding period, will be taxed at an individual’s relevant tax slab. The amendment also covers funds of funds, which invest in units of other mutual funds.
So, why is this move significant? This is because removing the benefit will end the tax advantage debt funds enjoyed over fixed deposits. Interest income from fixed deposits is taxed at an individual’s income tax slab rate. With the indexation benefit gone, debt funds will come on a par with fixed deposits on the taxation front. In fact, FDs have the added advantage of certainty of returns since the interest rate is fixed when a depositor opens an FD while returns on debt funds are market-linked.
Having said that, existing investments in debt funds, international funds and gold funds, and even new investments made in them until March 31, 2023, may not be impacted, and will continue to enjoy the same benefits as before. So, what should you do? Well, you may have to go back to the drawing board and thing through your asset allocation. And make decisions regarding investments or redemptions in debt funds, FDs or even equities only after a thorough analysis of your goals and requirements.
Debt fund investors and fund managers were not the only ones caught by surprises. The Finance Bill also increased the securities transaction tax on sale of futures and options (F&O) contracts.
The STT was increased to 0.0125% from 0.01% on the sale of futures and to 0.021% from 0.017% in case of options. This means the STT on the sale of options has been increased by 23.5% to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,700 on a turnover of Rs 1 crore while the tax has been raised by 25% to Rs 1,250 from Rs 1,000 on a turnover of Rs 1 crore on the sale of futures.
Meanwhile, don’t miss the March 31 deadline to update your nomination details for mutual funds.
SEBI’s sweep
The finance ministry is not the only agency that is looking to bring in sweeping changes that could impact capital markets or listed companies.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is reportedly all set to clear several proposals, including putting an end to permanent board memberships in companies, bringing in special rights for certain shareholders and on safeguards to prevent slump sale by listed companies without obtaining shareholders’ approval.
The capital markets regulator is also set to usher in an ASBA-like system for stock market trades and allow private equity funds to become sponsors of mutual funds.
Although these proposed changes have been in the works for a few months now, SEBI is likely to take them up at its board meeting scheduled for March 29.
If the changes are indeed accepted by the SEBI board, it will end the practice of certain directors occupying permanent board seats at listed companies. In a discussion paper released last month, the regulator had suggested that the directorship of any individual serving on the board should be subject to periodic approval from shareholders, at least once in five years.
Fed’s hike
Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve has again raised interest rates by 25 basis points. This comes amid the ongoing banking turmoil, the worst since 2008, that continues to roil America and Europe, and has, in part, been blamed on the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes that have made raising capital costly.
The US central bank said on Wednesday that its benchmark interest rate would rise another quarter of a percentage point to a range of 4.75% to 5%. This is the ninth consecutive rate hike by the Fed and the benchmark lending rate in the US is now the highest since 2007.
To be sure, global market watchers were expecting a 50-basis-point hike, so, to that extent, the rise was smaller than what analysts had been anticipating.
The Fed said the impact of the banking crisis was “uncertain” but inflation “remains elevated”. Fed chair Jerome Powell said the central bank had considered pausing rates in the days running up to the decision but had concluded that the banking crisis was under control and that more rate rises were needed to bring down inflation.
“We are committed to restoring price stability and all of the evidence says that the public has confidence that we will do so,” he said. “It’s important that we sustain that confidence with our actions as well as our words.”
Could this force the hand of India’s central bank to follow suit and go in for yet another rate hike? We can’t second guess what the Reserve Bank of India will do, but will certainly be watching with a hawk eye and as soon as we get to know, you will get to know!
Banking turmoil
While two US lenders—California-based Silicon Valley Bank and New York’s Signature Bank—have collapsed and a third—the First Republic Bank—is tottering on the brink, Switzerland-based Credit Suisse has been acquired by its bigger local rivel UBS, in what is turning out to be a controversial deal.
A last-minute rescue by UBS might have saved the day for now, and prevented a full-blown banking crisis in Europe, but few people seem to be happy with the deal which had to be allowed by Swiss regulators as there were few other good options on the table. This, despite the fact that the deal will effectively create a massive financial institution in the country, leading to fears that it could be anti-competitive and lead to huge job losses.
And, if history is any indicator, bank mergers mostly never work well.
Moreover, as news reports say, Swiss taxpayers are now staring at more than $9 billion in future potential losses at UBS arising from certain Credit Suisse assets. The Swiss government, too, has guaranteed a $109 billion lifeline to UBS.
So, as the Swiss financial system, which employs 5% of the country’s workforce, goes through the motions, let us hope that nothing of this magnitude comes to pass in India, especially given the fact that our banks have just put behind a bad loan mess worth billions of dollars.
MSMEs get a push
Back home, the government is looking at revving up the fortunes of micro, small and medium sector enterprises (MSMEs), which are the backbone of the Indian economy.
News reports say the government plans to launch a revised production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme combined with incentives for employment generation and exports for medium-sized enterprises.
The government wants micro and small enterprises to transition into the medium category, and in the wake, creating more job opportunities and integrating them into the global value chain.
Lofty goals, we say, and very laudable indeed. But whether the government will succeed in doing what it wants to, only time will tell.
Market Wrap
Over the past year, the broader markets have done very little, and the two principal indices—the 50-share Nifty and the 30-stock Sensex—have trended lower.
The last five sessions were no different. Both the Nifty and the Sensex ended the week in the red. While the Nifty lost about 0.96% over the past five days, the Sensex slid around 0.88%.
Among the Nifty stocks that gained the most during the week were HDFC Life, SBI Life, ICICI Bank and Ultratech Cement. Other winning counters were Titan and defensive stocks such as Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Divi’s Labs.
Stocks that left their investors poorer during the week included Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Coal India, HCL Tech and Tata Steel. Other laggards included Bajaj Finserv, SBI, Power Grid Corp of India, Wipro, Infosys and Britannia.
Other headlines
- Accenture to lay off 19,000 people worldwide; acquires Bengaluru-based AI company Flutura
- Lok Sabha approves setting up of GST Appellate Tribunal
- Govt seeks data on PSU banks bond portfolios amid global banking crisis
- Canara Bank sells stake in Commercial Indo Bank LLC sold to SBI for Rs 121 crore
- Anil Agarwal mulls 10% stake sale in Vedanta's India unit to cut debt burden
- Ashneer Grover launches cricket fantasy sports app ‘CrickPe’ ahead of IPL
- SpiceJet open to selling more stakes in airline business
- Jack Dorsey’s wealth tumbles $526 mn after Hindenburg accuses Block of fraud
- Competition Commission of India approves ADIA buying into Lenskart
- Walmart invests $200 mn more into Flipkart unit PhonePe
Interested in how we think about the markets? Read more: Zen And The Art Of Investing
Watch here: New vs. old tax regime
Start investing through a platform that brings goal planning and investing to your fingertips. Visit kuvera.in to discover Direct Plans and Fixed Deposits and start investing today. #MutualFundSahiHai #KuveraSabseSahiHai
