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Reliance Power’s IPO, the largest so far in the Indian markets, opened for subscription from 15-Jan-08 to 18-Jan- 08. The company aims to raise up to Rs 11,700 crore. Under the IPO, 26 crore shares in a price band of Rs 405-450 is on offer to the public. Thirty per cent of the shares on offer have been reserved for retail investors. Investors can apply for lot sizes in the multiples of 15 shares. Investors in the retail category can choose from two payment options. Under the part payment option, retail investors can pay at the rate of Rs 115 per share and apply for up to 225 shares. Alternatively, they may invest at cut -off by paying the full amount for up to 225 shares.

It is still not clear if investors’ option for the part payment option will be able to benefit from listing gains. According to analysts, investors making part payment may be allotted shares only if the retail portion of the issue is subscribed between four to six times at cut-off price. If the retail portion barely scrapes through, then investors will have to pay the entire amount before the shares are credited to their demat accounts. The process will then take up to 40 days so investors will not be able to sell on listing day.

The grey market expects listing at around Rs 900 per share. Analysts have advised long-term investors not to apply for this IPO since the company is expected to show earnings only from 2010.

Retail as well institutional investor interest is very high for the Rs 10,260 crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Reliance Power, which opens for subscription on 15 January 2008.

“I am applying for the Reliance Power IPO to the fullest limit allowed to retail investors. It is a Reliance company and a sure bet,” said an investor who wished not to be named. The brand Reliance and Ambani is what is creating the frenzy and investors are not keen on looking at the fundamentals or finer details of the issue.

The grey market premium for the IPO is at Rs 450-500 and market men hope for a listing price of Rs 950-1,000. Brokerages are flooded with investor queries on loan facilities for subscribing to the biggest IPO in the country, and at the retail level there is a marketing drive that has not been witnessed in the recent past.

Market experts say the issue is overpriced, as Reliance Power will start earning only after its first generation unit -phase I of the 600 MW Rosa Power project in Uttar Pradesh - goes on stream by December 2009. Until then, at zero earnings, the stock, no matter at what price, will be trading at an effective price-to-earnings multiple (P/E) of infinity.

National Thermal Power Corporation is the least valued stock in the power pack at a P/E of 30.94.  Reliance Energy is trading at a PE of 65 and Tata Power at 60.26. However; the Reliance Power IPO may be a story similar to that of Reliance Petroleum, which hovered at low levels after issue and started rallying recently. Though the issue is overpriced, it still may well be of the kind to sell on listing day to exit with substantial gains.

The Market is displaying all the classic signs of a post sell-off syndrome. A v-shaped relief rally; spikes in volatility; retest of lower levels, low trading volumes and aversion to mid- and small-caps. This is exactly what you would have expected to see. These patterns call for a different tactical approach on part of investors.

In a market that has clearly not stabilised yet, traders should either refrain from trading or cut down their trade sizes drastically. Equally; if they have to trade they should be extremely nimble and book small gains whenever they get them. This is not the time to be greedy. Compulsive traders should avoid positional trades and trade with narrow stop losses so that they can minimize losses if the market turns against them, which is quite likely. This market could indeed be a trader’s graveyard with the Nifty gyrating wildly between a big band of, say; 4,500-5,400. It is not easy to trade mid-caps either: many stock futures that started the day 8 per cent up ended between 6 and 8 per cent down. Very tough to gauge and catch these swings, they happen so fast.

For investors with cash, this is a good time. However, they should be in no hurry. Someone who bought in the early half of Thursday would be regretting it as by the second half many stocks were trading 10 per cent below their morning peaks. In these conditions, one should try and time the market a bit. While large-cap names should outperform in the foreseeable future, investors looking .beyond the next few months must look at some high-quality mid-caps from the stock futures segment where the erosion has been undeservedly large. They may not recover immediately but poor technicals have driven them to deep value zones. There is an opportunity there if one can be patient.

 It is going to be an interesting few days ahead with global market volatility; meetings next week for the US Fed and RBI loaded with expectations and the prospect of a substantial amount of locked-up funds returning to the hands of institutional investors. All are the ingredients of a potboiler.  

Borders Divide jurisdictions but families reunite them. The chain to this link is the global citizen. However, this inter-nation cross-flow has with the passage of time generated a new crop of legal issues in the realm of private international law which comprises rules a court would apply whenever there is a case involving a foreign element.

As Reuters reports, while the British Parliament is working its way through The Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill to legalise parentage from in-vitro fertilization births and recognize same sex couples as legal parents of children conceived through the use of donated eggs, sperms or embryos, India has still to enact any concrete law arising from the surrogate tourism industry generated here.

A fugitive NRI parent declared a proclaimed offender in matrimonial proceedings in India cannot even see or talk to his children removed to India. A foreign court refuses to permit NRI children to be taken to India and likewise local courts decline to implement foreign court orders directing return of NRI children. These occurrences find daily mention but no straight-forward solution for the NRI in any Indian law. International parental child abduction defined as the removal or retention of a child across international borders by one parent which is either in contravention of court orders or is without the consent of the other parent is sadly an increasing phenomenon which causes acute emotional distress to the abducted child.

The Government is in the process of acceding to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. However, before that is done, and India becomes a member of about 80 contracting convention nations, an appropriate Indian legislation will have to be enacted for its implementation. In this way children removed to and from India will be reunited with their aggrieved parent and India will no longer be a sought after destination for parking removed NRI kids from foreign jurisdictions. Also, foreign courts will be encouraged to permit NRI kids to freely visit India without fear of abduction.

The draft of the Indian Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill 2007 meant to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully retained or removed to India proposes to ensure that the rights of custody and access under laws of contracting states are respected by providing for prompt removal of wrongfully removed children. The salient features of this proposed law are as follows:

1)     A Central Authority for performance of duties under the Hague Convention for securing the return of removed children by instituting judicial proceedings in the High Court.

2)     The appropriate authority or a person of a contracting country may apply to the Central Authority for return of a removed child to the country of habitual residence ·

3)      The High Court may order return of a removed child to the country of habitual residence but may refuse to make such an order if there is grave risk of harm or if it would put the child in an intolerable situation. Consent or acquiescence may also lead to refusal for return of a child by the court.

4)      The HC may refuse to return a child if the child objects to being returned upon it being satisfied that the child has attained an age and maturity to take into account his views.

Before India”accedes to ” the Hague convention, an appropriate law will have to be enacted. In this way, children removed to and from India will be reunited with their aggrieved parent and India will no longer be a sought after destination for parking removed NRI kids from foreign jurisdictions

The current clamour over India’s national jewel, the Bharat Ratna, is priceless. The furore began with a story by a canny young television reporter. Wondering why India has not been able to find a Bharat Ratna for seven long years, he asked in his report why Sachin Tendulkar should not be given this top award. After all, the reporter said, if RATAN can be given to controversial figures like V.V. Giri and M.G. Ramachandran, why not anoint as India’s jewel someone who has inspired and provided hope to the blue billion for 19 long years, who is now regarded as the best cricketer ever and who has been a match winner for India since the age of 17? Let’s stop being hypocritical about those we secretly admire and those we publicly applaud.

Shock and horror greeted the reporter’s suggestion. Sachin Tendulkar for the Bharat Ratna? Unthinkable, declared an august panel. Cricket is simply a game of bat and ball; cricket is the universe of elitist corporate India and big money; Tendulkar is a mere celebrity; cricketers are egoists who promote themselves in toothpaste ads; they aren’t the selfless servants of India’s public good or upholders of civilisational values. A day after the reporter’s story; came L.K. Advani’s thundering letter to the PM: A Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajpayee, please.

At the heart of the Bharat Ratna controversy lies a disappointing truth about how we view talent in our country. In a country where 70 per cent is under 35, entitlement, not achievement, governs our awards system. The political battle over the Bharat Ratna reveals how the political class remains trapped in a mindset where greatness is defined by age, death or party loyalty. Advani seeks a Bharat Ratna for Vajpayee for being the longest serving parliamentarian. An activist group seeks the Bharat Ratna for Karpoori Thakur for being revolutionary in a decade when a sizeable number of Indians were not even born. The Samajwadi Party and Mayawati seek a Ratna for Mulayam Singh and Kanshi Ram respectively to keep their respective cadres from straying. Veerappa Molly of Congress thinks Jyoti Basu should get it for being one of the oldest living communists in India. And in a real political gem, the Delhi Deputy Speaker believes Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, should get the award because he is safely dead.

 All these names are political and thus their candidature depends on their political acceptability for the government. Yet, the definition of the Bharat Ratna is emphatically not political. Instead it’s an award for “exceptional service towards the advancement of art, literature, science and in recognition of public service of the highest order”. So far, of the 41 Bharat Ratna awardees, most are men and women of the State: politicians, former ministers and PMs with only a small group - Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar, Bismillah Khan, Amartya Sen and J.R.D. Tata - representing civil society. With this overwhelming bias in favour of politicians, is it any wonder that there is no candidate for the Ratna? It’s not that the talent is missing; it’s just that as a new economy creates a new society, increasingly India’s talents are located outside politics, outside the State and outside the old professions. The government is not only looking for Ratnas in the wrong place, but it has also failed to come with a new definition of public service suited for the 21st century.

All over the world, talent and achievement, rather than age and durability are considered inspiring. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are candidates for the top job in the US not because of seniority in the party or the number of birthdays they’ve celebrated, but because of their present-day achievement. Their talent is visible here and now. In India, being a political wife or a cosseted son is often enough for a political career. A talent for oratory or public speaking, the talent to sway a crowd or make a moving speech or win thundering applause, a talent so crucial to Western politicians, is considered quite irrelevant here.

Bono, frontman of the band U2, may be considered a ‘mere pop singer’ in India, but his political activism is so influential that he was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times, granted an honorary knighthood and named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time. Bob Geldof, once the singer of the band The Boomtown Rats, is now ‘Sir Bob’ because of his pioneering concerts such as ‘Band Aid’ and ‘Live Aid’ aimed to provide aid to Africa and is regarded as one of society’s leaders. In India, someone like Sir Bob might also be considered ‘just a pop singer’.

Pride and honour make a potent potion and the turban evokes these feelings in those Sikhs who wear a turban. People have been wearing turbans since time immemorial and you find individuals wearing turbans in many nations in Asia and Africa. While for some turbans might be an optional, formal, attire for the Sikhs wearing a turban is a religious imperative.

Turban-wearing Sikhs stand out in a crowd, for good or bad, and there are many documented cases, spread over centuries and spanning the globe, when the Sikhs have faced discrimination and worse because of their turbans.

Often prominent people would stand up for their rights. When the question of Sikhs wearing turbans and refusing to wear steel helmets came in front of the British parliament, Sir Winston Churchill said it was “a matter of deep regret that consequent to contemporary cynicism, people had been toying with many precious social and religious values, but those who want to retain and maintain them with due respect should receive our appreciation as well as help. The Sikhs need our help for such a cause. We should help them willingly. He who is familiar with Sikh history knows the Sikhs’ relationship with England, the high degree of their achievements, and must help them with full strength. The Sikhs should be exempted from wearing steel helmets because it hurts their religious feelings”.

Especially in the final decades of the last century, the Sikhs would take recourse to the legal systems of the nations that they faced discrimination in, and more in time would be granted relief since courts worldwide recognised the fundamental right of the Sikhs to wear an item of their religious attire. This was so in Britain, Canada and the US, to name just three major nations.

In France, however, it was the state that discriminated against Sikh school students and banned them for wearing turbans to school, because turbans were seen as “conspicuous religious symbols”. It enacted an all-embracing law against “conspicuous religious symbols” in 2004 and enforced it vigorously. Others affected by the law include Muslim girls wearing headscarves, Jewish boys wearing scull caps and Christians wearing large crosses.

The logic behind this decision is to take secularism not as equal respect for all religions, as it is seen in India; or a separation of the church and the state as is practiced in most of Europe and the US, but a particularly narrow and strident interpretation that seeks to stamp out religion and religious symbols to preserve secularity.

French courts have supported the government in this and now the principle is being extended-the Sikhs are being asked to uncover their heads while being photographed for driving licences. Recently, United Sikhs, an international charitable organisation that has also been fighting for the cause of the turban, reported that its appeal regarding Shingara Mann Singh, 52, a French national who was refused a replacement driver’s licence because he did not take off his turban, was turned down by a top French court. Similarly, appeals by eight French students, who have sought to be allowed to attend school, have met with a similar fate.

The forthcoming visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has drawn attention to this issue again. The issue of banning turbans in French schools has been raised, protest marches have taken place, and vigils are being planned. It is a historical fact that 80,000 Sikh soldiers fought for France and many lost their lives during the two world wars, fighting major battles in Ypres, La Bassec, NeuveChapelle, Festubert, Loos, Givenchy and Somme.

The late Hardit Singh Malik was granted the French Legion of Honour Award in 1952. He had served as a fighter pilot for the French Air Force, and won nine aerial battles in World War I. The turbaned Malik also served as Indian Ambassador to France soon after India became independent.

The issue is neither the contributions of the Sikhs to the freedom of France, nor the ties they have with France and the French people. What is at stake here is a fundamental matter of giving people the freedom to profess and practise their faith.

 The following are excerpts from a statement by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaking at the UN, General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2007, which is being circulated on the Internet:“Attachment to one’s faith, to one’s language and culture, and to one’s way, of life, thought and belief - all this is natural, legitimate and profoundly human. To deny that is to sow the seeds of humiliation. A ‘clash of civilisations’ will not be averted by forcing’ everyone to think and believe alike; cultural and religious diversity must be accepted everywhere and by all.”