Friday, 10 April 2015
Sunday, 5 April 2015
IMPLICATIONS OF TRIPS AGREEMENT ON INDIA
IMPLICATIONS OF TRIPS AGREEMENT ON INDIA
MAIN THEME OF RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Uruguay Round (1986 – 1994) was
the turning poi nt in the history of Intellectual Property Rights. This round
included the Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights under which minimum
uniform laws are to be carried out. The Agreement on TRIPs came into force on 1
January 1995 and is to be implemented over a six-year period ending 31 December
2000 for developed countries and over a ten-year period ending 31 December 2004
for developing countriesIndia has always remained committed to the WTO and in
every sphere; it has stood by those commitments. Going by such commitments to
the WTO, India has amended its Intellectual Property Laws. Apart from meeting
WTO obligations India has placed this new regime due to its economic rational.
It enables pioneering firms lead time to recoup sunk cost on research and
development1. India is ranked as the fastest emerging economy and a major
global player in the years to come. The country has the largest scientific and
technical human resources among top five countries in the world. India cannot
afford to remain in isolation, disregarding the norms of international
intellectual property rights convention. A careful consideration is equally
essential in the future interest of macro-level development.
TRIPs was one of the most contentious
issues in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which was
concluded in 1994 at Marrakesh. As a member of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), and having signed the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT),
India has agreed to comply with all the instruments and annexes of GATT, including
Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).Because of WTO,
India has to amend its intellectual property laws .India was forced to comply
with the TRIPs agreement. After the formation of WTO in 1995, the India being
its member has to implement the TRIPs agreement in toto. The commitment under
TRIPs agreement compelled India to amend its intellectual property laws. India
has implemented the TRIPs by amending its intellectual property laws mainly
patent thrice.
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Saturday, 4 April 2015
PURPOSE, OBJECTIVE AND FUNCTIONS OF SECURITY EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA(SEBI)
PURPOSE, OBJECTIVE AND FUNCTIONS OF SECURITY EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA(SEBI)
SEBI
The Purpose, Objective and Functions of SEBI:
Securities Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) was set up in 1988 to regulate the functions of securities market. SEBI
promotes orderly and healthy development in the stock market but initially SEBI
was not able to exercise complete control over the stock market transactions.
It was left as a watch dog to observe
the activities but was found ineffective in regulating and controlling them. As
a result in May 1992, SEBI was granted legal status. SEBI is a body corporate
having a separate legal existence and perpetual succession.
Reasons for Establishment of SEBI:
With the growth in the dealings of
stock markets, lot of malpractices also started in stock markets such as price
rigging, ‘unofficial premium on new issue, and delay in delivery of shares,
violation of rules and regulations of stock exchange and listing requirements.
Due to these malpractices the customers started losing confidence and faith in
the stock exchange. So government of India decided to set up an agency or
regulatory body known as Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Purpose and Role of SEBI:
SEBI was set up with the main purpose
of keeping a check on malpractices and protect the interest of investors. It
was set up to meet the needs of three groups.
1. Issuers:
For issuers it provides a market
place in which they can raise finance fairly and easily.
2. Investors:
For investors it provides protection
and supply of accurate and correct information.
3. Intermediaries:
For intermediaries it provides a
competitive professional market.
Objectives of SEBI:
The overall objectives of SEBI are to
protect the interest of investors and to promote the development of stock
exchange and to regulate the activities of stock market. The objectives of SEBI
are
1. To regulate the activities of stock exchange.
2. To protect the rights of investors and ensuring safety to
their investment.
3. To prevent fraudulent and malpractices by having balance
between self regulation of business and its statutory regulations.
4. To regulate and develop a code of conduct for intermediaries
such as brokers, underwriters, etc.
Functions of SEBI:
The SEBI performs functions to meet
its objectives. To meet three objectives SEBI has three important functions.
These are:
i. Protective functions
ii. Developmental functions
iii. Regulatory functions.
1. Protective Functions:
These functions are performed by SEBI
to protect the interest of investor and provide safety of investment.
As protective functions SEBI performs following functions:
(i) It Checks Price Rigging:
Price rigging refers to manipulating
the prices of securities with the main objective of inflating or depressing the
market price of securities. SEBI prohibits such practice because this can
defraud and cheat the investors.
(ii) It Prohibits Insider trading:
Insider is any person connected with
the company such as directors, promoters etc. These insiders have sensitive
information which affects the prices of the securities. This information is not
available to people at large but the insiders get this privileged information
by working inside the company and if they use this information to make profit,
then it is known as insider trading, e.g., the directors of a company may know
that company will issue Bonus shares to its shareholders at the end of year and
they purchase shares from market to make profit with bonus issue. This is known
as insider trading. SEBI keeps a strict check when insiders are buying
securities of the company and takes strict action on insider trading.
(iii) SEBI prohibits fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices:
SEBI does not allow the companies to
make misleading statements which are likely to induce the sale or purchase of
securities by any other person.
(iv) SEBI undertakes steps to educate investors so that they
are able to evaluate the securities of various companies and select the most
profitable securities.
(v) SEBI promotes fair practices and code of conduct in
security market by taking following steps:
(a) SEBI has issued guidelines to protect the interest of
debenture-holders wherein companies cannot change terms in midterm.
(b) SEBI is empowered to investigate cases of insider trading
and has provisions for stiff fine and imprisonment.
(c) SEBI has stopped the practice of making preferential
allotment of shares unrelated to market prices
2. Developmental Functions:
These functions are performed by the
SEBI to promote and develop activities in stock exchange and increase the
business in stock exchange. Under developmental categories following functions
are performed by SEBI:
(i) SEBI promotes training of intermediaries of the
securities market.
(ii) SEBI tries to promote activities of stock exchange by
adopting flexible and adoptable approach in following way:
(a) SEBI has permitted internet trading through registered
stock brokers.
(b) SEBI has made underwriting optional to reduce the cost of
issue.
(c) Even initial public offer of primary market is permitted
through stock exchange.
3. Regulatory Functions:
These functions are performed by SEBI
to regulate the business in stock exchange. To regulate the activities of stock
exchange following functions are performed:
(i) SEBI has framed rules and regulations and a code of
conduct to regulate the intermediaries such as merchant bankers, brokers,
underwriters, etc.
(ii) These intermediaries have been brought under the
regulatory purview and private placement has been made more restrictive.
(iii) SEBI registers and regulates the working of stock
brokers, sub-brokers, share transfer agents, trustees, merchant bankers and all
those who are associated with stock exchange in any manner.
(iv) SEBI registers and regulates the working of mutual funds
etc.
(v) SEBI regulates takeover of the companies.
(vi) SEBI conducts inquiries and audit of stock exchanges.
The Organisational Structure of SEBI:
1. SEBI is working as a corporate sector.
2. Its activities are divided into five departments. Each
department is headed by an executive director.
3. The head office of SEBI is in Mumbai and it has branch
office in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.
4. SEBI has formed two advisory committees to deal with
primary and secondary markets.
5. These committees consist of market players, investors
associations and eminent persons.
Objectives of the two Committees are:
1. To advise SEBI to regulate intermediaries.
2. To advise SEBI on issue of securities in primary market.
3. To advise SEBI on disclosure requirements of companies.
4. To advise for changes in legal framework and to make stock
exchange more transparent.
5. To advise on matters related to regulation and development
of secondary stock exchange.
These committees can only advise SEBI but they cannot force
SEBI to take action on their advice.
Friday, 3 April 2015
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