Steel stocks clocked double-digit gains on Monday, with the Street positively reacting to the government’s anti-dumping levy on low-cost stainless steel imports to protect domestic players.

Jindal Stainless surged 12%, Maharashtra Seamless rose nearly 1% and ISMT rose 1.5%, as the government levied anti-dumping duty on imports of cold-rolled flat steel products.

Analysts opined that steel stocks were in limelight after the government on Friday imposed import duties for five years on some stainless steel imports from China, the European Union and the US.

JSW Steel jumped 5.5% to a nine-month high. Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) advanced 1.5-4.7% with huge trading volume on hopes that the import duty could be imposed on other categories of steel products.

Low-cost steel products imported from China will attract an additional duty of 57.39%. An anti-dumping duty of 52.6% has been levied on imports of steel products from the European Union, 13.4% on imports from South Korea and almost 37% on imports from South Africa, according to the notification from Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

The anti dumping duty on imports from US and Thailand is in the range of 5-9%.

The CBEC observed there is continued dumping of subject goods from the subject countries though the volume of imports has declined after imposition of duties. “The performance of the domestic industry has deteriorated in the current injury period due to the impact of dumped imports from the subject country and diversion of imports to product ranges outside the scope of the product under consideration.

The dumping is likely to continue and the performance of the domestic industry is likely to deteriorate, should the present anti-dumping duty is revoked,” CBEC noted.

PACL had raised Rs 49,100 crore from nearly 5 crore investors that it needs to refund along with promised returns, interest payout and other charges, which take the total amount due to more than Rs 55,000 crore, Sebi said today. (AP)

In a major crackdown on PACL Ltd, capital markets regulator Sebi has attached all assets of the company and its nine promoters and directors for their failure to refund more than Rs 60,000 crore due to investors – the biggest illegal mobilisation of funds.

PACL had raised Rs 49,100 crore from nearly 5 crore investors that it needs to refund along with promised returns, interest payout and other charges, which take the total amount due to more than Rs 55,000 crore, Sebi said today.

Besides, PACL has another group firm PGFL which has “illegally mobilised more than Rs 5,000 crore and failed to refund the same in spite of directions of Sebi and SAT”, the regulator said while initiating the recovery proceedings.

The proceedings have been initiated against PACL Ltd, as also its promoters and directors — Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Subrata Bhattacharya, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, Tyger Joginder, Gurnam Singh, Anand Gurwant Singh and Uppal Devinder Kumar.

Sebi said the recovery proceedings have been launched “for their failure to refund an amount of Rs 49,100 crores with return due to investors, along with further interest and all costs, charges and expenses incurred in the recovery proceedings”.

Sebi had asked them to refund the money in an order dated August 22, 2014. The defaulters were directed to wind up the schemes, and refund money to the investors within a period of three months from the date of the order.

Sebi said it has attached all bank and demat accounts and mutual funds folios of these defaulters with immediate effect and that has been communicated to all the banks, depositories and mutual fund houses.

The recovery notices were also sent to the defaulters, while all banks, financial institutions, depositories or any other persons holding assets of the defaulters have been advised not to part with the same and report the same to the Recovery Officer at Sebi office in the national capital.

The mobilisation of funds by PACL Ltd traces back to 1990s. Upon receipt of a complaint, Sebi had first issued letters in November-December 1999 to PACL, advising it to comply with the provisions of the Sebi’s CIS Regulations dealing with Collective Investment Schemes.

PACL challenged the letters before the High Court of Rajasthan, claiming that its scheme does not fall under the definition of CIS. PACL had also challenged the constitutional validity of the CIS Regulations.

The Court in its order dated November 28, 2003, held that PACL’s schemes were not CIS as defined under Sebi rules and quashed Sebi’s directive to PACL.

However, Sebi appealed before the Supreme Court, which in an order dated February 26, 2013 upheld the constitutional validity of CIS Regulations, and directed Sebi to investigate the matter and take appropriate actions.

After conducting further inquiry, Sebi passed the order dated August 22, 2014, wherein, inter-alia, PACL Limited, its promoters and directors were directed to wind up all the existing CIS of PACL Limited and refund the monies returns which are due to its investors.

PACL had again approached the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against Sebi’s order of August last year. The Tribunal however dismissed the appeal on August 12 this year and directed the defaulters to refund the money within a period of three months.

PACL has filed an appeal against the SAT order as well before the Supreme Court, but the apex court has “not granted any stay either on SAT or Sebi’s order”, the regulator said.

“Since the defaulters failed to refund the money to the investors as per the directions of Sebi and SAT, Sebi has initiated the recovery proceedings,” the regulator added.

Sebi said PACL has illegally mobilised huge money from crores of investors across the country without obtaining registration.

“In spite of the directions, PACL has not taken any steps to refund money to the investors. Therefore, the defaulters are likely to conceal, remove or dispose of the whole or any part of movable assets namely money in the banks, securities in demat accounts, mutual fund investments and etc, which are liable to be attached in the proceedings.

“Consequently recovery proceedings may be delayed or obstructed by the defaulters,” Sebi said in its order.

The regulator also said there are a number of news reports that the investors across the country are raising voice against the defaulters for their failure to refund money, while “lot of complaints were received from general public regarding non-payment/non-refund by PACL”.

“There is a lot of hue and cry as number of investors are around 5 crores,” Sebi said while adding that “in order to protect the assets from any sort of alienation, it is necessary to attach the bank, demat and mutual fund accounts to prevent the defaulters from removing/concealing the same”.

The attachment includes lockers of the defaulters in single or joint names, Sebi said in its communication to the banks and other institutions, while adding that no debit would be allowed in their accounts although “credits, if any, into the account may be allowed”.

Tracking a global selloff, the Indian stock markets have lost about 5 per cent since August and are nearly 9 per cent lower so far in 2015.

Domestic stock markets are expected to more than regain recent lost ground over the coming year, a Reuters poll found, but analysts trimmed their outlook for the second time in six months in a reflection of the slow pace of reforms and global headwinds.

Tracking a global selloff, the Indian stock markets have lost about 5 per cent since August and are nearly 9 per cent lower so far in 2015, hurt also by the government’s inability to pass key bills on tax and land acquisition reforms.

Still, Monday’s poll taken over the past week showed the Sensex is likely to recover and rise to 27,500 by end-June 2016, an increase of 10 per cent from Friday’s close but is almost exactly where it started this year.

Similar polls in September and June had foreseen the index higher by mid-2016, compared with the latest consensus.

The index is then forecast to rise to 29,900 by the end of 2016. That will be close to the record high of 30,024.74 hit on March 4 this year.

The BSE Sensex was among the world’s best performers in 2014, rising almost 30 per cent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office on promises of reforms to boost growth.

But the government’s inability to make a lot of headway and expectations the US Federal Reserve will start raising rates this week have seen investors dump emerging market assets, including Indian shares.

Foreign investors sold a net $1.7 billion in Indian shares and debt in November, pushing the currency lower. The Indian rupee hit a more than two-year low against the greenback on Friday.

Still, with expectations a goods and services tax and land acquisition bills will be passed into law, analyst see a fillip to the economy and stocks over the coming year.

A Fed rate hike would also reduce market uncertainty after investors agonized over US monetary policy all year.

“Our markets (Indian shares) should start doing better from next year, with impact on the economy by the measures taken by the government and a clear trajectory from the Fed,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities Private Limited.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Friday the central bank was ready for “any eventuality” from the Fed meeting this week.

India’s stock market has generally outperformed other emerging markets over the past two years.

Economic growth in Asia’s third largest economy picked up in July-September, outpacing China on improving domestic demand and manufacturing activity.

That acceleration helped persuade the RBI to keep rates unchanged last month after it had lowered the repo rate by 125 basis points this year, including a larger-than-expected 50 basis point cut in September.

Net inflows of the foreign portfolio investments dipped below $3 billion so far and this can make 2015 the worst year for Indian equities in terms of the overseas inflows since 2011, when FPIs pulled out Rs 2,714 crore from the stock markets.

A favourite of foreign investors for many years, Indian equities seem to have lost the plot this year as the net inflows of the so-called ‘hot money’ or foreign portfolio investments dipped below $3 billion.

This marks a sharp decline from an average $20 billion invested by the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) into Indian stocks in each of the last three years.

In contrast, the debt market kept overseas institutional investors captivated with its relatively steadier return promise and attracted net inflows in the excess of Rs 50,000 crore (well above $8 billion) this year.

With a couple of weeks still left before curtains are drawn on 2015, the experts believe the final tally for the equities may be even worse as foreign investors have lately been on a selling spree.

This can make 2015 the worst year for Indian equities in terms of the overseas inflows since 2011, when FPIs pulled out Rs 2,714 crore from the stock markets. Nonetheless, going by the current trend, it is likely that 2015 would be remembered as the fourth consecutive year of net FPI inflows into stocks.

Fears of a global slowdown and an imminent interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve have spooked foreign investors away from riskier assets, while the delay in implementation of major economic reforms could also have made the Indian markets less attractive for them, analysts said.

“FPIs have been pulling out money in 2015 on account of a double impact with the markets consolidating and the US dollar gaining strength, thereby a higher negative portfolio,” investment planning platform 5nance.com Founder and CEO Dinesh Rohira said.

Echoing similar views, Geojit BNP Paribas Research Head Alex Mathew said: “A slowdown in FPI investments is mainly on account of slew of global and domestic factors like concerns over the rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and subdued quarterly numbers (of corporate earnings) among others.”

However, analysts believe a reversal of trend in the year ahead on expectation of a conducive investment environment.

“The year 2016 is expected to see a reversal with the FPIs coming back as the currency and market conditions both are expected to be conducive for their investments with a net average returns of over 15 per cent,” Rohira said.

Mathew also said the next year will be better than 2015 in terms of FPIs investment in capital markets, especially equities.

Another analyst V Srivatsa, EVP and Fund Manager at UTI MF said: “Overseas investment in Indian market will depend on their sentiment for the emerging markets. Besides, reform measures like GST will have a positive impact on the inflow.”

As the year draws to an end, FPIs purchased stocks worth Rs 11.22 lakh crore but sold shares to the tune of Rs 11.07 lakh crore, resulting into net inflows of Rs 15,136 crore (USD 2.8 billion) for 2015.

Despite poorer inflows this year, FPIs’ cumulative net investments into the Indian equity markets, since being allowed over two decades ago in November 1992, has now reached close to Rs 8 lakh crore.

The cumulative figure for debt securities has also grown to Rs 3.15 lakh crore — taking the total for both debt and equities to Rs 11.13 lakh crore ($224 billion).

The capital poured in by the FPIs is often been called ‘hot money’ because of its unpredictability, but these overseas entities have still been among the most important drivers of Indian stock markets.

The experts are confident about an uptrend in investment in the stock markets next year.

In 2014, foreign investors had made a staggering investment of over Rs 97,000 crore into equities. Besides, FPIs made a net infusion of Rs 1.13 lakh crore and Rs 1.28 lakh crore into equity markets during 2013 and 2012, respectively. Prior to that, FPIs had pulled out money from the stock markets in 2011.

During the last decade, FPIs had witnessed an outflows only in 2011 and 2008.

In terms of sectors, FPIs remained highly overweight on financial and continued to be underweight on IT in the total portfolio.

FPIs had begun the year on a positive note and pumped in over Rs 48,000 in just four months till April in equities owing to several factors like positive investor sentiment driven by several reform measures announced by the government, expectations of more announcements in the Union Budget, easing inflation and rate cuts by RBI.

Thereafter, overseas investors had pulled out funds in the succeeding two months (May-June) on worries over imposition of 20 per cent minimum alternate tax on capital gains by them and rise in global crude oil prices. However, they had reversed the outflow trend in July and had invested capital in the stock market.

FPIs, once again, turned net sellers of equities in August and offloaded bagful of stocks and momentum continued in September too on fears of an economic slowdown in China.

In fact, FPIs had pulled out Rs 17,524 crore in August, making it the highest net outflow by FPIs in a single month since 1997.

In October, the Indian stock markets saw positive flows from FPIs, while again they took out money in November and the sell-off continued in this month too.