Business
Sebi blames ‘outsiders’ for staff complaint on ‘toxic work culture’ to finance ministry
Arguing that the Aug 6 letter to the ministry was not sent by employee associations but was an anonymous email, Sebi said the external elements had got junior officers to believe that they were underpaid and should get automatic promotions. The statement came in response to an ET report that quoted the complaint as saying “shouting, scolding and public humiliation have become the norm” at Sebi.
The complaint was sent by around 500 officers to govt. “It is unfortunate that some elements have attempted to diminish the significant capabilities of Sebi employees by instigating employees to believe that, as ’employees of a regulator’ they should not be required to have such high standards of performance and accountability,” Sebi said in a rare five-page statement.
Sebi’s clarification, however, is silent on the “toxicity” complaints that the officers said was at the core of their grievance.
Relating to the officers’ claims about unprofessional work culture, as mentioned in the letter to the Finmin, Sebi said such claims were misplaced. These could be because of instances such as ‘under-pitching of processing capability of officers by as low as (a fourth) of (their) actual capacity, mis-reporting of status of achievement of KRAs, shuttling of files between departments over a long period to avoid taking decisions, ‘adjusting’ appraisal marks of poorly performing officers to ‘somehow’ make them eligible for promotion etc, Sebi clarified. “In such instances, the officers concerned have been held accountable, given firm feedback, and corrective actions taken,” it said.
The clarification titled ‘HRA issues of staff misguided by external elements to target credibility of Sebi and its leadership?’ followed a day of hectic activity at the Sebi headquarters. A demonstration by the officers that was planned for Sept 5, has now been cancelled.
The statement said that there were demands from employees to increase the HRA by 55% over the allowance fixed last year. It also said that Sebi officers who “are already well paid” with the remuneration comparing “extremely favourably even with the corporate sector” would push up their annual CTC by Rs 6 lakh, or by around 17.6%, if the additional demands were met.
Sebi said that most of its employees had agreed with the new systems that are being put in place. These systems include finalising KRAs (key result/responsibility areas) at the start of the year, monthly MIS (management information system) reviews, annual performance review of each team by whole time members and the chairperson, promotion policy etc.
Adoption of technology to improve productivity across the organization was also one of the new initiatives within Sebi that employees have ’embraced’, the regulator said.
“We have seen IEA (International Energy Agency) and all such agencies lowering demand outlook in recent times.But India has emerged as a major (demand) growth centre,” he said, alluding to the growing size of India’s consumption — pegged at about 5 million barrels/day — offers a substantial market for suppliers in a tepid market.
On joint negotiations by the refiners with Russia, the official said “talks” among them “are ongoing”. Indian refiners sign annual contracts with major suppliers for part of their requirement and meet the rest through spot purchase.
The focus on Russia stems from the fact that it has become India’s top oil supplier because of discounts offered in the wake of Western sanctions and a $60 per barrel price cap, imposed after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, curbed markets for the Russian barrels. State-run refiners mostly buy Russian oil through spot tenders.
A similar attempt by state-run refiners to secure better terms from the Middle-East suppliers about 15 years back had come a cropper.
But the official said a contract is more than the price, which follows benchmarks. “For example, one can seek discounts, longer payment credit period, destination flexibility (allowing diversion cargo to another port in India) and other terms,” he said.
Both OPEC, accounting for 40% of globally traded oil, and the IEA have in recent times pruned their 2024 demand growth forecast. In contrast, IEA’s oil market report on India has said the country will contribute a third of the global oil consumption growth through 2030 to overtake China.
For the first time in two years, benchmark Brent crude dropped below $70 per barrel last week as fear of oversupply grew amid poor show by the major economies, especially China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. On Thursday, however, Brent rebounded to hover just below $75, buoyed by the US interest cut.
Initial claims decreased by 12,000 to 219,000 in the week ended September 14, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. That was below all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The period also corresponds with the so-called reference week when the survey is conducted for the September employment report.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, also dropped in the previous week, to the lowest in three months.
The four-week moving average, a metric that helps smooth out volatility in the data, fell to 227,500, the lowest since June.
What Bloomberg economics says…
“Initial jobless claims declined more than expected in the survey week for September’s employment report, due in part to difficulty adjusting the data around a major holiday like Labor Day. Claims tend to be depressed in holiday-shortened weeks, then rebound the following week — so the current data have limited value as a guide to September’s payroll print,” said Eliza Winger.
Claims for unemployment benefits have remained subdued in recent months even as labor demand cooled. The US central bank’s decision to lower interest rates by a half percentage point this week reflected policymakers’ intention to maintain what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell described as “still a solid” labor market.
“We’re trying to achieve a situation where we restore price stability without the kind of painful increase in unemployment that has come sometimes with disinflation,” Powell said during a press conference Wednesday following the rate-cut announcement.
Initial claims, before adjustment for seasonal factors, rose by 6,436 to 184,845. Texas, New York and California saw the largest increases. Applications in Massachusetts fell by the most since the end of April.
Business
Stock market today: BSE Sensex hits fresh lifetime high, goes above 83,600; Nifty50 above 25,550
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal, says, “A 25bps rate cut is already discounted and can lead to profit booking in the market.However, a 50bps rate cut by the Fed could bring some cheer to market sentiments. Also, Fed commentary will be important as it will give clarity on the quantum and duration of the rate cut cycle. We expect the market to remain volatile in the near term with rate-sensitive sectors in focus.”
Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities noted that the short-term trend of Nifty remains positive with range-bound action, and any dips to the support levels of 25,200-25,100 could present a buying opportunity. A decisive move above 25,500 levels might propel Nifty towards higher targets.
In the global markets, U.S. stocks closed with modest losses on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points, exceeding expectations. The S&P 500 futures rose 0.5%, while Japan’s Topix gained 2%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%. Euro Stoxx 50 futures also climbed 0.7%.
In the forex market, the euro, Japanese yen, and offshore yuan experienced slight declines against the US dollar. Oil prices fell in Asian trading on Thursday following the larger-than-expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut, which raised concerns about the U.S. economy.
Several stocks are in the F&O ban period today, including Balrampur Chini Mills, Hindustan Copper, GNFC, RBL Bank, PNB, Bandhan Bank, Biocon, Birlasoft, LIC Housing Finance, and Granules. Foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers with Rs 1154 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 152 crore. The net long position of FIIs increased from Rs 2.2 lakh crore on Tuesday to Rs 2.37 lakh crore on Wednesday.
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