Help Piyush

I typically ignore emails that come for help as more often they are fake. However this one caught my attention, when I read the details, i could not classify it as fake. I feel the child deserves help whatever can be done by each one of us. If you can and if your finance permits, help Piyush.

More details at http://www.aidmyson.com

Voter’s ID card and the Elite in India

Today was Karnataka Bandh. I am not going to talk about Bandh, nor am I going to discuss them as being right or wrong.

I did not have much work to do. However last week, I had picked up application forms of few companies that have IPO’s closing this week. Typically I would look at the EPS, P/E ratio and my gut feeling about the company to make invest or no invest decision. However with the whole day at my disposal, I did justice to the 16 pages of literature provided with the application form. What struck me the most was the promoter’s section. I am not talking about the disclosure regarding various litigations (lawsuit) that are filed against them. I found that many of the Promoter’s did not have voter’s ID card. It brought me to two questions:
a. Why did SEBI make it mandatory to disclose Promoter’s
b. Why did the promoter’s did not have Voter’s ID card?

Do not know why SEBI asked it to make it mandatory to disclose the Voter’s ID, when they also ask to disclose the Passport number and driving license also. Most promoters am sure can afford a driver, so they may not need driver’s license. I was not amazed when I did not find driver’s license details of many promoters.

Back to the voter’s ID card question. I could think of following for the promoter’s to not have the voter’s ID card.

1. Process to get the voter’s id could be (I think it is) complex, there by de-motivating people from getting the voters ID
2. When the IPO forms are being finalized, they may not have it handy – do investor’s really care about the voter’s id card? If they did, than I am sure each promoter would have had that details in the IPO form
3. Promoters do not care about the voting and hence no need of voter’s id card – I think this may not be the reason.

No matter whatever is the reason for not having the voter’s ID card! Absence of voter’s ID information in the IPO forms is a point to ponder…