Relief for Azharuddin as court strikes down ban

Twelve years after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) imposed a ban for life-time on former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, the Andhra Pradesh High Court Thursday struck it down as "illegal".

In a major relief to the cricketer-turned-politician, a division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court set aside the order of a lower court which had upheld the ban.

It was on Dec 5, 2000, that the BCCI banned Azhar from playing professional cricket for the rest of his life after he was found guilty of match-fixing charges.

The Hyderabadi had challenged the Indian cricket board's decision in the city civil court, which upheld the ban. He then moved to high court against the lower court's order, his lawyers arguing that BCCI imposed the ban without any evidence.

The 49-year-old is currently a member of the Lok Sabha from the Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The court verdict has come as a major relief to Azhar, who had always maintained that the ban on him was unfair and the BCCI's decision was unilateral. The BCCI then had banned Azhar and Ajay Sharma for life and imposed a five-year ban on Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar.

The BCCI move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the match-fixing scandal, accused these players of having links with bookies and of under-performing in return for huge sums of money.

The match-fixing scandal came to light after then South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, in his confession, claimed that Azhar had introduced him to the bookies.

Azhar, one of India's most successful captains nd prolific batsmen, played 99 Tests and scored 6,215 runs during his career. He also played 334 One-Day Internationals scoring 9,378 runs in his 15-year international career.

The wristy batsman had taken the world of cricket by storm in 1984-85 with a world record of three consecutive centuries in three Tests on his debut against England.

He entered politics a few months before 2009 elections by joining the Congress party and was elected to the Lok Sabha.

India tweaks some debt limit rules for foreign investors

 India will allow foreign investors to re-invest up to 50 percent of their debt holdings from the previous calendar year starting in January 2014, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a statement.

SEBI also cut the time period to use up corporate debt limits to 60 days from 90 days, whilegovernment debt limits will need to be used up in 30 days from 45 days, effective immediately, the regulator said.

The measures, first announced last month, tweak some of the rules seen hampering investments in debt, and free up debt auction limits faster so they are sold to those foreign investors who are more willing to use them.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) with authorised licenses can participate in the monthly auction for debt limits for corporate and government bonds, purchasing quotas which provide them with the right to invest in debt up to the limit bought.

However, domestic debt markets are marked by complex regulations for FIIs, denting demand at a time when yields are high and India needs inflows to plug its current account deficit.

"Simplification of the process and elimination of the need for multiple approvals will create higher interest levels amongst FIIs and will also attract newer set of FIIs," said Mahendra Jajoo, head of fixed income at Pramerica Mutual Fund.

Foreign investors can now also start buying and using up limits for long-term infrastructure corporate debt without SEBI approval for up to 90 percent of the total category limit of $12 billion, the SEBI notification showed.

Because of the complex set of rules, FIIs have, at times, bid for the right to purchase a bigger share of debt than they end up actually investing, skewing the demand for bonds.

Debt limits in government bond and corporate bonds without any investment restrictions have seen strong demand from FIIs.

However, long-term infrastructure corporate debt has not seen much interest because of a one-year lock-in provision, even as the country needs more investment because of frequent power cuts, poor roads and antiquated railways.

Other measures also hamper broader demand, including a withholding tax in rupee bonds of 20 percent.

India's corporate bonds have rallied this year, with the five-year corporate bond benchmark yield dropping to 9.01 percent from 9.39 percent a year ago.