Indian share markets continue to trade on a flat marginally higher in the noon session. Gains are largely seen in capital goods stocks, metal stocks and realty stocks. Meanwhile, automobile stocks are witnessing majority of the selling activity.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 65 points and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 24 points. Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.6% & the BSE Small Cap index is up by 1%. The rupee is trading at 63.67 to the US$.

In the news from bond markets, as per an article in the Economic Times, Finance minister Arun Jaitley has unveiled the framework for electoral bonds which is aimed at cleaning up political funding.

The framework comes with conditions such as a limited tenure and eligibility restricted to parties with a track record of at least one election.

The move comes in Finance Minister’s pledge to establish a system for party donations that would help stamp out black money as a source of funding in his February 2017 Budget in the wake of demonetization.

Accordingly, the new framework allows donors to buy these bonds and give them to the party of their choice. The party can encash them through designated bank accounts within 15 days.

Electoral bonds would be issued/purchased for any value in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 1 million and Rs 10 million from specified branches of SBI.

The above development is a step in the right direction.

To ensure transparency in political funding in the country, the government had proposed that any maximum donation from any one source can only be Rs 2,000.

Earlier, the donation limit was Rs 20,000. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also said these donations can be made either through cheques or digital means only.

The government had also proposed an amendment to the Reserve Bank Act to enable issuance of electoral bonds. These bonds can be redeemed by the political parties in registered accounts and within a specified time only.