Topic 1: Round Tripping

Why in News?

SEBI asking for  additional disclosures from Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).

What is round tripping?

• Round tripping refers to the money that leaves the country though various channels and makes its way back into the country, most often as foreign investment.
• Most of the time it involves black money and is allegedly often used for stock price manipulation.

How is the round tripping facilitated?

• Round tripping is often done through a series of transactions that don’t have any substantial commercial purposes, which makes it fall within the trappings of GAAR.

What is GAAR?

• General Anti-avoidance Rule (GAAR) is a concept which generally empowers the Revenue Authority in a country to deny tax benefit of transactions or arrangements which do not have any commercial substance and the only purpose of such a transaction is achieving the tax benefit.

How does the money return to India?

• It could be invested in offshore funds that in turn invest in Indian assets. The Global Depository Receipts (GDR) and Participatory Notes (P-Notes) are some of the other routes that have been used in the past.

Why round tripping happens?

• There are a number of observed factors that promotes round tripping. Mainly, Tax concessions allowed in the foreign country encourages individuals to park money there and then reroute it as FPI(Foreign Portfolio Investment).

Topic 2: Lab-Grown Fish

Why in news?

Kochi-headquartered ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Neat Meatt Biotec, a private-sector start-up offering cultivated meat technology solutions to grow fish meat in the laboratory.

What is lab-grown fish?

It is a type of lab-grown cultured meat. Cultivated fish meat is produced by isolating specific cells from fish and growing them in a laboratory setting using media that is free of animal components. The final product is expected to replicate the flavour, texture, and nutritional qualities of ‘real’ fish meat.

What roles are CMFRI and Neat Meatt playing in this collaboration?

• As per the MOU signed by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and Neat Meatt Biotech, CMFRI will focus on the genetic, biochemical, and analytical work related to the project.

• CMFRI will carry out research on early cell line development of high-value marine fish species — a process that involves isolating and cultivating fish cells for further research and development. It will initially focus on developing cell-based meat of fish such as pomfret, kingfish, and seerfish.

• Whereas Neat Meatt, with its expertise in cell culture technology, will lead the optimisation of cell growth media and scaling up production through bioreactors.

What are bioreactors?

Bioreactors are vessels that have been designed and produced to provide an effective environment for enzymes or whole cells to transform biochemicals into products. In some cases, inactivation of cells or sterilization is carried out in the bioreactor such as in water treatment.