The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said on Thursday it would grant more flexibility to large companies for incremental borrowing via bonds, and has decided to remove penalties on companies which were unable to meet the mandatory bond market borrowing quota.
The decision was taken at the board meeting of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) held here on Thursday.
The Sebi release said, “With the view to facilitate ease of compliance and ease of doing business, the board also decided to retain the requirement that compliance with the framework will be met over a contiguous block of three years. Further, it has been decided to dispense with the requirement on LCs for filing a statement identifying itself as an LC and statement regarding compliance with the framework.”
After receiving representations from various stakeholders on the difficulties of meeting the earlier mandate, Sebi had floated a proposal to ease norms through a consultation paper on August 10. The representatives had asked the regulator to leave the decision — to borrow funds at the best prevailing rates — to the companies.Sebi said its board also discussed various trends in the securities markets, including technology trends.
Besides, the board has approved streamlining the framework for credit of unclaimed amounts of investors in listed entities to the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF) and process of refund from the IPEF. This will be applicable for listed entities other than companies, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).
The regulator has also decided to extend the timeline for compliance with enhanced qualification and experience requirements for Investment Advisers (IAs).