T+0 by March, instant a year later- Sebi

T+0 by March, instant a year later: Sebi

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board on Saturday did not make any changes to existing delisting regulations, citing insufficient data. “Since the number of delisting applications over the five years was small, the data was quite limited to draw significant conclusions. Therefore, the board suggested we go back and gather more data, and undertake further consultations,” said Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri-Buch, speaking to the press following the board meeting.

Earlier, it was expected that the market regulator would make changes in the delisting regulations because companies and even legal experts have said that the process of delisting is rather complex. And even a small set of investors are able create significant hurdles to the process.

As regards inclusion in derivatives, she said it is among the most complex data analysis done at Sebi, and the regulator needs more time to complete our data analysis. On the proposal to extend F&O trading hours, however, she said that they need feedback from all three constituents — exchanges, brokers, and investors — before taking a call.

The regulator approved a host of measures at its board meeting. For social stock exchanges, it reduced the minimum issue size in case of public issuances of zero-coupon zero-principal instruments to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 1 crore, and minimum application size to Rs 10,000 from Rs 2 lakh.

It also approved the framework for registration of index providers to license ‘significant indices’ notified by Sebi. Further, it amended the REIT regulations for the facilitation of small & medium REITs — with an asset value of Rs 50 crore rather than Rs 500 crore.

Finally, the board approved proposals to amend AIF regulations, mandating that fresh investments into AIFs after September 2024 shall be held in the dematerialised form.

Responding to questions, Buch also said that the price discovery mechanism for IPOs was not perfect. She pointed out that institutional investors buy big but retail investor buy small, which is why it would be prudent for the latter to wait for the price to settle after IPOs, take into account its financials, etc, before investing via the secondary market.