In order to provide a fillip to the domestic markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved a slew of reform measures, which include approval to options trading in commodity derivatives, unified licence for brokers, mutual fund investments through digital wallets, stricter public offer norms and enhanced safeguards to curb illicit fund flows.
The regulator has also decided to exempt scheduled banks and financial institutions from certain provisions of the regulations pertaining to preferential allotments in an effort to help them to recover dues amid growing non- performing assets (NPAs). Besides, to deepen corporate bond market, it has cleared a new framework for consolidation and reissuance of debt securities. Liquidity in the secondary market for corporate bonds will be increased by way of minimal number of ISINs (International Securities Identification Numbers). Under the framework, approved by the Sebi board during its meeting here, an issuer will be permitted a maximum of 12 ISINs maturing per financial year.
Furthermore, Sebi has tightened the norms pertaining to participatory notes (P-Notes) to check black money flow into the securities market. The markets regulator also said that major non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) will be eligible for quota reserved for qualified institutional buyers in IPO and entities coming out with public offers including initial share sales will be required to appoint a monitoring agency to keep tabs on the utilisation of the proceeds in case the offer size is more than Rs 100 crore.