In a move to improve the quality of information to shareholders by removing large-scale discrepancies found in the mandatory financial and other corporate disclosures made by listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to issue guidelines soon on corporate disclosure requirements, which require timely disclosure of corporate governance reports such as shareholding data and other financial information.
A majority of the firms have been found to be non- compliant on multiple fronts with around 1,150 listed companies found to be violating model regulations for disclosing key details such as quarterly and annual financial results, while over 1,000 companies failed to comply with disclosure rules related to shareholding pattern.
Meanwhile, SEBI is taking a lot of measures to develop Indian financial markets. SEBI is planning to issue new set of guidelines soon to amend the present stock exchange listing agreement, following the recent changes made to the Companies Act. It will also soon notify new regulations for listing of start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SME) on stock exchanges without making an initial public offer (IPO) to develop fund-raising capabilities of such companies by providing better visibility, wider investor base and easier exit options for entities such as Angel Investors, Venture Capital Funds and Private Equities. Furthermore, the market regulator has also relaxed the norms for primary issuance of debt securities by companies.
