In an order issued yesterday involving Birla Pacific Medspa Limited (“BPML”), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) was faced with an alleged misapplication of IPO funds by the company way back in 2011. Through a prospectus issued on June 29, 2011, the company raised Rs. 65.17 crores to establish “Evolve” Medspa centres across India, which constituted the primary purpose of the...
SEBI Relaxes Norms for Delisting of a Listed Subsidiary
[Sanjana Arvind Kumar and Divya Rau are final year law students at Jindal Global Law School] The Securities Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) through, its board meeting, on 29 September 2020, approved an amendment to the SEBI (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009 (“Delisting Regulations”). The amendment aims to simplify the delisting procedure for listed subsidiaries of listed companies...
Regulating Listed PSUs for Disclosures and Transparency
[Gaurav Pingle is a practising company secretary] True, fair, adequate and timely disclosures form one of the basic tenets of governance in listed companies and are essential for maintaining the integrity of the securities market. Timely disclosures of material events are of significant importance. They also bring about transparency and enable the investors to take an informed investment or...
Asset Allocation for Multi-Cap Funds
[Divya Rau is a final-year law student at Jindal Global Law School] The Securities Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) issued new guidelines regarding asset allocation by multi-cap funds on 11 September 2020 (“New Circular”). A multi-cap fund refers to “an open ended equity scheme investing across large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap stocks”. Large-caps refer to the top 100 firms by market capitalisation...
The Use of Circumstantial Evidence in Securities Law Enforcement
[Shruti Rajan is a partner in the Financial Regulatory Practice at Trilegal. Vidhi Shah is an associate with the Financial Regulatory Practice at Trilegal.] Quasi-judicial authorities are not bound by strict rules of evidence. It is settled law that they are “entitled to act on material that may not be accepted as evidence in a court of law,” and examine all relevant information and data in...
SEBI’s New Pledge/Re-Pledge System Overhaul: An Appraisal
[Gayatri Puthran is a 3rd Year B.B.A., LL.B. student at the Jindal Global Law School] In a bid to promote ease of doing business, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) on 2 September 2020 by way of its circular titled ‘Disclosures on Margin obligations given by way of Pledge/ Re-Pledge in the Depository System’ (‘Disclosure Circular’) dispensed with certain disclosure...
Litigation against Credit Rating Agencies: Delhi High Court Delineates the Scope
[Kajal Singh and Nikunj Maheshwari are 4th year law students at the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad.] Credit rating is a mechanism to address the asymmetry of information in the debt investment market, where the independent credit rating agencies (‘CRA’) rate the debt instruments issued by the borrower company (‘client’). Clients, to get their instruments rated, enter into an...
Analysing MCA’s Proposed Framework on Business Responsibility Reporting
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are III year students at Gujarat National Law University] On August 18, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released the Consultation Paper on the format for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in India. Interestingly, on August 11, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had also released the Report of the Committee...
Disgorgement in India: Takeaways from a Recent US Supreme Court Ruling
[Shaivi Shah is a 3rd year student and Palash Moolchandani a 4th year student, both at National Law University, Odisha] The Black’s Law Dictionary defines disgorgement as “the act of giving up something (such as profits illegally obtained) on demand or by legal compulsion”. In India, since the enactment of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, the tool of disgorgement has been...
SEBI Tightens Reins over the Proxy Advisory Industry
Proxy advisory firms have acquired the status of an important corporate governance intermediary. This is not just globally, but also in India. They play a crucial role of providing voting advice to shareholders (particularly of the institutional variety). In India, the advent of the proxy advisory industry over the last year has invigorated the active participation of institutional shareholders...
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