SEBI has issued a Discussion Paper on “Review of policy relating to forfeiture of partly paid-up shares – Amendments to SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011”. The paper opens with references to partly-paid shares and forfeiture of unpaid capital as provided under the Companies Act, 2013. Essentially, in case of partly paid shares, the holder can exercise voting...
SEBI’s Guidance Note on Insider Trading Regulations
After the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (the “Regulations”) were issued that came into effect on May 15, 2015, SEBI received several requests from companies and their advisors on certain operational issues that came to the fore in the implementation of the Regulations. In order to address those, SEBI issued a Guidance Note earlier this week. One of the more prominent...
Start-up India: Should foreign listing of start-ups be facilitated?
[This guest post is by Pratik Datta and Mehtab Hans, who are Consultants at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected] respectively.] Last week, the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) (Fourth Amendment) Regulations, 2015 were issued to facilitate listing of start-ups on institutional...
Participatory Notes
[The following guest post is contributed by Rishi A, a fourth year student of Hidayatullah National Law University] Introduction The Supreme Court appointed Special Investigations Team (“SIT”), in its report on how best to curb black money, made a number of recommendations. One of these was to check the misuse of participatory notes (“p-notes”). When the markets opened on the following...
SEBI Regulations Inapplicable to “Phantom” Stock Schemes
The SEBI (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014 (the “Regulations”) regulate various types of schemes offered by companies to their employees relating to shares. In two separate letters issued pursuant to requests for informal guidance, SEBI has stated that the Regulations are not applicable to phantom stock options and similar schemes that do not involve the actual issue or transfer...
Is the Alternate Listing Platform for Start-Ups Really an Alternative?
[The following guest post is contributed by Geeta Dhania, Partner and Abhyuday Bhotika, Associate at Luthra & Luthra Law Offices. Views are personal.] For any business to grow it is pertinent that it has access to capital and is able to complete the capital formation cycle. Companies should be able to access the funding they need for their growth and the investors should be able to smoothly...
SEBI’s Action on Illegal Collective Investment Schemes
[The following guest post is contributed by Pavit Singh Kochar, a legal associate (corporate) with KNM & Partners Law Offices, New Delhi] The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Indian market regulator has been taking significant steps over the last couple of years by protecting the interests of retail investors due to their inability to take a well-informed decision about...
Supreme Court on SEBI’s Jurisdiction Over GDRs
The Supreme Court in Securities and Exchange Board of India v. Pan Asia Advisors Ltd. clarified that the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) extends to the issuance of global depository receipts (GDRs) by Indian companies to foreign investors, and also to ensnare lead managers to such issuances if they have an adverse impact on the Indian securities markets. Although...
Analysis of the New SEBI Promoter Re-classification Norms
[The following guest post is contributed by Shashank Prabhakar, a Senior Associate with Finsec Law Advisors. These are the author’s personal views] Shareholders in a listed company are classified under two broad categories, i.e., those that belong to the promoter / promoter group and those shareholders who are members of the public with no familial or formal business ties with the promoter /...
Materiality and Disclosure Under Clause 36 of the Listing Agreement
[The following guest post is contributed by Supreme Waskar, who is a corporate lawyer] By an order passed earlier this month, an adjudicating officer of SEBI imposed a fine of Rs. 2 crores on New Delhi Television Ltd. (“NDTV”) for failure to promptly disclose material information to stock exchanges under clause 36 of the listing agreement. Facts of the case On February 21, 2014, NDTV had received...
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