A constant quibble with corporate governance in India is that while the body of substantive norms has been ballooning over time, the enforcement of those norms has not kept pace. In a somewhat unusual measure, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has threatened to suspend trading of a listed company for failure to file governance reports as required under the listing agreement. As the Business...
Framework for SME Exchange
After making a proposal nearly two years ago for the establishment of a separate stock exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to enable them to access the capital markets, SEBI has recently established the legal framework for achieving the same either through promotion of dedicated exchanges and/or dedicated platforms of the exchanges for listing and trading of securities issued by SME...
Bits of Interest
1. Regulation of Credit Rating Agencies Drawing lessons from the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the recent financial crisis, SEBI has imposed additional transparency and disclosure norms for the Indian CRAs. SEBI’s circular issued on May 3, 2010 covers issues such as maintenance of records of the rating process, dealing with conflicts of...
SEBI’s “Advisory Instructions” to BSE
In a somewhat unconventional order, SEBI has on April 20, 2010 issued “advisory instructions” in a matter involving the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (“BSE”). It arises out of a letter by the BSE to SEBI dated July 2, 2004 containing a proposal to introduce a market making scheme in the derivatives segment of the exchange. A unique feature of the scheme proposed by BSE was that it would reimburse...
Multiplicity of Stock Exchanges
Usually, stocks are listed on one major stock exchange in a given jurisdiction. For example, a U.S. stock will be listed either on the NYSE or NASDAQ. But, the position in India is different, perhaps for historical and other reasons, where not only there are multiple stock exchanges, but a number of companies are listed on more than one such exchange. In an interesting column in the Business...
Consequences of Listing Violations
One of the usual consequences that befalls a company when it violates conditions of the listing agreement is a delisting of its shares from the stock exchanges. This is perceived to be a disincentive that deters companies from breaching listing conditions. It has recently been put to use in a more mild form by the Bombay Stock Exchange that threaten to suspend 18 companies for non-compliance of...
Corporate Bonds: Clearing and Settlement
SEBI last week issued a circular prescribing the procedure for clearing and settlement of corporate bonds. This is an important step in the development of a robust corporate bond market that has not yet fully evolved in India, and appears to have been welcomed by the markets.
The SEBI Updates blog has a post describing the history of regulation of the Indian corporate bond markets.
Regulation of Stock Exchanges
The proposed establishment of a new stock exchange in India has caused a revival of the debate pertaining to regulation of stock exchanges. There are unique issues: stock exchanges are not only profit-making institutions that are companies in form and substance, but they also carry out a regulatory role in respect of companies that are listed on them. This creates an inherent conflict of interest...
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