Sebi mulls relaxation of cross-listing procedures

Chairman Firms listed abroad keen on coming to Indian market; domestic cos with foreign operations interested in listing overseas

The Securities and Exchange Board of India Sebi, the country8217;s capital market regulator, is considering measures to smoothen the procedures of cross-listing of companies on bourses in India and abroad, Sebi chairman C B Bhave said today. 8220;Companies which are listed abroad would be interested to come to the Indian market. Similarly, Indian companies which have operations in other countries would be interested in listing abroad. We want to see how to smoothen this process,8221; he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on India-Hong Kong Financial Sector Cooperation, organised by the National Stock Exchange NSE.

8220;Cross-border listing between Hong Kong and India can also take place. It will benefit both the markets,8221; he said. Earlier, while addressing the global players participating in the conference, Bhave said that Indian corporates are getting listed and traded in the overseas market. He said that the old model of entering into the relationship of the developing markets with the developed markets like the USA is changing fast. 8220;A lot of changes are taking place and now cooperation within the Asian market is taking place,8221; he noted.

Sebi will soon have a meeting with foreign institutional investors FIIs and custodians on the issue of imposing margins on trades undertaken by institutional investors effective from April 21. The regulator would try to resolve the concerns of the institutional participants on the issue at the meeting, Bhave said. He told reporters that the deadline for enforcement of margin trading is unlikely to be extended from the scheduled date of April 21. 8220;However, we will certainly listen to all the concerns of the institutional investors and custodians as we go ahead. We will soon have a meeting in this regard,8221; he said. However, he did not reveal the date of the meeting.

It may be mentioned here that the regulator has decided to impose margins on all trades carried out by institutional investors from April 21 to usher parity with retail investors. Institutional investors have sought an extension of the deadline and asked the regulator to introduce the new norms in a phased manner.

In reply to a question, Bhave said that integration of the Indian market with the Asian markets is taking place faster. The Indian regulator has made the draft regulation on the Indian Depository Participants IDRs public. But the response has not been encouraging. Sebi will smoothen the process of finalisation of the guidelines on the IDRs, he said.