Sebi plans to tighten insider trading rules

NEW DELHI: In a series of reforms, capital markets regulator Sebi plans to expand its offer for sale (OFS) framework to more companies, relax its norms for clubbing of investment limits by established foreign investors and tighten insider trading rules.

The regulator is also planning to relax its disclosure norms for housing finance companies and systemically important NBFCs regarding pledged shares of listed firms and also provide for cancellation of an OFS in case of limited interest from non-retail shareholders on the first day itself, officials said.

Officials said Sebi is also considering changes in its regulatory framework for debenture trustees. These proposals, along with several others, are likely to be discussed by Sebi’s board at its meeting this week.

Additionally, in a major push to kickstart listing of startups in India in a big way, the capital markets regulator has lined up for discussion at the board meet a slew of relaxations for newage ventures in sectors like e-commerce, data analytics and bio-technology to raise funds and get their shares traded on stock exchanges.

The proposed changes also include renaming the ‘Institutional Trading Platfor m’ that the regulator had created for such listings as ‘Innovators Growth Platform’. The relaxation in the norms follows tepid market interest to the existing platform and demands from various stakeholders to make the norms easier and the platform more accessible in the wake of expanding activities in the Indian startup space.