By IANS
New Delhi : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will issue fresh guidelines to monitor real estate mutual funds (REMF) within the next 15 days, T.C. Nair, whole time member of SEBI, announced Friday.
Nair informed a conference on “Real Estate Mutual Funds” organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) here that his legal department was preparing the guidelines on legal implications of REMF and these would be made public within the fortnight.
However, Nair indicated that the market regulator would take even less time to come out with REMF guidelines than the proposed 15 days.
Explaining the reasons for the delay, Nair said: “The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and SEBI had differences of opinion on the valuation of REMF”.
“However the differences have been resolved… the fresh guidelines would be made public within the next two weeks.”
Nair further clarified that the guidelines would govern and monitor only REMFs and not the real estate investment trusts (REITS) as the regulator would work out separate guidelines or policy regime for them.
“SEBI has been extra cautious in evolving the REMF guidelines to ensure credibility. The regulator wants the mutual fund industry to have total retail participation… the guidelines should be credible enough to assure the retail investors a reduced service cost”, Nair said.
Assocham President Venugopal N. Dhoot, speaking on the occasion, welcomed the development as the real estate mutual funds industry had been seeking the guidelines for long.
Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in India A.P. Kurien, in his keynote address, said India needed more of REMFs than REITS as the former had better scope for diversification.