By IANS,
Mumbai : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s markets watchdog, Monday notified new norms for listing and raising of funds by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but ruled out a new stock exchange for such entities.
The minimum market capitalisation for follow-on public issues by large companies also stands reduced to Rs.5,000 crore, against Rs.10,000 crore earlier, said SEBI chairman C.B. Bhave after a meeting of the watchdog’s board.
“The SME platform can come on existing exchanges,” Bhave told a press conference, ruling out separate exchanges for small and medium-sized companies as demanded by a section of the investing community.
“The minimum trading under the SME platform will be Rs.100,000,” he said, adding Rs.25 crore would be the maximum capital permissible to be raised under the SME platform. “If the paid-up capital is more than Rs.25 crore, trading will be on the main platform.”
He said the entire public offer of such companies will have to be under-written.
Bhave said all listed companies will have to disclose their balance sheets – audited or un-audited – every six months, as against the present mandatory requirement of every year.
Listed companies, he said, will also be permitted to submit accounts under what is called the international financial reporting standards (IFRS), which calls for greater disclosures. “We are going to transfer our accounting into IFRS.”