E-commerce major Snapdeal on Tuesday said SEBI’s move to relax regulations relating to listing on domestic stock exchanges would benefit “India-focussed companies” like it in the long-run.
Capital markets regulator >SEBI on Tuesday relaxed its regulations for companies to list and raise funds through a dedicated platform on domestic stock exchanges rather than going overseas.
Welcoming the market regulator’s proposed plans to implement e-IPO and start-up specific listings platform, the city-based firm said it would provide “much needed access to funds for start-ups“.
“For us at Snapdeal, we are particularly pleased with this move considering that easing of listings norms will benefit India-focussed companies like ours in the long-run,” a company spokesperson said.
According to reports, Snapdeal was looking at American bourses for listing. In 2013, Snapdeal co-founder and chief executive officer Kunal Bahl had talked of a U.S. listing without disclosing any deadline.
Under the new norms approved by SEBI’s board, the stock exchanges would have a separate institutional trading platform for listing of start-ups from the new age sectors, including e-commerce firms, while the minimum investment requirement would be Rs. 10 lakh.
For their listing, SEBI has relaxed the mandatory lock-in period for promoters and other pre-listing investors to six months, as against three years for other companies.
SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha said, “Indian start-up space is very vibrant and the country is ranked number five as far as start-ups are concerned.
“More than 3,100 start-ups are there in the country and a large number of M&As have also happened.”
“However, most of these start-ups were thinking of listing outside... We have made a very special provision for them,” Mr. Sinha added.
