SEBI chief hints at guidelines to check wilful defaulters

To come out with a discussion paper on FPOs

U. K. Sinha, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India, a CII summit in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Wednesday, said it was working on guidelines to deal with wilful defaulters.

“We are working on the guidelines for wilful defaulters. It will take some time,” SEBI Chairman U. K. Sinha said at a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

This gains importance in the light of United Bank of India, earlier this month, declaring Kingfisher Airlines, its promoter Vijay Mallya, and three other directors as wilful defaulters citing alleged diversion of funds. The government is also, in the meanwhile, planning to come out with a separate bill in Parliament to deal with instances of wilful defaults in payment of bank loans.

The SEBI chief said work had been started with regard to annual information memorandum for listed companies, and it was going to be mandatory. This would ensure greater transparency and easier regulatory oversight, he added.

The market regulator would also come out with a discussion paper on reducing the timeline for follow-on public offers (FPO), Mr. Sinha said. The proposal for a discussion paper comes at a time when many public sector companies are gearing up for stake sale as part of government’s disinvestment programme.

“We have received representations that FPO timeline should be reduced. We are still examining (the issue), and we will come out with a discussion paper for public at large. It will take some time,” he said. FPO and offer for sale (OFS) are seen as preferred routes for selling stakes in public sector companies. In the current fiscal, the government aims to garner more than Rs.43,425 crore through disinvestment.

Mr. Sinha, however, said that there was no proposal to change SEBI norms for FPOs with respect to retail investors’ quota.

“If you are asking whether SEBI rules are going to be changed for FPOs, there is nothing on the plate as of now,” he added.

To a query on the implementation of IFRS norms, Mr. Sinha said the government and regulators were working to ensure that they were implemented within the proposed time-frame.