FMC raises public holding limit for bourses to 5%

The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has increased the public holding limit for commodity exchanges from two per cent to five per cent by a single entity that would not require prior regulatory approval.

The move, officials said, would help bring parity with other listed entities like banks or companies regarding the public float norms. The new rules will benefit the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) when it lists on stock exchanges this September.

MCX or any other commodity exchange, which proposes to list in the stock market in the future, could sell up to five per cent of their stake without prior approval of market regulator.

Under the existing norms, commodity exchanges could not sell more than two per cent stake to any other party without either fulfilling the ‘fit and proper’ criteria of the regulator or prior approval of FMC.

Besides, the exchange has also got concessions from FMC regarding the equity structure and ownership norms issued in 2009 and later amended in 2010.

An MCX spokesperson said: “The company has filed its draft offer document with Sebi. It is not permitted to disclose any information which is extraneous to the offer document. We reserve our comments and request you to refer to the offer document for further details.”

As per the new norms, the total cumulative holding of government companies, public financial institutions, banks, cooperative societies, federations manufacturing and marketing agri inputs or agri produce or owning and operating warehouses and warehousing companies in the private sector could fall below 26 per cent which at present cannot be less than 26 per cent.

Besides, no single non-corporate entity apart from brokers/members of other commodity exchanges can hold more than one per cent of the paid-up equity capital of MCX, against the current cap of one per cent. However, cumulative holding of such non-corporate entities is capped at 25 per cent of the paid-up equity of exchange, sources said.

FMC has also put certain conditions while granting relaxations to the commodity: The members of MCX will not be permitted to hold shares in MCX while clients of such members are allowed to hold up to one per cent of the total paid-up equity and trade.

Similarly, shareholding of brokers/ members of other commodity exchanges is capped at one per cent while cumulative holding of all such brokers/ members of other commodity exchanges may be more than 10 per cent. The existing cap was 10 per cent.

FMC has entrusted individual broker/ members and commodity exchanges to monitor the compliance of these norms and if they fail in their duties it would attract penal action. Further, exchanges have also been directed to ensure compliance of these guidelines while inspecting its brokers/ members, said official sources.