Sebi extends regulatory compliance timeline for debenture trustees

Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday extended the timeline for debenture trustees to comply with certain regulatory requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the regulatory norms, debenture trustees are required to perform periodical monitoring and disclose various reports, certificates on stock exchanges and on their websites within prescribed timelines.

They were required to make disclosure by July 15, 2021, but now the timeline has been extended till August 31, 2021, for certain submissions and till October 31, 2021, for other disclosures.

Sebi in a circular said that "representations have been received from the Debenture Trustees wherein they have expressed the challenges faced in complying with the requirements within the applicable timelines due to the difficulty in information sharing, limited functioning of the various offices and travelling restrictions and imposition of lockdown in most states due to COVID-19".

For submission of asset cover certificate, statement of the value of pledged securities and statement of value for the debt service reserve account or any other form of security offered, the time has been given till August 31, 2021.

Also, the timeline for certain disclosures on their website has also been extended till August 31, 2021.

In addition, Sebi has extended the time period till October 31, 2021, for submitting the net worth certificate of guarantor (secured by way of personal guarantee), financials/value of guarantor prepared on basis of audited financial statement of the guarantor (secured by way of corporate guarantee) and valuation report and title search report for the immovable/movable assets, to the stock exchanges.