Sebi to mull easing of listing standards for SMEs

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is convening a meeting on November 9 to consider relaxing listing standards for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"Based on feedback from market participants we are considering relaxation of certain standards," Sebi wholetime member M S Sahoo said at an Assocham conference.

Sahoo said the market regulator is considering relaxing the entry criteria of Rs 3 crore tangible assets (each of the preceding three years) for SME listing.

A small firm with a track record of distributable profit for at least three out of the immediately preceding five years may be eligible for the listing, he said.

As far as disclosure standards are concerned, Sebi would make them go electronic to reduce cost of disclosure, reduce frequency of disclosure of financial statement to half yearly from quarterly now, he said.

It also proposes to reduce quantity of disclosure - statement containing salient features instead of full balance sheet/profit & loss account, he said.

However, he clarified that corporate governance standards will not be diluted as applicable to all listed companies now, and hoped that a capital market would develop for small and medium enterprises with the aforesaid measures that Sebi will introduce in due course of time.