Sebi tweaks operational guidelines on listing of commercial papers

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Friday tweaked operational guidelines pertaining to the listing of commercial papers in order to bring uniformity in requirements.

To ease the compliance burden on listed entities, Sebi in August consolidated existing procedures pertaining to issue and listing of Non-convertible Securities, Securitised Debt Instruments, Security Receipts, Municipal Debt Securities and Commercial Paper.

Based on feedback from market participants and recent regulatory changes, in order to bring about uniformity in requirements, certain amendments are being made to guidelines pertaining to listing of commercial paper (CP), Sebi said in a circular.

An issuer who plans to list CP needs to forward an application for listing along with disclosures to the stock exchanges concerned.

With regards to issue, Sebi said an issuer needs to submit details of current tranche including ISIN, amount, date of issue, maturity, all credit ratings including unaccepted ratings, date of rating, name of credit rating agency, its validity period, declaration that the rating is valid as at the date of issuance and listing, details of issuing and paying agent.

With regard to financial information, Sebi said the issuer needs to submit audited or limited review of half-yearly consolidated and standalone financial information along with auditor qualifications, if any, for last three years with latest available financial results, if the issuer has been in existence for three years and above.

The new framework will come into effect immediately, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.