Representative of municipal corp part of Sebi's muni bonds development panel

As many as 13 members, including representatives of the Union housing and urban affairs ministry and a municipal corporation, will be part of Sebi's committee on 'muni bonds' to suggest the markets regulator on policy matters pertaining to development of such debt securities.

The regulator, on Friday, said it constituted a municipal bonds development committee headed by its Executive Director Sujit Prasad. The panel will suggest Sebi on policy matters pertaining to the development of municipal debt securities and facilitate municipalities for issuance of such bonds.

The committee comprises representatives from Sebi, municipal corporations, lawyers, professionals and market practitioners.

D Thara, joint secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Shekhar Gaikwad, municipal commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation; and G Mathi Vathanan prinicipal secretary at housing and urban development department in the Odisha government will be part of the committee.

Other members of the panel include NSE Chief Business Officer Ravi Varanasi, SBI Capital Markets Head (Capital Markets) Rakesh Joshi, Crisil Ratings President Gurpreet Chhatwal and BSE Chief Trading Operations and Listing Cell Girish Joshi.

The committee has been tasked to suggest the regulator on matters required to be taken up for changes in legal framework to introduce simplification and transparency in systems and procedures in the primary and secondary market.

Also, the panel would recommend on matters related to regulation of intermediaries for ensuring investor protection in the primary and secondary markets as well as on measures to facilitate issuers, municipalities, for issuance of municipal debt securities.

In September, Sebi had relaxed norms for the 'muni bonds' issuance to help smart cities as well as entities working in areas of city planning and urban development work, including municipalities, raise funds through debt securities.

Nearly five years ago, the regulator had come out with the Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities Regulations and since then, seven municipalities have raised nearly Rs 1,400 crore by issuing their debt securities, which are commonly known as 'muni bonds'.