Sebi panel to mull ways to make listing attractive for startups

To make stock market listing attractive for startups, regulator Sebi has set up a panel that will look at ways to ease such listings as the existing institutional trading platform framework failed to gain "any traction".

The group will review the present Institutional Trading Platform (ITP) framework in the current context as well as identify areas, if any, which require further changes. Besides, any other issue relevant to the framework might also be assessed, Sebi said in a release today.

"The group shall endeavour to submit the report to Sebi within a period of one month," it added.

In 2015, the ITP framework was put in place in with a view to facilitate listing of new age companies in sectors like e-commerce, data analytics, bio-technology and other startups.

As this "framework failed to gain any traction", Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the group has been formed after discussions with various stakeholders.

Members of the group include representatives from the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSPIRT), The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA), law firms, merchant bankers, and stock exchanges.

The markets regulator has been working on ways to help bolster startups.

In March, Sebi board approved doubling the investment limit by angel funds in venture capital undertakings to Rs 10 crore, a move that would help provide an impetus to early-stage startups.

Angel funds, a sub-category of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), encourage entrepreneurship by financing small startups at a stage when they find it difficult to obtain capital from traditional sources of finance such as banks and financial institutions.