The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said on Tuesday the norms covering research analysts' recommendations would also apply to journalists.

"Sebi (Research Analyst) Regulations, 2014, cover any person, including journalists, who make public appearance or make comments through the public media for giving opinion or recommendations concerning securities or on public offers," Sebi stated on its website on Tuesday.

Concerned that ‘self-trades’ are disturbing market equilibrium, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning penal action against market participants doing this.

Sources say the market regulator has seen an increase in such trades, with the aim of creating artificial volumes and to manipulate prices. Trades where the buyer and seller are the same and not resulting in a change of ownership are termed self-trades. Typically, these occur when multiple dealers from the same broking house carry out trades using the same client code.

To help channelise household savings and provide a new investment avenue, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will soon come out with a new set of norms to enable issuance and listing of municipal bonds - a popular financial product in developed countries.

Under the proposed framework, currently under consideration of Sebi, municipal bonds would be debt securities issued by states, cities and other government entities which will use the money for infrastructure developments such as buildings, schools, highways, hospitals, sewage systems and other projects for the public good. An internal Sebi panel, the Corporate Bonds and Securities Advisory Committee (CoBoSAC) had constituted a sub-committee to specify the disclosure and other requirements for issuance and listing of municipal bonds.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has found 22 public sector firms including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, and Indian Oil Corporation to have violated various capital-market guidelines.

Meanwhile the State Bank of India has filed for the settlement of a case against it to the regulator, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)'s crackdown on shady foreign flows will impact only a minuscule part of outstanding investments under the participatory note (P-note) route.

According to an assessment done by the regulator, only about $550 million (Rs 3,400 crore) worth of P-notes are held by entities that don't qualify under the country's new Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations. That's around 1.3 per cent of the total value of P-note investments, debt and equity, as on October 2014. According to Sebi data, the total value of investments coming through this route -typically used by entities that are not directly registered with Sebi - stood at Rs 2,65,675 crore ($43 billion).

Sebi has directed Moneyworld Research to immediately stop providing investment advisory services with regard to the securities market and withdraw all the related advertisements.

Securities and Exchange Board of India said it prima facie found that Moneyworld Research and Advisory Pvt Ltd was offering trading tips to investors without obtaining requisite registration to act as an investment adviser.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has initiated penalty proceedings against real estate major DLF and its promoters. According to sources, the markets regulator is examining the role of over 40 entities in the matter of inadequate disclosures during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) 2007.

These proceedings are on under the Sebi Act sections pertaining to penalty for fraudulent and unfair trade practices (FUTP) and where there is no provision of a separate penalty.

Despite a 35 per cent rally in the equity market, India Inc has managed to raise only less than Rs 900 crore, lowest in more than a decade, through four initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2014. This was the main topic of discussion at the Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC), a Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) expert panel, meeting held on December 1, sources said.

At the meeting, the capital market regulator sought feedback from industry players on why there are few companies coming forward with IPO plans, despite encouraging investor appetite.

The flow of price-sensitive information between a company and research analysts could tantamount to insider trading under new regulations approved by the markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). This is the first time contents of research reports published by brokerage houses could be checked for violation of insider trading norms.

The move is aimed at cracking down on market participants' non-discriminatory access to price-sensitive information. Last month, Sebi had approved new regulations on insider trading, recommended by a panel headed by N K Sodhi, former chief justice of the Karnataka High Court.

Adopting a key non-legislative recommendation of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) panel for overhaul of financial sector regulatory framework, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is launching a public consultation for framing rules to allow reclassification of promoters at listed firms looking to become public shareholders.

The new norms can have a significant impact on the way some merger and acquisition deals are structured, as also in cases involving corporate restructuring that take place due to disputes among members of business families or after settlements between rival corporates.

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