Sebi panel to look at Indian cos’ direct listing abroad

Sebi panel to look at Indian cos’ direct listing abroad

MUMBAI: Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday set up a committee to suggest ways for Indian companies to directly list on foreign bourses, instead of the currently available American and global depository receipt (ADR/GDR) routes. The panel will also look at options for foreign companies to list on Indian bourses other than the current Indian depository receipt (IDR) route.

Depository receipts are indirect methods of listing — the shares are kept with a bank or a custodian, and the certificates (also called receipts) issued by these entities are then traded on the bourses. The latest move by Sebi — although seemingly unrelated — comes a day after software services major Infosys got permission to delist its ADRs from Paris and London exchanges.

The nine members who are on the Sebi committee include Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip, the Indian-origin travel portal that is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the US, Ranu Vohra of domestic financial services house Avendus Capital, and Cyril Shroff of leading legal firm Amarchand Mangaldas, according to a release from the markets regulator.

On Tuesday, Sebi also set up another committee to look into the existing Institutional Trading Platform (ITP), which was set up in 2015 to facilitate listing of startups, and suggest new measures to attract listing of companies since this has failed to gain any traction. The members of this panel are 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, another Sebi release said.