Sebi board to discuss changes in delisting norms

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India will discuss potential changes on delisting at its next board meeting. Speaking at an event organised by industry body FICCI, Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said the Sebi management will also table changes on insider trading norms before the board either in December 2023 or January 2024.

“There was a popular belief that we will never review the delisting regulations and we will always stay with the reverse book building process. We have a consultation paper that was floated, we have got a lot of feedback and at the next board meeting we are taking that proposal to our board,” Buch said.

Similarly, she said it was widely believed that Sebi is “very dogmatic about insider trading” but the regulator has initiated a relook into the same by initiating consultation.

All these are part of efforts to “eschew dogma”, Buch said, adding that Sebi is focusing on data and backtesting the data to drive regulations. She said the regulator is fine delaying a decision by a few weeks if need be, but made it clear that no regulation will come out sans data and its analysis.

The regulator is adopting a more consultative approach to regulations in the dynamic market landscape, she said, pointing out that a third of the 167 circulars it issued last year have gone through public consultations. Meanwhile, when asked about trading platforms facing outages, Buch said Sebi has a system where an investor can directly go to an exchange website if a broker is offline.

“If you’re a regular trader who is influenced by minute to minute fluctuations, then you need to diversify risk, open an account with two brokers,” she advised.

(With inputs from PTI)