SEBI revises listing norms for small, medium companies

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today notified new norms for listing and raising of funds by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but ruled out a new stock exchange for such entities.

Companies listed on the SME exchanges would be exempted from the eligibility norms applicable for initial public offers (IPOs) and follow-on public offers (FPOs) prescribed in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 (ICDR), a SEBI release issued after the board meeting said.

SEBI has prescribed a minimum IPO application size of Rs1 lakh in order to have informed, financially sound and well-researched investors with a certain risk taking ability.

The minimum trading lot would be Rs1 lakh.

For listing on the main boards of NSE and BSE, an upper limit of Rs25 crore paid-up capital has been prescribed for a company wanting to be listed on the SME platform/exchange and having a minimum paid-up capital of Rs10 crore.

The offer document will have to be filed with SEBI and the exchange. No observations would be issued by SEBI on the offer documents filed by the merchant bankers (MBs).