The Hindu Business Line : Cos to get time to comply with public shareholding norms

LISTED companies with public shareholding of less than 25 per cent would be given sufficient time to conform to the amendments carried out to the takeover code in the last week of December 2004, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Mr G.N. Bajpai, said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the SEBI board in the Capital, Mr Bajpai said that it would not be fair on part of the regulator to compel companies to immediately offload their capital to comply with minimum 25 per cent public shareholding and place them in a disadvantageous situation.

"We will give sufficient time to companies that currently have less than 25 per cent public shareholding to come in line with new requirements," Mr Bajpai said.

The SEBI chief also said that the main objective behind amending the takeover code was to align the code with the assurance given to Parliament that over a period of time every listed company must have at least 25 per cent of public holding.

On the rationale for revising the definition of promoters, Mr Bajpai said that different interpretations were doing the rounds on the meaning of promoters and amendments have now been carried out to bring certainty to it.

Asked whether the SEBI board deliberated on any issues of corporate governance at their meeting today, Mr Bajpai merely said that SEBI had recently notified revised clause 49 of the listing agreement and that this would be implemented from April 1.

On the corporate governance issues raised by Reliance Industries' Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Anil Ambani, the SEBI Chairman told that this was not a matter to be considered by the SEBI board.

He, however, said that Reliance Industries had been directed to make additional disclosures for their buyback programme. "They have done that for their buyback programme," he said.

"We are in a disclosure-based regime. Investors have to take informed decisions on the basis of the information that they get from disclosures. Wherever we feel that the disclosure level is not adequate, we will intervene and ensure additional disclosures," Mr Bajpai said.

He also said that SEBI is keeping strict vigil of the price movements in secondary market. "As a regulator, we are always watching all the rises and all the falls," Mr Bajpai said.

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