Sebi raises employee quota in public offers to Rs 5 lakh

Allowing companies to allot more shares for their employees during public offers, markets regulator Sebi has notified norms to increase the value of such allotments to Rs 5 lakh, up from Rs 2 lakh currently, under staff quota.

The move follows representations requesting Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to relax its regulations to enable employees to apply for shares beyond the limit of Rs 2 lakh per employee.

Besides, Sebi allowed under-subscription in the employee reservation portion to be allotted to employees over and above the extant limit of Rs 2 lakh on a proportionate basis.

The new norms would come under Sebi (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, also known as ICDR Regulations.

"Provided that in the event of under-subscription in the employee reservation portion, the unsubscribed portion may be allotted on a proportionate basis, for a value in excess of Rs 2 lakh, subject to the total allotment to an employee not exceeding Rs 5 lakh," Sebi said in a notification made public today.

The Sebi board approved these proposals in September.