Happy to bin all LODR norms barring those on related-party transactions: SEBI's Madhabi Buch at launch of new portal

The regulator noted that the applicant had failed to submit Rs 600 crore deposit, as directed by the Supreme Court of India

SEBI's Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said that she would be happy to throw out the entire Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) Regulations except the regulations on related party transactions.

She was speaking at the launch of India's first, dedicated portal to track and analyse related-party transactions (RPTs) on February 14. The portal will give access to a widerange of stakeholders including investors, banks and credit rating agencies.

The portal, which is https://rptanalysis.com, will aim to track all the information related to RPTs, such as the shareholder voting patterns, for the previous two years. It should help investors and other entities take more informed decisions.

At the launch, which was held at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Tower on Friday, Buch said that there is a lot of interest in the transparency around RPTs and that the portal is a step towards it. She said that there the most frequently asked question by institutional investors including foreign investors is the efforts taken to improve transparency around RPTs.

She also said that nearly all the time promoters' and minority shareholders' interests are aligned when taking strategic decisions. The only point of divergence, the regulator has noticed, is when the decisions involve RPTs.

The idea of the portal, which was initiated and driven by the market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), will be maintained by the three proxy advisories InGovern Research Services, Institutional Investor Advisory Services and Stakeholder Empowerment Services (SES).

The entities will look to add more features in future such as which particular institutions voted for and which against an RPT transactions.

(This copy will be updated.)