Voluntary delisting norms under review for next board meeting: Sebi Chair Madhabi Puri Buch

Sebi's Madhabi Puri Buch added that the regulator is “not wedded to anything” and will be led only by fundamental principles, logic and data.

The market regulator will be presenting proposed changes to the voluntary delisting norms to its Board in the next meeting, and adjustments to the trading plan are expected in December or January, according to the Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Sebi's Madhabi Puri Buch made these remarks at FICCI's Capital Market Conference, emphasizing that the regulator is guided not by dogma but by data and logic.

Also read: We will not bring regulations not backed by data, says SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch

She said, “There was a popular belief that we will never review the delisting norms and that we will always stay with the reverse book-building process, as many of you know we floated a consultation paper and we have got a lot of feedback and at the next Board meeting we are taking that proposal to our Board.” The regulator released a consultation paper on reviewing the voluntary delisting norms on August 14.

Buch added, “It was widely believed that Sebi was very dogmatic about insider trading and the trading plan, again we wanted to break that thought and (convey) that we operate on fundamental principles and on data, and so again we had a consultation paper on trading plan reforms… (I am) happy to report that we are in the process of reviewing all public feedback and perhaps in December or January board meeting, we will be taking the proposal to the Board as well.”

Buch added that the regulator is “not wedded to anything” and will be led only by fundamental principles, logic and data.

She referred to the recent discussions around the ESG framework. On July 12, the regulator had introduced a framework named Core Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), which listed entities must use to provide ESG-compliance assurance.

Also read: 'Frustrating' demands placed on working group for ESG framework: Sebi’s Madhabi Puri Buch

She said that the regulator has assured a working group under the industry standards forum that, if there is data that supports the need to some part of the regulation, then the regulator is “absolutely open to it”.

She added, “At the same time, we have also shared with the industry that even at the time we brought our regulations on ESG and particularly core ESG, a full backtesting was done.”