India's capital market regulator said on Monday it would empower the country's exchanges to enforce rules on corporate disclosures at listed companies, aiming to improve transparency, especially of market-sensitive information. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) would allow the country's stock exchanges to set up a separate monitoring unit for corporate disclosures and report instances of non-compliance to the regulator.
SEBI also requested exchanges to beef up their compliance departments and authorised them to seek additional disclosures from listed companies if needed. Listed companies in India are currently required to disclose details about their shareholding pattern, financial results and other market-moving information regularly, but enforcement has been lax.
"Concerns have been raised that even though listed companies make disclosures to stock exchanges within the time frame stipulated under the Listing Agreement, the contents of the disclosures made by such companies are not adequate and accurate," SEBI said in a seven-page order. SEBI Chairman UK Sinha on Friday criticised some companies for not even filing their quarterly result statements, without citing any specific instances. SEBI has stepped up its rules to protect small investors as well as to reduce the clout held by so-called "promoters" of a company, or key stakeholders who have a disproportionate say on management appointments and day-to-day operations.
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