Sebi's Reforms for IPOs and Market Regulations

Encouraging Large Company Listings

• Sebi approved lowering the minimum dilution requirement for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).
• Extended timelines for achieving the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS).

Anchor Investor Framework Changes

• Permitted life insurers and pension funds in the reserved category for anchor allocation along with domestic mutual funds.
• Increased overall reservation for anchor investors from one-third to 40%.

Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Reforms

• Introduced a single window for onboarding certain FPIs to reduce compliance burden.
• Launched the SWAGAT-FI platform to ease registration of low-risk FPIs.
• Relaxations cover more than 70% of FPIs.

New IPO Norms

• Companies with post-issue market capitalization above ₹5 trillion must offer shares worth ₹15,000 crore.
• Companies with a market capitalization between ₹1 trillion and ₹5 trillion to have MPO of ₹6,250 crore.
• Five-year timeline to reach 15% public shareholding if below at the time of listing.

Real Estate and Infrastructure Trusts

• Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) reclassified as 'equity' for mutual funds.
• Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) categorized as 'hybrid'.

Mutual Fund Regulations

• Maximum exit load capped at 3%, reduced from 5%.
• Reintroduced incentives for distributors for new inflows from beyond the top 30 cities.

Additional Reforms

• Introduced scale-based thresholds for related party transactions.
• Separate category of AIF schemes for accredited investors.
• Operational relaxations for large-value funds for accredited investors.

These reforms are expected to boost the primary market and ease regulatory compliance for investors and companies, fostering a more investor-friendly environment in India.