Sebi board approves lowering of fees for brokers, exchanges

Seeking to make it more cost-effective to trade in Indian stock markets, regulator Sebi's board on Friday approved lowering of fees charged from brokers, stock exchanges and the companies seeking to get listed. At a meeting here, the board approved reduction in fees payable by brokers by 33.33 per cent from Rs 15 per crore of transactions to Rs 10, while the same for agri-commodity derivative transactions would be reduced sharply by 93.33 per cent from Rs 15 to just Re 1.

The Sebi board also approved a proposal to grant permanent registration to custodians, instead of periodical renewal every year. Sebi said it would facilitate ease of doing business for custodians. All other market intermediaries are already being given permanent registration by Sebi.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said it has been following the practice of calibrating the fees either upwards or downwards from time to time so as to keep a balance between the transaction cost on securities market and the financial resources required to ensure regulatory efficiency.

"Keeping this objective in mind and taking into consideration the projected income and expenditure of Sebi for the next three financial years, the board has decided to revise the fee structure with effect from April 1, 2019, in respect of certain market participants," the regulator said.

It was also decided to reduce the fees payable by the issuers for one refiling of offer documents by 50 per cent from the current levels, if the refiling is done within one year of validity of observation letter.

In order to rationalise the regulatory fee payable by the stock exchanges, it has been decided to reduce this fee by 80 per cent.

The current rate is Rs 1 crore plus Rs 6 per crore for the turnover in excess of Rs 10 lakh crore. This would be reduced to Rs 1 crore plus Rs 1.20 per crore for the turnover in excess of Rs 10 lakh crore without any upper ceiling.

In another important proposal, Sebi's board approved changes in norms for debenture trustees, which the regulator would said help secure the interest of the debenture holders and enable Debenture Trustees (DTs) perform their duties effectively and promptly.

Under the approved changes, the minimum net worth requirement of a DT would be increased from existing Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore. 

The requirement of calling for a meeting of debenture holders in the event of default in payment obligation by issuer in case of public issue of debt securities will not be obligatory.
Besides, e-voting will be a valid option for DTs to obtain consent of the debenture holders wherever applicable. 

In case of delay in creation of charge in favour of DT within the specified period, the issuer will need to pay additional interest as specified in the Trust Deed and disclosed in the Offer Document to the debenture holders for the period of delay in creation of charge.

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In case of issuers having both listed equity and debt securities, the certificate from the DT as per the requirements would need to be submitted to the stock exchanges by the issuer within seven working days from the date of submission of financial results to the stock exchanges.