Sebi asks debenture trustees to disclose investors charter, compliant data on website

Markets regulator Sebi has directed debenture trustees (DTs) to disclose investors charter and data on complaints they received on their websites.

The new guidelines will come into effect from January 1, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.

To facilitate investor awareness about various activities where an investor has to deal with DTs for availing various services, Sebi has developed an investor charter for DTs, detailing the services provided to investors, timelines for various DT services provided, rights and obligations of investors and grievance redressal mechanism.

In this regard, Sebi has asked all the registered DTs to take necessary steps to bring the investor charter to the notice of investors in non-convertible debt securities by way of disseminating the charter on their websites and displaying the charter at prominent places in offices etc.

Also, the Trustee Association of India (TAI) will disseminate the Investor Charter on its website.

Additionally, in a bid to bring transparency in the investor grievance redressal mechanism, Sebi asked DTs to disclose on their respective websites, the data on complaints received against them or in respect of non-convertible debt securities issuances dealt by them and redressal thereof.

They will have to submit such data latest by the 7th of the succeeding month, the regulator said.

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In addition, the regulator has also prescribed a format for disclosing data of complaints on their websites.

Under the disclosure, DTs will have to disclose about complaints received during the month, those carried forward from the previous month, complaints pending for more than three months, complaints resolved and the average time is taken in the resolution of a complaint, among others.

Last week, Sebi had asked registrar and share transfer agents (RTAs) and merchant bankers to disclose on their websites the investor charter for a bunch of categories.

Besides, it had directed stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations to disclose on their websites the data on complaints received against them and redressal thereof.

This came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India came out with an investor charter in November.

This charter includes the rights and responsibilities of investors and dos and don'ts of investing in the securities market.

The charter is aimed at protecting the "interests of investors by enabling them to understand the risks involved and invest in a fair, transparent, secure market, and to get services in a timely and efficient manner".

The rights include getting fair and equitable treatment, expecting redressal of investor grievances filed in SCORES in a time-bound manner.

Also, the market regulator created a separate investor charter for market infrastructure institutions -- stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories.