Sebi may cut time gap in IPO closure, listing

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is mulling a proposal to reduce the time gap between the closure of an initial public offer and its listing, Chairman N Damodaran said on Thursday.

“The proposal has been forwarded to the sub-committee and the committee is likely to submit its report soon. Sebi will definitely look at reducing the gap between IPO close and listing date,” he said.

This is the first time Sebi has confirmed such a proposal is under consideration. Such a measure by the market regulator assumes significance in the light of the recent Reliance Power’s IPO.

The recent market fall, which also saw halt in trading on January 22, was according to market participants accentuated as huge money was blocked in IPOs of different companies.

Money was blocked in applications to Future Capital Holdings 6.4-million-share issue and Reliance Power Ltd’s 260-million-share issue.