Sebi announces up to Rs 1 crore fine, action

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday strengthened the procedure to check non-compliance of disclosure regulations. The regulator, through a circular, announced imposition of penalty of up to Rs 10000000 on companies and initiating enforcement action, including prosecution for not complying with the disclosure norms. It said that recognised stock exchanges would impose fines if a firm does not comply with certain provisions of Issue of Capital and Disclosure (ICDR) Regulations. As per the Sebi circular, exchanges have been directed to impose a fine of Rs 20,000 per day on companies that delay the completion of bonus issue, do not approach the bourse for listing of equity shares within 20 days from allotment and fail to allot the shares on conversion of convertible securities within 18 months. According to the circular, if such non-compliance continues for more than 15 days, stock exchanges can impose an additional fine of 0.01% of paid-up capital of the company or Rs 10000000, whichever is less. Sebi has also directed the exchanges to issue notice to the non-compliant listed entity to pay fine within 15 days from the date of the notice. The capital markets watchdog has asked exchanges to publish on their website the names of non-compliant listed entities that are liable to pay fine for non-compliance, the amount of fine imposed and details of fines received.