RIL beats the pack in inking new listing norms
29 Oct 2015
Reliance Industries today became the first corporate to sign the revised listing agreement with the Bombay Stock Exchange as mandated under the newly introduced Listing Regulation notified by the Securities & Exchange Board of India.
Earlier, the listing agreement was a bilateral agreement between the stock exchange and the company and market regulator Sebi didn't have regulations on this. Thus each company's agreement with stock exchange could be at variance and lacking the full force of Sebi's rigour.
Sebi last month came out with such regulations and a six-month deadline for all companies in which it prescribed the listing agreement.
With the signing of the agreement with BSE, RIL is the first listed company to conform to Sebi norms, a statement said.
Sebi notified the new Listing Regulations from 2 September 2015, and the same are effective from 1 December 2015.
As part of the Listing Regulations, Sebi has mandated all existing listed entities to execute a fresh and simplified Listing Agreement with the stock exchange where they are listed, within six months of the notification date of 2 September.
BSE expects that all listed companies will to sign the new Listing Agreement well within the timelines specified by Sebi, the statement said.
"The exchange is pleased to inform that the process of signing of the revised listing agreement, as mandated under the newly introduced listing regulations notified by Sebi, has been initiated at the BSE, with Reliance Industries having signed the new listing agreement today," BSE said in a statement.
"It is a matter of pride for both, that one of the top companies of the Indian corporate sector has become the first company to sign the new listing agreement with Asia's oldest and the world's fastest stock exchange BSE," it said.
The new set of norms provides broad principles for periodic disclosures by listed entities, apart from incorporating corporate governance principles.
As per Sebi directions, a shortened version of the listing agreement would be prescribed and the same has to be signed by the company.