Government allows direct listing of securities by public Indian companies on International Exchanges of GIFT-IFSC - (24 Jan 2024)

Commercial

The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, has amended Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, and notified the ‘Direct Listing of Equity Shares of Companies Incorporated in India on International Exchanges Scheme’. The initiative would boost foreign investment flows, unlock growth opportunities and broaden the investor base for Indian companies. The public Indian companies will have the flexibility to access both markets i.e. domestic market for raising capital in INR and the international market at IFSC for raising capital in foreign currency from the global investors.

Simultaneously, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued Companies (Listing of Equity Shares in Permissible Jurisdictions) Rules, 2024.These, together, provide an overarching regulatory framework to enable public Indian companies to issue and list their shares in permitted international exchanges. As of now, the framework allows unlisted public Indian companies to list their shares on an international exchange. SEBI is in the process of issuing the operational guidelines for listed public Indian companies. The international stock exchanges at GIFT-IFSC under the regulatory supervision of IFSCA namely, India International Exchange and NSE International Exchange have been, currently, prescribed as permitted stock exchanges under the Rules and the Scheme.

This policy initiative, to enable listing of Indian companies in GIFT-IFSC, will reshape the Indian capital market landscape and offers Indian companies, especially start-ups and companies in the sunrise and technology sectors, an alternative avenue to access global capital beyond the domestic exchanges. This initiative will particularly benefit Indian companies going global and having ambitions to look at opportunities for expanding their presence in other markets. GIFT-IFSC is the maiden international financial services centre of India that connects India with global opportunities and also enables the Indian economy to connect with the global financial system and allows seamless and easy flow of global capital into India.

Tags : DIRECT LISTING SECURITIES COMPANIES