Sebi plans regulation to make sure companies implement disclosures

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to make companies making disclosures in stock exchanges stick to them. Sebi has found that companies sometimes make announcements that send the stock prices soaring but the actual implementation of those remains unfinished for years.

"We are going to make it more difficult to make sure that timely disclosures are made and the quality of those disclosures improve," said UK Sinha, chairman of Sebi, at a seminar on Thursday.

He said that Sebi plans to issue the regulations soon. Sebi has already come up with rules that make compulsory for companies to use the proceeds from a public issue for the purpose for which they are raised.

Sinha also said he has set up a forensic accounting cell within Sebi to keep an eye on the quality of corporate disclosures. Listed companies, as per Sebi rules, are supposed to first inform the stock exchange any information that can impact their stock price before being told to the media.

While, on an average, 300-400 announcements are made daily by firms at the bourses, Sinha argued that these are, at times, meant to keep up the buzz around a company's share price than refer to any clear plans. Speaking at the National Conference on 'Capital Market Frauds and Malpractices: Genesis, Resolution and Prevention' in New Delhi, Sinha said the market is witnessing such information-based frauds, which he termed are 'very difficult to detect'.

According to him, there are examples where companies either don't disclose at all or provide incorrect information. He touched upon a case where a company had announced in its public offer that it has plant and machinery at a location but later it was discovered that there was nothing at that place. (Indian Express)