Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

16-March-2012 14:07 IST

Several Steps Proposed to Deepen the Reforms in Capital Market

The Union Finance Minister ShriPranab Mukherjee while presenting the General Budget 2012-13 in the LokSabha today has proposed a series of steps in deepening the reforms in Capital Market. These include:

• Allowing Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) access to Indian Corporate Bond market.

• Simplification of process of issuing Initial Public Offers (IPOs) and loweringof cost.

• Mandatory for companies to issue IPOs of Rs 10 crore and above in electronic form.

• Allowing Electronic Voting facility to provide opportunities for wider shareholder participation.

• Two-way fungibilityin Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) permitted subject to a ceiling.

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DSM/RC/SKS/5

Qualified Foreign Investor access to corporate bond market proposed to widen investment participation and liquidity. Proposals aim to deepen capital market reforms by permitting Qualified Foreign Investors access to the corporate bond market, simplifying and lowering the cost of the IPO process with mandatory electronic issuance above a specified threshold, introducing electronic voting to expand shareholder participation, and permitting two-way fungibility in Indian Depository Receipts subject to a ceiling.