Sebi comes out "stricter timeline" for disclosure of material events

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday came out with a «stricter timeline» for disclosure of material events or information by listed companies and introduced criteria for determining the materiality of events. The new framework will become effective from July 15, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.

Under the framework, the regulator asked listed companies to disclose family settlement agreements, which can impact the management and control of such firms to stock exchanges. These agreements need to be disclosed within 12 hours in case a listed entity is a party and within 24 hours where the listed entity is not a party.

Further, for material events or information which emanate from the listed entity, including those related to acquisitions, Scheme of Arrangement, consolidation of shares, and buyback of securities, the timeline for disclosure by the entity has been reduced from 24 hours to 12 hours. In case of information that emanates from a decision taken in a meeting of the board of directors, the disclosure needs to be made within 30 minutes from the closure of such meeting.

Besides, the timelines have been fixed 24 hours from the occurrence of the event in case the information is not emanating from within the listed entity. This included a revision in rating, fraud or defaults by a listed entity, its promoter, directors; restructuring in relation to loans from banks, one time settlement with a bank and winding-up petition filed by any party / creditors.