Brief Overview:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) issued a consultation paper proposing to simplify the debt issuance framework.

Technical Details:

A brief overview of the proposals by SEBI is provided below:

1) To increase the total number of ISINs in a financial year from 14 (Fourteen) to 17 (Seventeen).

2) The maximum permissible number of ISINs for plain vanilla debt securities is proposed to be increased from 9 (Nine) to 12 (Twelve).

3) 1 (One) additional ISIN to be permitted for every additional issuance of INR 3,000 Crore (for the Issuers crossing an aggregate outstanding value of INR 15,000 Crore in a financial year).

4) To exempt first-time issuers to list their debt securities without the pre-condition of listing their outstanding unlisted non-convertible debt securities.

Takeaways:

SEBI has proposed greater flexibility in the debt issuance framework by increasing the number of permissible ISINs and easing the requirements for first-time issuers by exempting them from listing their existing outstanding unlisted NCDs. These proposals are intended to facilitate efficient fundraising, provide flexibility, and promote greater participation in the listed debt market.

For further details, please see:  

Consultation Paper: Review of provisions related to ISIN for Debt Securities

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