MUMBAI: Sensing the growing popularity of ‘crowdfunding,’ capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday said, it will soon issue norms in this regard. Besides, discussions are also underway to allow sale of mutual funds through e-commerce platforms, U K Sinha, Chairman, Sebi said.
To make both proposals a reality, Sebi constituted two separate committees headed by Infosys co-founders. While N R Narayan Murthy heads the panel on crowdfunding, Nandan Nilekani is spearheading the other.
“The committee is still deliberating on crowdfunding. They had made sub-committees, which have submitted the report to the main committee,” Sinha said on the sidelines of an event on corporate governance. A final report is expected next month. It may be noted that Sebi had earlier issued a discussion paper on crowdfunding, which involves entrepreneurs and small groups of people to raise funds through online platforms involving individuals and organisations.
Meanwhile, Sebi is actively working to allow sale of mutual funds schemes via e-commerce platforms.
Stating that guidelines for listing startups have been framed after intensive consultations, Sinha said, Sebi received some representations from them. “They (startups) have no major issue with regulations framed by Sebi or whatever facility they have provided. Their main issues are with the government on tax front,” he said.
With various countries trying to woo startups to list on their exchanges, Sinha said, “They are comparing the facilities in outside India with that of what is there in India and one of the issues is related to taxes. We are still in dialogue with them.”
On wilful defaulters, he said, company boards can play a crucial role in mitigating the issue of wilful defaulters. The banking regulator has expressed disappointment that in none of the case of wilful defaults, the company boards have exercised any caution, he said.