MUMBAI: The market regulator Sebi has cancelled the registration of as many as 19 foreign venture capital investors -- all of them defunct in their respective jurisdictions -- for not meeting the regulatory requirements in the India, including failure to file the quarterly reports.
Six of these 19 funds had never filed the quarterly reports which they are required to under the norms, since their registration way back in 2013, the Sebi said in an order passed on Tuesday. The regulator also has found that they were not operating from their registered addresses and all of them became defunct between 2013 and 2023 in their respective jurisdictions-- Mauritius, Singapore and Cyprus.
Among the 19 are Axis Capital Mauritius, Axis India Infrastructure Holdings, Blackstone Capital Partners Singapore VI, and Blackstone Family Investment Partnership Singapore VI.
In the order Sebi chief general manager G Ramar noted, "...from the material available on record, I note that the noticees were not carrying out any intended activities and also hardly submitted the relevant reports ever since being registered with Sebi. The said facts clearly show that they are not interested to continue as registered foreign VC investors here."
The order also notes that these investors did not intimate the regulator about their change in regulatory status, when they became defunct in their home jurisdiction. Of the 14 entities whose date of strike-off is available, 11 were defunct for more than five years in their home jurisdictions and three were defunct for 10 months to three years, the Sebi noted.