The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today asked companies to categorically state whether shares of the custodians, against which depository receipts (DRs) are issued, belong to the promoter or non-promoter entity, a move that will have repercussion for the 25 per cent public holding norms issued recently.

Companies will now have to provide more disclosures about their shareholding pattern to the stock exchanges, with the Securities and Exchange Board of India introducing some new rules in addition to the existing ones. The decision was taken at the regulator’s board meet on Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) disregarded the Finance Minister’s suggestion to “jointly seek a binding legal mandate from an appropriate High Court” on which body had jurisdiction over Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs). That is why the Government had to issue an Ordinance on the ULIPs issue. This was stated by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

In order to ensure better compliance with the Know Your Client (KYC) norms it has been decided that with effect from August 16, 2010 such PAN non-compliant demat accounts shall also be “suspended for credit” other than the credits arising out of automatic corporate actions. It is clarified that other credits including credits from IPO/FPO/Rights issue, off-market transactions or any secondary market transactions shall not be allowed into such accounts.

Market regulator SEBI today extended the deadline for mutual funds to implement the ASBA facility for new fund offers to October 1. Under ASBA–Application Supported by Blocked Amount– deposits of applicants remain in their accounts till the shares are alloted.

Mutual fund houses are strongly resisting a proposal from market regulator SEBI for treating small investors at par with large institutional ones in terms of various charges, such as exit-loads, with the argument that retail investors are costlier to service.

Most mutual funds have barred use of mobile phones in their dealing rooms to prevent front-running, though regulations didn’t require them to do so until recently. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) made this ban official on the heels of its recent order, which pulled up an equities dealer at HDFC Asset Management for leaking information of its planned trades to a few other investors.

The regulator’s direction follows a June 17 order banning HDFC asset management company’s (AMC) former equities dealer, Nilesh Kapadia, from stock market transactions. Kapadia was barred after allegations that he had tipped off his friend before placing orders for the fund house.

A committee constituted by India’s securities market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, is considering a proposal to separate the role of chairman and managing director (MD) or CEO of listed companies to prevent concentration of management powers in the hands of one individual.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) does not want the proposed apex financial stability council to set itself up as an arbiter in disputes between regulatory bodies, bringing into sharp focus regulators’ concerns about the government intruding into their domain.