Securities and Exchange Board of India
INVESTOR CHARTER– PUBLIC ISSUE OF DEBT SECURITIES
CIRCULAR No. SEBI/HO/DDHS/P/CIR/2021/0669 | Dated: November 26, 2021
To,
All Registered Merchant Bankers
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Publishing Investor Charter and Disclosure of Complaints by Merchant Bankers on their Websites – Debt Market
1. With a view to provide investors relevant information about the various activities pertaining to primary market issuances in the debt market, an Investor Charter has been prepared by SEBI in consultation with Merchant Bankers.
2. This Charter is a brief document containing details of services provided to investors, their rights, dos and don’ts, responsibilities, investor grievance handling mechanism and timelines thereof etc., at one single place, in a lucid language, for ease of reference.
3. All registered Merchant Bankers are hereby advised to disclose on their websites, the Investor Charter for each of the below mentioned categories, as provided at Annex – A to this circular:
a. Public issue of debt securities1;
b. Public issue of non-convertible redeemable preference shares; and
c. Private placement of debt securities and non-convertible redeemable preference shares.
4. Additionally, in order to bring about further transparency in the investor grievance redress mechanism, it has been decided that all registered Merchant Bankers shall also disclose on their respective websites, data on complaints received against them or against issues dealt by them and redressal status thereof, latest by the seventh day of the succeeding month, as per the format enclosed at Annex – B to this circular.
5. These disclosure requirements are in addition to the existing requirements pertaining to the investor grievance handling mechanism, under various Regulations, circulars and directions, issued by SEBI and/ or stock exchanges.
6. The provisions of this circular shall come into effect from January 01, 2022.
7. The Circular is issued in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 read with Regulation 55 (1) of the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021 to protect the interest of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.
8. This Circular is available at www.sebi.gov.in under the link “Legal→Circulars”.
Yours faithfully,
Pradeep Ramakrishnan
General Manager
Department of Debt and Hybrid Securities
+91-22-26449246
pradeepr@sebi.gov.in
Notes:
1 As defined in Regulation 2(1)(k) of the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021 (NCS Regulations);
