To help lenders deal with defaulting borrowers, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has notified new norms for banks to convert their debt into equity in distressed companies — a move that might lead to a sharp rise in restructuring of bank loans.

The decision to tweak the pricing formula for conversion of debt into equity would also pave the way for bankers to have a larger say in activities of a distressed company by acquiring a majority stake and taking over the management.

As many as 500 cases have come under the scanner of revenue intelligence agencies and capital markets regulator Sebi for raising a whopping Rs 2 lakh crore illegally in the guise of non-convertible debentures and private placements.

Suspecting that these financial instruments are being misused to launder black money, the revenue intelligence agencies have shared the details with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and other regulators for further action, official sources said.

MUMBAI: Markets regulator Sebi has ordered attachment of bank and securities accounts of over 40 entities so far this year to recover pending dues worth more than Rs 140 crore from defaulters.

The 44 defaulters against whom recovery proceedings were initiated by Sebi include — Wasankar Wealth Management and Kolkata Weir Industries — that had fraudulently raised funds from public.

With liquor giant United Spirits asking its own chairman, Vijay Mallya, to quit, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and other regulatory agencies have started looking into suspected irregularities at the company, including about the alleged fund diversion and disclosure-related lapses.

United Spirits Ltd (USL), in which Mallya-led UB Group has sold controlling stake to UK-based Diageo Plc, asked Mallya to step down as chairman and director after an inquiry revealed fund diversion in the past to various UB Group firms including the now-defunct aviation venture Kingfisher.

NEW DELHI: Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking its direction for a three-year market ban on real estate giant DLF and its six top officials, including chairman K P Singh and his children Rajiv Singh and Pia Singh.

Agreeing to hear Sebi's plea, a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and R K Agrawal issued notice to DLF and its promoters. The market regulator had approached the court challenging a Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order which had quashed its order to bar DLF and its promoters from the market.

Concerned over a large number of unlisted firms fraudulently raising money from public, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Thursday, warned such companies and their directors of “stringent action” and asked investors not to be lured by their schemes.

The warning comes amid a continuing crackdown by SEBI against various unlisted companies that have lured retail investors by issuing securities such as non-convertible debentures/non-convertible preference shares in the garb of private placement.

Companies are required to inform shareholders of their annual general meetings 21 days before the event. However, shareholders who watch stock exchange websites for this information might not always get this three-week notice, according to Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovern Research Services. Reason: only some companies make an exchange disclosure; many don’t.

This problem related to non-uniform disclosure standards by companies on issues such as the important dates (as above) and material developments such as getting large orders or trading in securities by insiders is likely to be addressed with finality by the regulator.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has moved the Supreme Court, challenging a tribunal order in the matter of disclosure norm violations by real estate major DLF. The regulator filed its appeal last week and has sought an early hearing, according to two people in the know.

The appeal contests several grounds of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order. "One of the observations in the SAT order was that clearance of the Sebi board was not taken before initiating investigation proceedings. On this, the appeal has said the investigation was directed by the Delhi high court in 2011," one of them said.

In a fresh crackdown on suspected tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock markets, regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday barred Mishka Finance and Trading and 128 other entities from the securities market.

While the total amount involved could not be ascertained, these entities are estimated to have shown fictitious capital gains to the tune of Rs.254 crore and just 29 of them made unlawful gains to the tune of Rs. 92 crore on an investment of just Rs. 2 crore.

The capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), under pressure to tighten scrutiny, is taking as long as a year to approve initial public offerings (IPOs). This has prompted criticism from companies, already grappling with unpredictable demand and a lack of alternative funding sources. The stock market has soared, touching record highs last month. It was Asia’s second-best performer last year, thanks to largely $16 billion of foreign investment.

But the boom has failed to translate into many IPOs, a vital source of capital, especially for small companies which make up the bulk of the economy yet often struggle to access keenly priced bank loans.

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