5 Important Takeaways from SEBI’s Board Meeting

India’s capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently concluded its board meeting. 

This was the 210th Sebi board meeting. It wasn’t just routine—it packed a punch with key decisions that could reshape India’s financial markets.

Capital market observers look forward to this event as this is where the Indian market regulator lays down the rules and informs about the big changes they make.

These changes usually tend to send ripple effects across the market, affecting investors like you and me.

While the entire presentation and changes can be viewed on SEBI’s official website, we wanted to share our top 5 takeaways from the meeting.

#1 Delisting of PSUs with >90% Government Holding

In a big move aimed at streamlining the exit process for certain government owned companies or PSUs, the market regulator on 18 June 2025 introduced special measures to facilitate their voluntary delisting.

This rule applies to companies with government holding of 90% or more (excluding banks, NBFCs, and insurance firms).

Under the new rules, the delisting price must be at least 15% above the floor price. The floor price, in turn, must be the highest among the volume-weighted average price over the past 52 weeks, the highest acquisition price in the past 26 weeks, or a valuation determined by two independent registered valuers.

At present, there are only 10 listed companies that have a government holding of 90% or above.

Some popular names include KIOCL, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, HMT, Punjab & Sind Bank, State Trading Corporation, UCO Bank, ITI and Fertilisers & Chemicals Travancore.

#2 ESOP Changes

Under current rules, startup founders must be classified as promoters at the time of filing IPO documents. Once labeled promoters, they are no longer eligible to receive Employee Stock Options (ESOPs).

However, the Indian market regulator believes the existing rules do not clearly specify whether founders who received ESOPs before being classified as promoters can exercise their vested and unvested options after the IPO.

Founders of many new-age tech startups often receive ESOPs instead of salaries in the early stages to align their interests with shareholders. But as these companies raise capital from external investors, founders’ stakes tend to get diluted.

Which is why under the new rules, the market regulator permitted startup founders to retain ESOPs post-IPO, addressing their role in accepting equity over salaries. 

A one-year cooling-off period between ESOP grants and IPO filing was introduced to prevent misuse, ensuring alignment with shareholder interests.

#3 Regulations Relaxed for FPIs Investing Only in Govt. Bonds

To attract big money from global markets, the market regulator simplified registration and compliance norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) investing exclusively in Indian Government Bonds via the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) and Fully Accessible Route (FAR).

This move comes in light of India’s entry into global bond indices and is aimed at easing operational compliance and boosting foreign investment into Indian sovereign debt.

#4 QIP Documentation

To streamline Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) documentation, reducing duplication and focusing on relevant disclosures to make capital-raising more efficient, SEBI announced a slew of measures.

As per the existing norms, companies raising funds via QIP have to file lengthy documents, which is a time-consuming process and also leads to bulky documents.

But now, the market regulator has changed this after hearing opinions from industry experts.

#5 Co-Investment Allowed in AIFs

In another development, the market regulator also approved co-investment opportunities within Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) through a Co-Investment Vehicle (CIV) as a separate scheme.

This enhances flexibility for investors while it also ensures uniform exits to protect main scheme investors.

Other Big Updates

Apart from these headline reforms, SEBI also relaxed investment limits for mutual funds in REITs and InvITs, raising the cap under equity schemes from 10% to 20% of NAV, and allowed their classification as equity instruments for index eligibility. 

It clarified disclosure norms, public unitholding thresholds, and cash flow treatment for REITs and InvITs to enhance transparency.

The board also approved changes to the Social Stock Exchange framework to allow greater flexibility in fundraising and disclosures by social enterprises, and enabled ESG rating providers to access non-public ESG data from listed companies through a regulated mechanism.

Final Words

Market participants have welcomed these changes with open arms. The impact of the recent changes by SEBI will be seen in the Indian markets as and when some developments happen around QIPs, delisting, or ESOPs.

In conclusion, amid the latest tensions around the Israel-Iran war and rising crude oil prices, being patient with your investments is key as the coming few days could be extremely volatile.

With Equentis’ powerful financial calculators, specific investing tools, and stock screener, you have much faster access to information, along with less spin coming from the mainstream media. This access to unfiltered content should allow you to make higher quality decisions as long as you keep your emotions in check.

This is what makes investing so interesting. Happy Investing.

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