SEBI recently announced a commodity market reform of permitting exchanges to launch options contracts.
What are the changes announced?
Allowing exchanges to launch options contracts would deepen the domestic commodity market.
It would provide farmers and other participants a new hedging tool, in a more cost-effective manner.
Single broking licence - Stockbrokers will be allowed to deal in commodities and vice versa. Within a year, a single licence will be allowed for exchanges as well.
The move will help the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) to launch equities trading, and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE to foray into the commodity derivatives space.
QIB - A qualified institutional buyer (QIB) status on important non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) that have net worth of more than Rs 500 crore is accorded.
Earlier, NBFCs had to invest in the non-institutional category, which has only 15% reservation.
The current move will give NBFCs greater play in the IPO market, as nearly half the issue size is reserved for QIBs.
Monitoring Authority - Capital raised in IPOs could be misused or siphoned off.
So to ensure transparency in the use of proceeds, all IPOs raising Rs 100 crore or more in fresh equity capital will have to appoint a “monitoring agency”.
Until now, it was mandatory only for IPOs that raised over Rs 500 crore.
P notes - Residents and non-resident Indian (NRIs) are not allowed to take direct or indirect exposure to the market participatory notes (p-notes).
MFs can be bought through e-wallets, such as Paytm, Mobikwik and Freecharge.
Sebi announced a new framework for consolidation and re-issuance of debt securities aimed at boosting the bond market and infusing more liquidity.
