Share pledge: Sebi tweaks listing pact

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has amended the listing agreement to incorporate pledged share declarations by promoters. This amendment has paved the way for quarterly disclosures of pledged shares by companies. Sebi has modified the format for reporting shareholding pattern by amending clause 35 of the listing agreement.The format contains a total of six parts. At present, the first two parts — Part 1(a) and Part 1(b) — contain disclosures of shareholding of the promoters and promoter groups. These parts have been modified to include details of shares pledged by promoters and promoter groups. Further, the market regulator has also modified the format for reporting the quarterly financial results for companies. This modification has been done to include details of promoters and promoter groups’ shareholding, including pledged shares, by amending clause 41 of the listing agreement. Sebi has directed stock exchanges to amend the relevant clauses of the listing agreement. While the revision in the formats will come into force with immediate effect, the actual reporting by companies as per these formats will only start from the quarter ending March 31, 2009. Further, reports for quarters ending March 2009, June 2009, September 2009 and December 2009 under clause 41 may not contain details of pledged shares for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Earlier, the regulator had amended the Sebi (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulations, 1997 to include the recent guidelines on pledging of shares.