Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has in-principle approved an alternative mode of payment for public/right issues of companies under which the  application money will remain in the bank account of the applicant till such time the allotment is finalised

The SEBI board toady approved the concept of marking lien on bank account as an alternative mode of payment in public / rights issues.

The concept will enable the application money to remain in the bank account of the applicant till such time the allotment is finalised, thus eliminating the refund process.
 
At present, applicants have to wait for quite some time to get refunds on non-allotment of shares.

SEBI also decided to raise the minimum networth for portfolio managers from Rs50 lakh to Rs2 crore.

The existing portfolio managers whose networth is less than Rs2 crore will have to increase it to at least Rs1 crore within six months from the date of notification of the regulation and to Rs2 crore in another six months therefrom.

Portfolio managers would not be allowed to float a scheme or pool the resources of clients in any way "akin to mutual fund activities".

They will also be required to keep assets of each client under separate heads and not in a pooled manner, SEBI said, adding that they will be given six months to comply with this regulation.

The board also approved the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities) Regulations, which were formulated to encourage corporate bonds markets by making the process of issuance more transparent.

After taking into consideration public comments received, the board approved certain amendments to the draft regulations. The final notification will be issued in due course.