SEBI provided relaxation to issuers aiming to list their unlisted International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) outstanding as of December 31, 2023 to encourage bringing these into the listed space.
Clause 1 of Chapter VIII of NCS Master Circular reads as under:
“In respect of private placement of debt securities, the following shall be complied with regard to ISINs, utilised to issue debt securities from April 1, 2023:
1.1A maximum number of fourteen ISINs maturing in any financial year shall be allowed for an issuer of debt securities. In addition, a further six ISINs shall also be available for the issuance of the capital gains tax debt securities by the authorized issuers under section 54EC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on private placement basis.
1.2 Out of the fourteen ISINs maturing in a financial year, the bifurcation of ISINs shall be as under: a. A maximum of nine ISINs maturing per financial year shall be allowed for plain vanilla debt securities. Within this limit of nine ISINs, the issuer can issue both secured and unsecured debt securities. Provided where the total outstanding amount across the nine ISINs, maturing in a given financial year, reaches Rs.15,000 crore, then three additional ISINs would be permitted to mature in the same financial year. The same should be intimated by the issuer to the stock exchanges and depositories. b. A maximum of five ISINs maturing per financial year shall be allowed for structured debt securities and market linked debt securities.
1.3Where an issuer issues only structured/ market linked debt securities, the maximum number of ISINs allowed to mature in a financial year shall be nine.
1.4Further, with respect to the debt securities issued on or after April 01, 2023, all the ISINs corresponding to these issues (including ISINs issued prior to April 01, 2023), maturing in any financial year, shall adhere to the limits as specified above.
1.5 The above threshold may be reviewed periodically to further reduce fragmentation in the corporate bond market.
Accordingly, clause 4A is hereby inserted in Chapter VIII of the NCS Master Circular:
“4A. Unlisted ISINs outstanding as on December 31, 2023 which are converted to listed ISINs, pursuant to the provision of Regulation 62A(2) of LODR Regulations shall be excluded from the maximum limit of ISINs to mature in a financial year.”
Link – https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/circulars/dec-2024/relaxation-from-the-isin-restriction-limit-for-issuers-desirous-of-listing-originally-unlisted-isins-outstanding-as-on-december-31-2023-_89908.html
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