The Securities and Exchange Board of India will soon come up with a new set of measures to energise mutual fund distributors and encourage the industry to increase penetration in tier 2 and 3 cities.

This was stated by Mr Rajeev Kumar Agarwal, whole-time member of SEBI, at a Capital Market Summit organised by Assocham here on Friday.

There are indications that the measures will be rolled out in a month’s time.

Mr Agarwal also said that the capital market regulator was in the process of coming up with guidelines for an e-IPO (initial public offering) to give some fillip to the sagging primary market. “The overall structure will be the same. It will use the secondary market infrastructure for extending the reach of IPOs,” Mr Agarwal told reporters.

rumours

The market was abuzz with rumours that SEBI would rethink its decision to ban entry loads on mutual funds. Pressure is mounting on the regulator to review this stance as the ban on upfront commission (entry loads) earned by a distributor had impacted the flows into the industry.

Later, speaking on the sidelines of the summit, the Disinvestment Secretary, Mr Mohd Haleem Khan, said Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd was likely to be the next public sector company that would hit the market with an IPO.

The RINL IPO will happen this month and it will only be a divestment for the Centre. There will be no further equity issuance by the company, he added.

The Centre hopes to complete the divestment transaction in RINL and Hindustan Copper during the second quarter of this fiscal.

>krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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