London-listed Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) Plc is delisting its Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) from stock exchanges here. It was the first IDR ever listed on the Indian bourses in 2010 after SEBI opened the door for the instrument. Amidst much fanfare, the bank had managed to raise ₹2,500 crore selling 20.4 million IDRs. Holding 10 IDRs was equal to holding one share of StanC.

As a part of the termination programme, the IDR Holders have an option to offer some or all of their IDRs under the Conversion Option and/or the Cash-out Option by submitting a withdrawal order, during the period commencing from March 18, 2020 and ending on June 15, 2020.

The IDR market in India did not take off after the StanChart issue. IDR is a certificate that overseas listed companies could issue to Indian shareholders, which could be traded on the BSE and the NSE. When SEBI issued issues IDR norms, the idea was to invite some of the big global companies to raise money in India. That never happened as India’s primary markets have remained moribund for several years now.

According to the December 2019 holding data given by the company, 13,859 Indians held 5.8 million IDRs of StanChart. Against one StanChart share, 10 IDRs were issued. A little more than 1.7 million IDRs were held by 103 corporate bodies. Just around eight million IDRs were outstanding as the price of the IDR which was set at ₹104 during the issue fell to ₹38. Foreign institutional investors held around 0.1 million IDRs. The market-cap of the IDRs stood at around ₹233 crore.

StanChart has given an option that it will either pay money to domestic shareholders who wish to redeem their IDRs, or those who want to continue holding them will be given StanChart shares, tradeable on the stock exchange in London. However, the shareholders who may hold on to StanChart shares will have to make their own arrangements for broker and demat account for trading them in London.

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