New Delhi: To bring uniformity in rules, capital market regulator SEBI Thursday cleared a proposal for ensuring at least 25 percent public holding in all the listed state-owned companies within three years.
The decision would help the government raise close to Rs 60,000 crore from the sale of shares in around 36 listed PSUs where the public shareholding is less than 25 percent.
Under current norms, government undertakings should have at least 10 percent public shareholding whereas for non-PSU firms the minimum level is 25 percent.
"SEBI believes that all the rules for markets should be neutral to the promoters. It should not be dependent upon who is the promoter," Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U K Sinha said after its board meeting here.
The proposal was approved by the board and it would now be sent to the government for notification of the final set of regulations in this regard.
According to SEBI, the different minimum shareholding level for private and public sector companies is discriminatory and inconsistent with broader market design.
Sinha said: "Securities Contract Regulations (Rules) will be amended to provide that all public sector companies will also have 25 percent (public shareholding).
"In order not to make it disruptive we have given them a three-year time frame within which they will have to meet our requirements."
