The government of India has allowed direct listing of securities by Indian Companies at GIFT- IFSC exchanges. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in July 2023 announced that the government will enable direct listing of Indian Companies at GIFT – IFSC exchanges and the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance amended Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, and notified the Direct Listing of Equity Shares of Companies Incorporated in India on International Exchanges Scheme.
Informing about the same, a PIB release stated, “In pursuance of the announcement on July 28, 2023 by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman to enable direct listing of Indian Companies at GIFT- IFSC exchanges in the first phase, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, has amended Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, and notified the ‘Direct Listing of Equity Shares of Companies Incorporated in India on International Exchanges Scheme’. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued Companies Rules, 2024.”
These, together, provide an overarching regulatory framework to enable public Indian companies to issue and list their shares in permitted international exchanges. As of now, the framework allows unlisted public Indian companies to list their shares on an international exchange.
SEBI is in the process of issuing the operational guidelines for listed public Indian companies. The international stock exchanges at GIFT-IFSC under the regulatory supervision of IFSCA namely, India International Exchange and NSE International Exchange have been, currently, prescribed as permitted stock exchanges under the Rules and the Scheme, the release stated.
Earlier, through the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020, enabling provisions were included in the Companies Act, 2013, to allow direct listing of prescribed class (es) of securities of prescribed class (es) of public companies incorporated in India on permitted stock exchanges in permissible foreign jurisdictions or other prescribed jurisdictions. The enabling provisions of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020 were, accordingly, brought into force with effect from 30th October, 2023.
This policy initiative, to enable listing of Indian companies in GIFT-IFSC, will reshape the Indian capital market landscape and offers Indian companies, especially start-ups and companies in the sunrise and technology sectors, an alternative avenue to access global capital beyond the domestic exchanges.
This is expected to lead to better valuation of Indian companies in line with global standards of scale and performance, boost foreign investment flows, unlock growth opportunities and broaden the investor base. The public Indian companies will have the flexibility to access both markets i.e. domestic market for raising capital in INR and the international market at IFSC for raising capital in foreign currency from the global investors.
This initiative will particularly benefit Indian companies going global and having ambitions to look at opportunities for expanding their presence in other markets. It is also expected to provide a boost to the capital market ecosystem at GIFT IFSC by provision of new investment opportunities for investors, diversification of financial products and by enhancing liquidity.
