IPOs: Start-up founders get relief on Esops

Sebi has created special category for foreign funds to invest in govt securities, aligns KYC norms with that of RBI's

- BENN KOCHUVEEDAN @ Mumbai

In a move that will offer a major relief to the start-ups founders planning public listing, capital market regulator Sebi has allowed them to hold on to their employees' stock ownership plan (Esops) provided they were issued one year before the public issue filing.

The regulator has also created a special category for foreign funds to invest in government securities called GS-FPIs and aligned their KYC norms with that of the RBI. Announcing these decisions after a board meeting here this evening, which cleared as many as 19 proposals/amendments to the existing Sebi norms on Wednesday, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said all the 19 decisions have been taken after detailed consultation with the industry and will go a long way to further relax ease of doing business.