On November 09, 2021, the Securities Exchange Board of India has issued SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2021 to further amend the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements)Regulations, 2015.
They shall come into force with effect from April 1, 2022 unless otherwise specified in the respective provision of the regulation.
Key amendments:
I. in regulation 2, in sub-regulation (1),
a. in clause (zb) relating to “related party“, the first proviso shall be substituted with the following:
“Provided that:
(a) any person or entity forming a part of the promoter or promoter group of the listed entity; or
(b) any person or any entity, holding equity shares:
(i) of twenty per cent or more; or
(ii) of ten per cent or more, with effect from April 1, 2023;
in the listed entity either directly or on a beneficial interest basis as provided under section 89 of the Companies Act, 2013, at any time, during the immediate preceding financial year; shall be deemed to be a related party:”
b. clause (zc), shall be substituted with the following, namely,
“(zc) “related party transaction” means a transaction involving a transfer of resources, services or obligations between:
(i) a listed entity or any of its subsidiaries on one hand and a related party of the listed entity or any of its subsidiaries on the other hand; or
(ii) a listed entity or any of its subsidiaries on one hand, and any other person or entity on the other hand, the purpose and effect of which is to benefit a related party of the listed entity or any of its subsidiaries, with effect from April 1, 2023; regardless of whether a price is charged and a “transaction” with a related party shall be construed to include a single transaction or a group of transactions in a contract:
Provided that the following shall not be a related party transaction:
(a) the issue of specified securities on a preferential basis, subject to compliance of the requirements under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018;
(b) the following corporate actions by the listed entity which are uniformly applicable/offered to all shareholders in proportion to their shareholding:
i. payment of dividend;
ii. subdivision or consolidation of securities;
iii. issuance of securities by way of a rights issue or a bonus issue; and
iv. buy-back of securities.
(c) acceptance of fixed deposits by banks/Non-Banking Finance Companies at the terms uniformly applicable/offered to all shareholders/public, subject to disclosure of the same along with the disclosure of related party transactions every six months to the stock exchange(s), in the format as specified by the Board:
Provided further that this definition shall not be applicable for the units issued by mutual funds which are listed on a recognised stock exchange(s);
- In regulation 23 relating to “related party transactions“
a. in sub-regulation (1), the existing Explanation shall be substituted with the following, namely,
“Provided that a transaction with a related party shall be considered material, if the transaction(s) to be entered into individually or taken together with previous transactions during a financial year, exceeds rupees one thousand crore or ten per cent of the annual consolidated turnover of the listed entity as per the last audited financial statements of the listed entity, whichever is lower.”
b. in sub-regulation (2), after the words “party transactions” the words “and subsequent material modifications” shall be inserted and the words and symbol “audit committee.” shall be substituted with the words and symbol “audit committee of the listed entity:”.
c. in sub-regulation (2), after the existing proviso, the following shall be inserted, namely,
“Provided further that:
(a) the audit committee of a listed entity shall define “material modifications” and disclose it as part of the policy on materiality of related party transactions and on dealing with related party transactions;
(b) a related party transaction to which the subsidiary of a listed entity is a party but the listed entity is not a party, shall require prior approval of the audit committee of the listed entity if the value of such transaction whether entered into individually or taken together with previous transactions during a financial year exceeds ten per cent of the annual consolidated turnover, as per the last audited financial statements of the listed entity;
(c) with effect from April 1, 2023, a related party transaction to which the subsidiary of a listed entity is a party but the listed entity is not a party, shall require prior approval of the audit committee of the listed entity if the value of such transaction whether entered into individually or taken together with previous transactions during a financial year, exceeds ten per cent of the annual standalone turnover, as per the last audited financial statements of the subsidiary;
(d) prior approval of the audit committee of the listed entity shall not be required for a related party transaction to which the listed subsidiary is a party but the listed entity is not a party, if regulation 23 and sub-regulation (2) of regulation 15 of these regulations are applicable to such listed subsidiary.
Explanation: For related party transactions of unlisted subsidiaries of a listed subsidiary as referred to in (d) above, the prior approval of the audit committee of the listed subsidiary shall suffice.”
