The Union government has allowed direct listing of securities by public Indian companies on International Exchanges of GIFT IFSC.

As of now, the framework allows unlisted public Indian companies to list their shares on an international exchange.

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Pursuant to the announcement on July 28, 2023, by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) amended the 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 the Companies (Listing of Equity Shares in Permissible Jurisdictions) Rules, 2024.

These, together, provide an overarching regulatory framework to enable public Indian companies to issue and list their shares in permitted international exchanges.

Notably, 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.

“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,” Ministry of Finance said.

“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.”

The ministry added that 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 providing new investment opportunities for investors, diversification of financial products, and enhancing liquidity.

Earlier, through the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020, enabling provisions were included in the Companies Act, 2013, to allow the 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.