Athira Sethu
Kochi, 20 August 2026
Market regulator, Sebi is planning to out a comprehensive evaluation of the SME IPO regulations. Sebi’s chairman, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, revealed this at an industry event on Wednesday.
Pandey said that Sebi is working on ways to streamline and reduce the cost of IPO regulations for small and medium enterprises. This comes amid rising concerns that some regulations are making IPO process costly for these firms.
According to Pandey, one of the key problems facing IPOs by SMEs is market making. Pandey noted that the market making process raises additional costs for small companies which can be difficult to handle compared to those listed on the main stock exchange.
Another area being reviewed by Sebi is the underwriting process. Pandey noted that the underwriting process at the moment is failing to deliver the intended results. Because of that, companies are having to incur huge amounts of money on underwriting services.
A working group established by Sebi to look into the problems associated with the SME platform has already tabled its report. From the findings of the report, Sebi is set to issue a consultation paper on the SME platform.
According to Pandey, Sebi aims at ensuring that the companies traded through the SME platform do not incur unnecessary costs. Currently, the costs involved in using the SME platform are quite high compared to the mainboard platform.
Changes in Trading System
The second topic discussed by Pandey is about the new approach adopted in calculating the closing price of often-traded stocks. The new approach allows quicker detection of any market manipulation compared to the previous approach.
Sebi is also looking at making changes aimed at fostering fund management activities internationally. This will allow certain trading operations to take place within India.
Consequently, Sebi is reportedly pursuing various changes that will enhance the efficiency of the market and cut down the unnecessary costs of the smaller companies.
