PremiumThe Securities and Exchange Board of India or Sebi, on Thursday, relaxed the deadline for listed Indian firms to announce their financial results in the wake of surging covid-19 cases in the so-called second wave of the pandemic in the country.
Sebi made multiple relaxations for Indian firms, including market intermediaries and depositories, in terms of filing of financial details, disclosure on fund utilization and updating client records.
In a circular, Sebi said listed Indian companies, which are currently required to announce their quarterly financial results within 45 days from the end of the quarter or by 15 May, 2021, are now allowed to file their March quarter results for fiscal 2021 by 30 June.
The deadline for filing annual audited financial results too has been extended by the markets regulator. Currently all companies are required to file their audited financials within 60 days from the end of the financial year, i.e. by 30 May. This deadline has been extended till 30 June, 2021 by Sebi.
“Sebi is in receipt of representations from listed entities, professional bodies, industry associations, market participants etc. requesting extension of timelines for various filings and relaxation from certain compliance obligations under the LODR (listing obligations and disclosure regulations) norms due to ongoing second wave of the CoVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed by various state governments," said Sebi in its circular.
So far, 170-odd listed companies in India have announced their financial results for the March quarter and fiscal year 2021.
Sebi has also extended the deadline for companies to file their annual secretarial compliance report by a month till 30 June, 2021.
Also, the deadline for submitting the statement of deviation or variation in use of funds (along with the financial results) has been extended by a month till 30 June, 2021.
In order to ensure that companies observe safety and social-distancing guidelines to avoid contracting the deadly covid-19 virus, until 31 December 2021, Sebi has allowed all listed entities to use digital signature certifications for authentication of filings/submissions made to the stock exchanges, according to the Sebi circular.
In line with the relaxations made for listed companies, Sebi has extended the compliance timelines for trading members, clearing members, depository participants and KYC registration agencies as well.
Among many other relaxations, the deadline for submission of internal audit report for the half-yearly earnings (at the end of March-2021) and the net-worth certificate for members has been extended till 31 July, 2021 by the capital markets regulator.
