Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has reduced the filing fees for documents of public issues, buybacks and draft letter of offer while acquiring a company. The regulator has made amendments to the Sebi (Merchant Bankers) Regulations, 1992, Sebi (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 and Sebi (Buyback of Securities) Regulations, 1998.Sebi will henceforth charge a flat fee of Rs 25,000 for public issues less than or equal to Rs 10 crore. For an issue more than Rs 10 crore but less than or equal to Rs 1,000 crore, Sebi will collect 0.125% of the offer. For an issue more than Rs 1,000 crore but less than or equal to Rs 5,000 crore, a fee of Rs 1.25 crore will be charged in addition to 0.03125% of the offer size in excess of Rs 1,000 crore. A flat charge of Rs 3 crore will be charged for issues more than Rs 5,000 crore.Sebi has also amended the fees for custodians who will have to pay 0.0005% instead of 0.001%.For mutual funds, Sebi has brought down the filing fees to 0.005% of the amount raised via a new fund offer subject to a minimum of Rs 1 lakh and a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. The regulator has also slashed the registration fees payable by mutual funds from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.The regulator has also specified fees for share buybacks and rights issues. For venture capital funds, the regulator has made changes in the registration fees by bringing them down from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.The amendments, which will be called Sebi (Payment of Fees)(Amendment) Regulations, 2008, came into force from April 1, 2008.
