Separation of roles of Chairperson and MD made voluntary: Sebi

'There has been barely a 4% incremental improvement in compliance by the top 500 companies over the last two years,' says Sebi

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday said the requirement to split Chairperson and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer positions at listed companies will not be mandatory and will be implemented on a voluntary basis.

The decision was taken at a Sebi board meet on Tuesday. 

Sebi had earlier asked listed entities to split the roles of Chairperson and MD before the April 2022 deadline. Listed entities were initially required to separate the roles of chairperson and MD/CEO from April 1, 2020 onwards. However, based on industry representations, an additional time period of two years was given for compliance. The norms were