Top 500 listed companies would be required to prepare annual business responsibility reports in the new fiscal with the Sebi rules for the same coming into effect from tomorrow.
At present, the business responsibility reports (BRs) are mandatory for top 100-listed entities based on market capitalisation at BSE and NSE.
The new regulation - Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) - notified in December last year is part of larger efforts to improve corporate governance practices and more transparency in terms of reporting of various socially responsible activities carried out by the listed entities.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) made it applicable for top 500 listed companies, based on their market capitalisation at the end of March every year, to submit business responsibility reports.
The decision was approved by Sebi's board in November 2015.
In August 2012, Sebi made business responsibility reporting compulsory for top 100 listed entities based on market capitalisation in their annual reports.
The key areas required to be reported by the entities include environment, social, governance and stakeholder relationships.
On FPI participation in commodity markets, Agarwal, who
was addressing a Crisil seminar on corporate bond market, said there are lot of issues to be tackled before they are allowed into this segment.
"Our advisory panel is looking into all the issues. Certain things need to be discussed with other regulators as various entities are related to them," Agarwal said.
Though he said allowing stock exchanges to have commodity segment is the ultimate goal, a policy on this is yet to be framed.
Regarding algo trading, Agarwal said new guidelines are under discussion and should be out in a month. The new regulations will ensure a level-playing field for all stakeholders, he added.
On delisting threat of around 4,200 non-traded companies, he said the regulator is working on the guidelines to remove companies which have been suspended for many years.
"We have to take measures first to ensure investors are protected," he added.
On May 25, Sinha had told an editors' meeting that Sebi had decided to delist as many as 4,200 companies and warned erring promoters and auditors of a mammoth clean-up exercise.
Sebi's move came after it was found that shares of these companies are not being traded, and their promoters were refusing to give exit opportunity to investors.
Out of these 4,200 companies, over 1,200 firms' shares are listed on BSE and NSE, but trading has been suspended for various non-compliance issues for over seven years. Others are listed on various regional exchanges that have become defunct.
Sinha had also warned of strong action against the auditors who close their eyes to the lapses in the financial accounts of listed firms.
"So far, we have had a hands-off approach on auditors, but we will take action if something serious comes to our notice. Auditors cannot go scot-free if they have been certifying the books for years without pointing finger at the lapses," Sinha had said.
