Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) constitutes expert panel to review debenture trustee regulatory framework

Key facts

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has constituted an expert working group to review the regulatory framework governing debenture trusteeship activities.
• The panel is chaired by Ananta Barua, former whole-time member of SEBI, with Rajnish Kumar, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), serving as co-chairperson.
• The committee members include O N Ravi (former general counsel and executive vice president at CCIL), Rahul Choudhary (managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Trustee Services), Pratapsingh Nathani (managing director and chief executive officer of Beacon Trusteeship), Ashish Pahariya (partner at DSK Legal), and Vinod Kothari (partner at Vinod Kothari & Co).
• The working group is tasked with reviewing net-worth requirements and recommending measures to strengthen the role of debenture trustees.
• SEBI has invited suggestions from stakeholders on the simplification, rationalisation, and removal of redundancies within the framework by July 15.