In 2014, India’s financial markets authority (SEBI) published a draft of regulations to allow online investing in the country and put them up for public comments. No action has been taken since then. However, according to official sources, the game may soon change.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released in 2014 a draft proposal of rules for the local online investing market, which limited the amount of capital that could be raised by a single issuer to Rs 100 million ($ 1,662,220) per year and distinguished between accredited investors and retail investors, putting a cap on investment for the latter at Rs 16,000 ($ 275) per offer.
The proposal was then subject to a public consultation and many local stakeholders provided their insights and points of view. Nevertheless, the rule making process was put on hold, mainly because there were still some open issues on how to handle cross-border investments and because the Indian financial authority preferred to see some more cases of how other countries regulated the growing sector of digital investing.
According to several sources, it seems that the situation may change soon. SEBI, which formed an internal committee to write a report for recommending norms to encourage entrepreneurial activities in India - including crowdfunding, will probably submit it within one month. After this milestone has been achieved, SEBI will start dealing with implementation.
Indian online investing platforms are currently operating in a regulatory grey area and there are no clear guidelines on how to tackle the risks such as money-laundering and other fraudulent acts associated with digital finance. Hopefully SEBI’s announced actions will shed some light on these topics.
References
Laskar,A. (2015).Sebi likely to bring crowdfunding under regulatory framework.Livemint
Upadhiay, J.P. (2015).Sebi puts crowd funding regulations on the back burner. Business Standard
Sinha, U.K. (2015). Sebi to soon come out with crowd-funding norms. The Economic Times
Photo credit to: Zadeus
The proposal was then subject to a public consultation and many local stakeholders provided their insights and points of view. Nevertheless, the rule making process was put on hold, mainly because there were still some open issues on how to handle cross-border investments and because the Indian financial authority preferred to see some more cases of how other countries regulated the growing sector of digital investing.
According to several sources, it seems that the situation may change soon. SEBI, which formed an internal committee to write a report for recommending norms to encourage entrepreneurial activities in India - including crowdfunding, will probably submit it within one month. After this milestone has been achieved, SEBI will start dealing with implementation.
Indian online investing platforms are currently operating in a regulatory grey area and there are no clear guidelines on how to tackle the risks such as money-laundering and other fraudulent acts associated with digital finance. Hopefully SEBI’s announced actions will shed some light on these topics.
References
Laskar,A. (2015).Sebi likely to bring crowdfunding under regulatory framework.Livemint
Upadhiay, J.P. (2015).Sebi puts crowd funding regulations on the back burner. Business Standard
Sinha, U.K. (2015). Sebi to soon come out with crowd-funding norms. The Economic Times
Photo credit to: Zadeus
 | About the author - Irene Tordera Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Irene is an International Business graduate, with a strong interest for innovative ideas that can simplify our lives. During her studies, she co-founded an online community for sportspeople and worked in marketing positions at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and at the European Business Angel Network, in Brussels. She is a passionate blogger about crowdfunding and the startup ecosystem and she works also for the European Crowdfunding Network. |
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