Overview
- A consultation paper proposes allowing issuers to offer higher coupons or issue‑price discounts to senior citizens, women, armed forces personnel and retail subscribers in public debt issues.
- Any incentive would have to be disclosed upfront in the offer document and would apply only to original allottees, with no transfer on sale or transmission.
- SEBI cites a steep drop in public NCD fund‑raising, from ₹19,168 crore in FY2024 to ₹8,149 crore in FY2025, as the rationale for boosting retail participation.
- The paper proposes raising the threshold for identifying High Value Debt Listed Entities to ₹5,000 crore from ₹1,000 crore, which SEBI estimates would reduce the HVDLE count from 137 to 48.
- Further proposals align governance and reporting for debt‑listed firms with equity norms, including terminology changes, flexible compliance timelines and pared back related‑party disclosures while retaining debenture‑holder safeguards.