Narayana Murthy’s New Assignment: Deciding Rules for Funding Start-Ups

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, May 22, 2015:  Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy will head a panel that will devise rules for a new funding platform for homegrown start-ups, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) says on its website.

In March, the market regulator announced an alternative investment platform targeted at the country’s booming internet start-ups, relaxing some key requirements to encourage them to list at home.

Mr Murthy’s Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee (AIPAC) will devise policy and rules for the new platform, and is modeled after other regulatory panels that advise markets regulator SEBI on capital market policies.

Tough rules have made start-up listings difficult in India, where rules restrict, for example, early exits of original shareholders.

Reuters reported this year that SEBI has been working to change the rules to make listing on Indian exchanges easier for homegrown startups, at a time when large ecommerce players such as Flipkart are said to be considering an IPO on US exchanges.

Mr Murthy, who last year stepped down as chairman of Infosys, was one of seven engineers who launched the software services exporter in 1981 by pooling together funds of $250 or Rs 10,000.

The 18-member panel includes some of India’s best-known private equity and venture capitalists, and representatives of SEBI, Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry.

 

Courtesy: NDTV