Relaxation in adherence to prescribed timelines issued by SEBI due to Covid 19 - SEBI - SEBI/HO/MIRSD/RTAMB/CIR/P/2020/59

CIRCULAR SEBI/HO/MIRSD/RTAMB/CIR/P/2020/59 April 13, 2020 To, All Depositories All Registrars to an Issue Share Transfer Agents (RTA) All Recognised Stock Exchanges All Listed Companies (through Stock Exchanges) Sir/ Madam, Sub: Relaxation in adherence to prescribed timelines issued by SEBI due to Covid 19 1. In wake of the current nationwide lock down of 21 days as directed by Government of India due to issue of Covid-19, a need has been felt to extend the timelines for processing of various investor requests pertaining to physical securities and Compliance and disclosures to be made under SEBI Regulations and various SEBI circulars. The directions are being issued for Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents / Issuer Companies, holding SEBI registration under Category 1 or Category 2 of RTI/STA. 2. Considering the nationwide lock down and marginal / skeleton staff strength of RTAs / Issuer companies, relaxation is hereby being given to intermediaries / market participants for equivalent period of lock down declared by Government of India i.e. 21 days, over and above the prescribed time limits, respectively, for activities / investor requests / compliance as per the annexure. 3. In the event of further extension in the lock down period as directed by Government of India / State Governments, additional relaxation in prescribed timelines for equal number of extended days in lock down is also being given to intermediaries / market participants. Yours faithfully, Deepak Trivedi Chief General Manager E mail: [email protected] Ph: +91-22-2644 9753 Annexure S. No. Particulars 1 Processing of Remat Requests 2 Processing of Transmission Requests 3 Processing of request for Issue of Duplicate Share Certificates 4 Processing of Requests for Name Deletion/ Name Change/ Transposition/ Pending Share Transfers (Re-lodgement cases in the case of share transfers) 5 Processing of Requests for Consolidation / Split / Replacement of Share Certificates / Amalgamation of Folios 6 Handling Investor Correspondence / Grievances / SCORES complaint 7 Submission of Half Yearly Report to SEBI pursuant to Circular No. CIR/MIRSD/7/2012 dated July 5, 2012 8 Compulsory Internal Audit of RTAs by CA / CS / CMA holding Certificate of Practice and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) / Diploma Information Systems Auditor (DISA) pursuant to Circular dated April 20, 2018 , issued by SEBI 9 Submission of Audit Report by CISA / CISM qualified or equivalent auditor by QRTAs to SEBI along with comments of the Board pursuant to Circular dated September 8, 2017 issued by SEBI on Cyber Security and Cyber Security Resilience framework for QRTAs 10 Submission of Compliance Report by QRTAs duly reviewed by the Board of Directors of the QRTA to SEBI on Enhanced monitoring of QRTAs pursuant to Circular dated August 10, 2018 issued by SEBI 11 Regulation 74(5) of the SEBI (D P) Regulations, 2018 12 Regulation 76 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018