Sebi annual report: Indian companies raised Rs 9.8 lakh crore in 2022-23 from capital markets

In its annual report 2022-23, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said that Indian firms raised Rs 9.8 lakh crore from capital markets during the last fiscal, which was 4.6 per cent higher than the previous year. The capital market regulator said that the funds were raised for the financing needs of the companies through various instruments such as equity, debt, AIFs, REITs, and InvITs.

Of the total resources mobilised during the year, equity and debt segments accounted for Rs 9.2 lakh crore of capital formation. 

"The AIF has grown as one of the rapidly growing segments of the investment landscape with significant growth in terms of commitments raised, funds raised, and investments made since 2018-19," the report said.

The report further said the private placement of debt remained the primary driver of resource mobilisation in the debt segment, witnessing a rise of 28 per cent in funds raised during 2022-23, relative to the previous fiscal year. During the year, Rs 7.1  lakh crore was mobilised through private placement on the Electronic Book Provider  Platform  (EBP).  

Cost-efficient private placement boosted fundraising through this mechanism.  To improve liquidity and participation,  the face value of debt securities issued on a private placement basis was reduced to Rs 1 lakh from the existing  Rs 10 lakh with effect from January 2023.

SEBI said Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have emerged as one of the rapidly growing segments of the investment landscape in terms of growth witnessed in terms of commitments raised, funds raised, and investments made since 2018-19. During 2022-23, the commitment raised by AIFs logged a growth of 30% to Rs 8.34 lakh crore from Rs 6.41 lakh crore at the end of 2021-22. The amount of funds raised and investment made increased by 16.5 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, in 2022-23.

"Category 2 AIFs accounted for 73 per cent of the overall funds raised by AIFs. During the year, 203 new AIFs were registered, taking the number of registered AIFs to 1,088 at the end of 2022-23."

In infrastructure financing through REITs and InvITs, the net asset value being managed by REITs stood at Rs 70,614 crore, whereas for InvITs it was Rs 1,76,957 crore as on March 31, 2023. Total funds raised by InvITs during the year 2022-23 stood at Rs 6,360 crore.

In its annual report, Sebi said its recovery from erring market participants for the year stood at Rs 6,031 crore, down 61.72 per cent year on year from Rs 15,756 crore.

The market regulator said a total of Rs 1.02 lakh crore of penalties is to be recovered. Of the total amount, Rs 63,206 crore, which is 61.7 per cent of the total amount due, pertains to CIS/DPI matters of PACL Ltd and Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd, respectively.

Around Rs 70,482.62 crore, which is 68.7 per cent of the total amount due, is subject to parallel proceedings before various courts and court-appointed committees. In these cases, Sebi’s recovery proceedings are subject to directions or approvals of respective court or committee, the report noted.

"It is difficult to recover DTR dues, which also shot up to Rs 73,287 crore in FY23 from Rs 67,228 crore in the last fiscal year. DTR dues are the pending amount which could not be recovered even after exhausting all the modes of recovery," Sebi said in its annual report.

These include cases where accused persons or entities have died, have no attachable properties, are untraceable, etc, Sebi added in its report.

Besides, it said that a total of 185 applications related to violations of securities regulations were resolved through settlements in FY23.

"Settlement orders were passed for alleged violations of various regulations, viz., SAST Regulations, 2011; PIT Regulations, 2015; PFUTP Regulations, 2003; LODR Regulations, 2015; FPI Regulations, 2019; AIF Regulations, 2012; RTA Regulations, 1993 and MF Regulations, 1996", SEBI said in its annual report.

Through the settlement mechanism, an accused party can resolve an ongoing case with the regulatory authority by remitting a settlement fee, without confessing or repudiating the alleged wrongdoing, Sebi said in its report. 

In the fiscal year 2023, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) encountered 386 settlement applications, with 221 applications pending at the outset of the period. Throughout the year, 185 applications were resolved through the issuance of requisite orders, while 285 applications were either declined, withdrawn, or returned, Sebi clarified. 

"Of the 185 applications settled during the year, an amount of Rs 125.56 crore was remitted to the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) as settlement amount, including Rs3 lakh towards summary settlement amount. In addition to this, Rs 3.88 crore was agreed to be paid as the disgorged amount that was credited to the IPEF and Rs 44.27 lakh was paid as legal charges", Sebi said in its annual report.

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