India reduces minimum public share float, paving way for NSE, Jio listings

India has reduced the proportion of shares large companies must sell when listing on the stock exchange, paving the way for initial public offerings by the National Stock Exchange and Reliance Jio.

The regulator last year proposed to halve the minimum amount of ‌shares large ⁠companies ⁠had to offer in their IPOs, allowing those valued at above ​Rs 5 lakh crore ($57 billion) after listing to sell just 2.5% of their ​paid-up capital. This has now been formally notified by the government, bringing it into force.The changes were part of ​rules released late on Friday.

Details ⁠of the ‌changes are below:


* At least 2.5% of ​each ​class of equity shares can beoffered to the ⁠public.

* A mandatory glide path has been put ​in place to reach a25% public shareholding. ​Companies with a public shareholding ofless than 15% at listing will have 5 years to reach 15% and 10years to reach 25%.

* If the public float is more than 15% at listing, thecompany will have 5 ‌years to reach 25%.

* For companies with a market capitalisation of between Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 5 lakh crore, ​the minimum public ⁠float will be set at 2.75%.

* For companies with a market capitalisation of between Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore, the ​minimum public float is set at 8%.

* Other provisions include a condition that if a company with a class of equity shares with superior voting rights is listing ordinary shares, it must also mandatorily list theshares having superior voting rights.