SEBI vide circular no. SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2020/78 dated May 06, 2020 has provided relaxations relating to procedural matters – Issues & Listing.

In  view  of the  impact  of  the COVID-19 pandemic and  the  lockdown  measures undertaken by  Central  and  State  Governments, based  on  representations, SEBI has decided to grant the following onetime relaxations from strict enforcement of certain  regulations  of  SEBI  (Issue  of  Capital  and  Disclosure  Requirements) Regulations, 2018 (hereafter  “ICDR  Regulations”) , pertaining  to Rights  Issue opening up to July 31, 2020:

a) Service of the abridged letter of offer, application form and other issue material to shareholders may be undertaken by electronic transmission as already provided under Regulation 77(2) of the ICDR Regulation. Failure to adhere to modes of dispatch through registered post or speed post or courier services due to prevailing Covid-19 related conditions will not be treated as non-compliance during the said period. However, the issuers shall publish the letter of offer, abridged letter of offer and application forms on the websites of the company, registrar, stock exchanges and the lead manager(s) to the rights issue. Further, the issuer company along with lead manager(s) shall undertake all Page 2 of 4 adequate steps to reach out its shareholders through other means such as ordinary post or SMS or audio-visual advertisement on television or digital advertisement, etc.

b) The issue related advertisement as mandated by Regulation 84(1), shall contain additional details as regards the manner in which the shareholders who have not been served notice electronically may apply. The issuer may have the flexibility to publish the dispatch advertisement in additional newspapers, over and above those required in Regulation 84. The advertisement should also be made available on the website of the Issuer, Registrar, Lead Managers, and Stock Exchanges. The Issuer shall make use of advertisements in television channels, radio, internet etc. to disseminate information relating to the application process. Such advertisements can be in the form of crawlers/ tickers as well.

The entire circular can be accessed online on portal of SEBI.