Capital Market

It covers legal advisory across equity and debt market transactions, including IPOs, QIPs, rights issues, NCD placements, and cross-border offerings like ADRs and FCCBs. The practice also addresses regulatory filings, due diligence, corporate governance, and post-listing compliance under SEBI regulations.

Ideally, well before a planned offering or listing. Early engagement allows time for pre-issuance restructuring, resolving title or governance gaps, drafting the offer document, and obtaining SEBI and stock exchange approvals. Rushed timelines often lead to regulatory queries and delays.

SEBI is the primary regulator, administering the ICDR Regulations, LODR, PIT Regulations, SAST, and NCS Regulations. RBI and FEMA govern foreign capital inflows. The Companies Act 2013, stock exchange rules, and depository guidelines also apply depending on the transaction type.

From board approval to listing, an IPO generally takes six to nine months. Key phases include due diligence, DRHP drafting, SEBI review (which alone can take 30 to 75 days with observations), roadshows, bidding, allotment, and final listing. Complexity of the issuer’s structure is a major time driver.

At a minimum, the issuer should provide audited financials for the required periods, material contracts, litigation details, promoter and group entity disclosures, board and shareholder resolutions, regulatory licences, and any prior SEBI or stock exchange correspondence. Complete records reduce due diligence cycles.

Frequent issues include inadequate insider trading policies under PIT Regulations, delayed disclosures under LODR, inaccurate risk factor drafting, and failure to track promoter reclassification norms. Each of these can trigger SEBI enforcement action, listing delays, or investor disputes post-issuance.