Sebi Proposes Ease of Doing Business for REITs, InvITs

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi on Friday proposed alignment of valuation report timelines with financial results for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).

These proposals are aimed at promoting ease of doing business, Sebi said in its consultation paper.

Under the present rule, REITs and InvITs are required to get their assets valued regularly and submit these valuation reports to stock exchanges and unitholders.

However, currently, the timelines for conducting valuations, submitting valuation reports, and filing financial results are not aligned, causing inefficiencies.

Accordingly, Sebi has proposed that annual valuation reports should be submitted within 60 days from the financial year-end -- matching the timeline for annual financial results.

It suggested that half-yearly or quarterly valuation reports should be submitted within 45 days, aligning with quarterly financial result timelines.

The regulator proposed that quarterly valuations for high-debt InvITs should also follow the 45-day deadline and proposed to remove the 15-day separate submission rule to reduce redundancy.

Sebi has sought feedback on whether the trading lot and minimum investment amount should be aligned for consistency and investor convenience.

With evolving investor protection frameworks like SCORES 2.0 and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Sebi proposed to update and standardise investor charters for REITs and InvITs.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought public comments on the proposals till May 22.