Tata Sons IPO Delay: RBI Stance and Implications

Mumbai, Oct 1 (PTI) Amid intense speculation over Tata Sons' perceived non-compliance with the RBI's mandate to list, Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said an entity can continue to do business till its registration is not cancelled.

The central bank had asked a set of entities, including Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to list by September 30 this year.

In response, Tata Sons had last year applied to surrender its core investment company (CIC) registration to avoid the listing mandate, but the central bank is reportedly yet to take a decision on the application.

Replying to a specific question on whether Tata Sons has got an exemption from floating an initial public offer (IPO) for now, Malhotra said that an entity can continue with the business till its registration stands.

"Any entity which has a registration, till it is not cancelled... will continue to do its business," Malhotra told reporters at the customary post-policy-review press conference.

The central bank brass has preferred being tight-lipped on the question of Tata Sons till now, and even on Wednesday, Malhotra initially parried the question, saying the regulator does not make entity-specific comments.

The RBI had come out with a list of 15 entities, classifying them as Upper Layer under its Scale-Based Regulation for non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) and further asked them to list by September 30. All entities except Tata Sons, a CIC, have complied with the regulatory mandate.

With the deadline for listing passing, and no clarity on the de-registration, there has been speculation on the way forward for the holding company of one of India's largest corporate groupings.

Getting listed will thrust a slew of compliance burdens focused towards more disclosures on Tata Sons, while some argue that complying with the asks may be difficult for the diversified corporate grouping, which is present across a slew of businesses at various levels of maturity.

A listing will come as a huge positive for the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the single largest private owner in the conglomerate, with over 18 per cent, which is going through financial turbulence.

There were some media reports suggesting that the RBI may give an extension on the deadline and accept the surrender proposal with some conditions.