Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday granted approval to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) to invest in the proposed National Coal Exchange of India Limited, marking a significant step toward formalising coal trading in the country. The proposed coal exchange aims to introduce standardised contracts, transparent price discovery, and efficient settlement mechanisms, benefiting a wide range of stakeholders including producers, consumers, and traders.
The initiative aligns with the Government of India’s broader coal sector reforms, such as commercial mining and liberalised coal sales. Once operational, the exchange is expected to bring greater transparency, efficiency, and organisation to coal transactions, which have traditionally been fragmented.
In another development, the market regulator amended the ‘fit and proper person’ framework for market intermediaries, removing the automatic disqualification triggered by mere filing of criminal complaints, FIRs, or charge sheets in economic offence cases. The changes are aimed at bringing greater procedural clarity and fairness to the regulatory process.
Under the revised norms, the existence of a pending criminal complaint, FIR filed by Sebi, or a charge sheet relating to economic offences will no longer, by itself, lead to automatic disqualification. However, Sebi has expanded the disqualification criteria upon conviction.
Intermediaries have been mandated to inform Sebi within 15 working days of any disqualifying events involving themselves.
