In a bid to benefit the government's divestment programme, the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed bidding norms for purchase of shares on offer for sale from existing shareholders.

SEBI provided institutional investors with an option to bid for shares without paying any margin. But, such bidders can not revise or cancel the bids to a lower price; however, they can raise them. Investors who will revise their bids for shares on offer for sale will have to pay 100 per cent upfront margins.

Sanjay Bajaj, head of equity capital markets at HSBC India, welcomed the relaxation in the norms saying, "The introduction of bids without margin is a very positive step forward towards making the offer for sale process even more investor-friendly."

In order to help investors better understand order flows and place their bids consequently, the market regulator mandated revelation of the indicative price to market all through the trading session.

Analysts said that mandating revelation of the indicative price to market would make the whole process more transparent.

SEBI also announced that its insider trading norms would be applicable to all entities with more than 5 per cent stake. It would help better protect the interests of smaller investors.