The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finally modified the equity listing agreement. The modifications include provisions for monitoring of utilization of issue proceeds and electronic filing through CFDS.

An official release said, “It has been decided to amend Clause 49 of the equity listing agreement, requiring the issuer company to place the monitoring report before its audit committee.”

Listed companies shall, in a phased manner, be required to file information with the stock exchange only through a new portal Corporate Filing and Dissemination System (CFDS), it added.

SEBI said, “Every company making a public or rights issue of more than Rs 500 crore has to appoint agencies to monitor the utilization of funds, and report any deviation in utilization to the stock exchanges.”

CFDS (www.corpfiling.co.in) is a new portal, put in place jointly by BSE and NSE, which offers a XBRL-enabled common platform for listed companies to file such information, statements and reports as may be specified by these exchanges.

The companies will also have to make public the adverse comments of their audit committee (or of the monitoring agency they have appointed) through advertisements in the newspapers, the authority added.