NSE plays an important role in helping Indian companies access equity capital, by providing a liquid and well-regulated market.

As of March 2010, there were 1,470 companies listed on NSE. The companies listed on the Exchange are from various sectors of the economy such as - heavy industry, software, refinery, public sector units, infrastructure, and financial services. Wide range of securities such as stocks, bonds and other securities can be listed in the Capital Market (Equities) segment and its Wholesale Debt Market segment. Listing means formal admission of a security to the trading platform of the Exchange. It provides liquidity to investors without compromising the need of the issuer for capital and ensures effective monitoring of conduct of the issuer and trading of the securities in the interest of investors. The issuer wishing to have trading privileges for its securities satisfies listing requirements prescribed in the relevant statutes and in the listing regulations of the Exchange. It also agrees to pay the listing fees and comply with listing requirements on a continuous basis. All the issuers who list their securities have to satisfy the corporate governance requirement framed by regulators.

Listing Criteria

The Exchange has laid down criteria for listing of new issues by companies through IPOs, companies listed on other exchanges etc. in conformity with the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, SEBI Guidelines and other relevant guidelines/acts. The criteria include minimum paid-up capital and market capitalisation, company/promoters track record, etc. The listing criteria for companies in the CM Segment are presented in Table 3-1. The issuers of securities are required to adhere to provisions of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, the Companies Act, 1956, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 and the rules, circulars, notifications, guidelines, etc. prescribed there under.

Listing Agreement

All companies seeking listing of their securities on the Exchange are required to enter into a formal listing agreement with the Exchange. The agreement specifies all the quantitative and qualitative requirements to be continuously complied with by the issuer for continued listing. The Exchange monitors such compliance and companies who do not comply with the provisions of the listing agreement may be suspended from trading on the Exchange. The agreement is being increasingly used as a means to improve corporate governance.

Compliance by Listed Companies

NSE has institutionalised a process of verifying compliance of various conditions of the listing agreement. It conducts a periodic review for compliance on account of announcement of book closure/record date, announcement of quarterly results, submission of shareholding pattern, annual reports, appointment of compliance officer, corporate governance report, investor grievances and various disclosures etc.

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Disclosures by Listed Companies

It is essential that all critical price sensitive/material information relating to securities is made available to the market participants and the investors immediately to enable them to take informed decisions in respect of their investments in securities. The Exchange therefore ensures certain important timely disclosures by listed companies and disseminates them to market through the NEAT terminals and through its website. These disclosures include corporate actions, quarterly/ half yearly results, decisions at board meeting, non-promoters holding, announcements / press releases etc.

De-listing
There are two kinds of delisting which can be done from the Exchanges as per the SEBI (Delisting of Securities) Guidelines, 2003 in the following manner: Voluntary De-listing of Companies Any promoter or acquirer desirous of delisting securities of the company under the provisions of these guidelines shall obtain the prior approval of shareholders of the company by a special resolution passed through postal ballot, make a public announcement in the manner provided in these guidelines, make an application to the delisting exchange for seeking in-principle approval in the form specified by the exchange, and comply with such other additional conditions as may be specified by the concerned stock exchanges from where securities are to be de-listed. Any promoter of a company which desires to de-list from the stock exchange shall also determine an exit price for delisting of securities in accordance with the book building process as stated in the guidelines. The stock exchanges shall provide the infrastructure facility for display of the price at the terminal of the trading members to enable the investors to access the price on the screen to bring transparency to the delisting process.

Compulsory De-listing of Companies

The stock exchanges may de-list companies which have been suspended for a minimum period of six months for non-compliance with the listing agreement. The stock exchanges have to give adequate and wide public notice through newspapers and also give a show cause notice to a company. The exchange shall provide a time period of 15 days within which representation may be made to the exchange by any person who may be aggrieved by the proposed delisting. The Stock Exchanges may, after consideration of the representation received from the aggrieved persons, delist the securities of such companies. The stock exchange shall ensure that adequate and wide public notice is given through newspaper and on the notice boards/trading systems of the stock exchanges and shall ensure disclosure in all such notices of the fair value of such securities. The stock exchange shall display the name of such company on its website. Where the securities of the company are de-listed by an exchange, the promoter of the company shall be liable to compensate the security holders of the company by paying them the fair value of the securities held by them and acquiring their securities, subject to their option to remain security-holders with the company.

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The companies delisted during 2009-10 are mentioned in the table below.
Name of the Company Date of Delisting The Madras Aluminium Company Limited* 19-Jun-09 Lotte India Corporation Limited* 31-Jul-09 Matrix Laboratories Limited* 21-Aug-09 Pearl Global Limited* 21-Aug-09 SI Group - India Limited* 23-Sep-09 PHIL Corporation Limited^ 9-Feb-10

* Delisting of equity shares of the company on account of Voluntary delisting pursuant to SEBI Delisting Guidelines-2003. ^ Delisting of equity shares of the company on account of Voluntary delisting pursuant to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009.