SEBI And Startup IPOS: Striking The Right Balance Between Growth And Investor Protection
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 2
- 1 min read
Nadella Lokesh, Woxsen University
ABSTRACT
This has arisen as a central mode of finance for all high-growth ventures between which innovation, employment, and development go. It focuses on India where the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the principal public listing regulatory authority with a dual mandate to ensure integrity in capital markets and protect investors. This paper breaks apart the issue of whether SEBI's currently existing frameworks governing public offerings-except for being directed toward the objective of investor protection-are somehow detrimental to the growth of startups. Focusing on the ICDR Regulations, LODR norms, and the Innovators Growth Platform (IGP), the paper will compare the mandatory disclosures, pricing norms, promoter obligations, and lock-in requirements and apparently affect rising companies. Startups suffer significant compliance cost, eligibility-specific bureaucracy, and mismanaged time-lags, which end up driving down valuation and deterring investors. Based on some examples using various case studies and global regulatory models-such as the U.S. SEC's SPAC framework definition and flexible regimes in the U.K. and Singapore-the paper questions whether India's laws are relatively more rigid than others.
