Companies seeking to raise up to Rs 750 crore can now file their draft papers with regional offices of markets regulator Sebi.

Till now, merchant bankers on behalf of the companies were allowed to file the papers for issues worth up to Rs 500 crore with the regional office of Sebi concerned.

In a circular issued by Sebi on Wednesday, "It has been decided that the draft offer documents in respect of issues of size up to Rs 750 crore shall be filed with the concerned regional office of the board under the jurisdiction of which the registered office of the issuer company falls."

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) further said that for all regions, the companies can file their draft offer documents in Sebi's head office for the issues whose size are greater than Rs 750 crore.

Sebi, it said, has specified four regional offices -- northern, eastern, southern and western -- in which the companies can file their draft offer documents or offer documents with the concerned office of the board, based on the estimated issue size.

The new criteria would come into effect for all draft offer documents for issues that are filed with Sebi on or after this Wednesday.