Capital market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday relaxed some listing disclosure obligations amid the outbreak of coronavirus or COVID-19 allowing companies to submit their March quarter and FY20 results by June 30.

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The regulator also granted relaxation of one month on half-yearly compliance certificate on share transfer.

In a circular issued, Sebi granted temporary relaxation from certain compliance stipulations under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015 to listed entities with respect to the quarter and the financial year ending March 31, 2020.

Further, Sebi also allowed 3 weeks of relaxation on quarterly statements of investor complaints and one month on submission of the Annual Compliance Report.

The regulator also extended the date of filing quarterly Corporate Governance report by one month and for releasing quarterly shareholding pattern by 3 weeks.

Talking about SEBI’s relaxations, JN Gupta, Former Executive Director, SEBI said, “I am must compliment SEBI for a proactive step for the simple reason that the results have to be declared after an audit.”

“In this problem of COVID-19, there is hardly any movement of people from home. No one wants to interact with anyone in a physical space. So how does the audit process happen and how the board meetings happen because even the board members are unwilling to travel. So recognizing that this is a genuine problem, SEBI has done and I must say it’s a proactive step,” he added.

Further, Gupta hoped that corporate India should use the relaxation in norms only when it is really required. He also expected more such steps from the Sebi going ahead given the uncertainty of the impact of coronavirus in the market.