New Delhi, Sept 30 : IndiGrid, the country’s first power sector infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), on September 30 announced reduction of its trading lot size from the current 5,103 units to 1,701 units, meeting new norms of markets regulator SEBI.
“The newly traded lot sizes will be effective from September 30, 2019. In April 2019, SEBI came out with revised guidelines for determination of allotment and trading lot size for InvITs and REITs (real estate investment trusts) whereby it specified that the minimum value of a single lot i.e. the minimum subscription requirement should be brought down from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh for InvITs and to Rs 50,000 in case of REITs,” according to a statement by IndiGrid.
SEBI required stock exchanges (NSE and BSE) to implement this reduction in lot size in consultation with the publicly offered InvITs and REITs within 6 months, the statement added.
This decision by SEBI is expected to go a long way in enhancing liquidity for units and attracting wider participation from retail and high networth individual (HNI) investors, in addition to institutional investors. The reduction in minimum lot size for InvITs will now allow investors with lower sums of Rs 1 lakh-Rs 1.5 lakh to invest in InvITs.
It will provide an attractive opportunity for retail investors to earn stable yields with growth by investing in operating infrastructure assets, it said.
IndiGrid Chief Executive Officer Harsh Shah said, “The decision to reduce the lot size by SEBI is a testimony to the reinforced confidence in InvITs as a credible investment alternative for retail investors. In a short span of about 2 years of coming into their existence, institutional investors as well as retail investors have shown considerable interest for investing in InvITs to earn stable yields.”
He also said that besides 57 percent of FII shareholding, including KKR and GIC, seven domestic insurance companies and four mutual funds have invested in IndiGrid.
The value of retail and HNI investors in IndiGrid has increased by more than 1.5 times since its listing in June 2017, Shah added.
India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) has signed framework agreement to acquire three power transmission assets worth Rs 6,500 crore across 7 states in India over the next two years in addition to existing assets under management of Rs 10,600 crore.
