The Securities and Exchange Board of India has deferred the introduction of a T+6 schedule in respect of book-built primary issues.

It has also decided to defer the introduction of a blackout period on research reports 45 days before the filing of an initial public offering offer document with the Sebi and 45 days after the listing of the securities.

In a circular, Sebi said after the amendments to the norms for book-built issues in August, it had received representations from market players stating that infrastructure and software systems need to be upgraded before they can shift to T+ 6 norms.

"They have also requested some time to have the systems in place," Sebi said in its statement.

"In order to ensure that adequate infrastructural and software systems are in place and also to ensure a smooth transition, it has been decided to defer the implementation till further notice," Sebi said.

In August this year Sebi had issued a circular amending its guidelines for book-built issues so as to introduce a T+ 6 time frame for such issues (where trading in securities is to commence from the sixth day after the issue closes).

Another amendment was also made providing for a blackout period on research reports 45 days immediately preceding the filing of draft offer document with Sebi and extending up to 45 days after commencement of trading in the securities.

The merchant banking community had pointed out that it took a minimum of 12 days for the formalities relating to book built issues to be completed, including the allotment of the securities to shareholders.

The main problem lies in the payment (banking) systems since electronic funds transfer has not yet been introduced.