Mumbai, July 11: The Over The Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI) on Friday got Sebi clearance to allow companies listed on the OTC to be listed on other exchanges. The Sebi clearance will give an advantage to the exchange in that, a company listed on any other exchange can be listed on the OTC and vice versa. Earlier a company had to delist from the OTC to get itself listed on any other exchange.

Speaking to The Financial Express, M Pushpangadan, managing director of OTC, said, "the exchange will now have a wider market in the form of attracting bigger companies, while at the same time the listed companies on the exchange will also enjoy the added advantages of being on more than one exchange ."

OTC has already lifted its Rs 25 crore capital limit which makes it eligible for big companies to seek listing on the exchange while continuing to be listed on some other exchange. With the SEBI relaxation, the OTC Exchange can now have the advantage of big companies coming into its market through new issues.

The exchange has recently reduced its listing fees which is now less than what most regional exchanges charge, which would work out to be an advantage to OTC.

Companies which are common on both BSE/Regional exchanges (except the NSE) and OTC will be taken on a separate segment to be especially created, which will be neither the OTC listed segment nor its permitted segment. But the common NSE/OTC listing will be taken on the OTC permitted segment, because transactions on this category will be settled over the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCCL), which is the NSEs settlement system.

The OTCEI has also been permitted to split its listed segment into categories based on size of the company. In addition it has got a blanket permission to create any new categories of within its listed/permitted segment. The exchange had already got clearance from its board on these matters in December but they were still pending with the regulatory authority. With this provision the exchange can now provide a two tier segment in its current existing listed equity segment thus segregating high net worth companies from the smaller ones.