High Court stays SME board investment limit of Tk30 lakh
The High Court has stayed, for three months, the condition of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) to invest at least Tk30 lakh for an investor to be qualified for trading shares on the Small Capital Platform or the SME board of the exchanges.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Md Suhrawardy issued the stay order on Wednesday.
According to the order, the BSEC's condition of a minimum investment of Tk30 lakh will be suspended for the next three months.
People concerned say any investor will now have an opportunity to invest in the SME platform after the order.
The stay order has been issued based on a writ filed by Advocate Mustafa Kamal, a Supreme Court lawyer, on behalf of Md Raju Hasan, a resident of the Dilkusha area in the capital.
A copy of this order has already been sent to the institutions concerned including the stock market regulatory body, said Advocate Mustafa Kamal.
"Along with suspending the condition of investing at least Tk30 lakh, the High Court has also asked for fixing the floor price of the SME market," he said.
The authorities concerned have been asked to reply to the writ within four weeks, he added.
However, the BSEC authorities have not commented on the High Court order. Several officials of the commission said that they will work on it on Thursday.
On Sunday, the High Court wanted to know why the SME market is not open to all investors. The court also issued a notice asking why there is no floor price for this market.
On 16 September last year, the BSEC cancelled the Over the Counter (OTC) market of the two stock exchanges of the country.
On 30 September of the same year, the SME platform was launched in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Currently, 15 companies are listed on this platform. Among them, the shares of 13 companies are being traded regularly.
On 22 September 2022, the BSEC issued guidelines for investment in the SME platform.
As per the guidelines, to be an eligible investor in this platform, there should be a minimum investment of Tk30 lakh.
Earlier, on 17 February this year, the commission had reduced the amount for minimum investment from Tk50 lakh to Tk20 lakh to increase the number of investors.
