Change In IPO Norms Proposed To Get New Investors

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Union Budget 2012-13 speech announced a change in Initial Public offering ( IPO) guidelines to increase participation in small towns. The FM also announced allowing qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) into corporate bonds. A new scheme to boost savings and the launch of Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme was also announced. <br><br>The Finance Minister expects the tax free bonds to raise Rs 60,000 crore in the next financial year as compared to the sanction for Rs 30,000 crore this year.<br><br>The FM's attempt at tax incentives to lure new investors and to broaden the reach of IPOs, make sense when you consider that the share of household savings deployed in capital markets has come down sharply. But it remains to be seen if Indians will switch to capital markets without pension and insurance funds being allowed to freely invest in equities.<br><br>(Agencies)<br><br></p>