Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have provided some guidelines for redemption of debentures.
The focal points of these guidelines are:
(i) Every company shall create Debenture Redemption Reserve in case of issue of debenture redeemable after a period of more than 18 months from the date of issue.
(ii) The creation of Debenture Redemption Reserve is obligatory only for non-convertible debentures and non-convertible portion of partly convertible debentures.
(iii) A company shall create Debenture Redemption Reserve equivalent to at least 50% of the amount of debenture issue before starting the redemption of debenture.
(iv) Withdrawal from Debenture Redemption Reserve is permissible only after 10% of the debenture liability has already been reduced by the company.
SEBI guidelines would not apply under the following situations:
(i) Infrastructure company (a company wholly engaged in the business of developing, maintaining and operating infrastructure facilities), and
(ii) A company issuing debentures with a maturity period of not more than 18 months.