Capital markets regulator Sebi on Thursday extended the relaxation to listed companies whereby they will not be required to dispatch physical copies of the annual reports to their shareholders till September this year.

Earlier, the regulator had given similar relaxations to listed companies till December 2022. The fresh decision has been taken after Sebi received representations from listed companies, seeking dispensation from requirements of sending hard copies of annual reports to the shareholders.

Against this backdrop, the watchdog has decided to provide relaxation till September 30, 2023, from LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, pertaining to dispatching of hard copies of the annual report to shareholders, according to a circular.

The LODR rules require listed companies to dispatch a hard copy of the statement containing salient features of all the documents — financial statements, board's report, auditor's report — to those shareholders who have not registered their email addresses.

However, Sebi said listed entities are required to send hard copies of full annual reports to those shareholders who request the same. Further, the notice of the annual general meeting (AGM) published by advertisement under the norms would disclose the web link to the annual report so as to enable shareholders to have access to the full annual report.

Separately, the regulator has eased the rules for entities, which listed their non-convertible securities, from dispatching hard copies of annual reports to debenture holders. The relaxations have been extended till September 2023. Earlier such relaxations were given till December 2022.

The latest move also comes after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on December 28 last year extended the relaxations from dispatching physical copies of financial statements to the shareholders for the AGMs conducted till September 30, 2023.