Sebi on Wednesday asked companies and merchant bankers to pay fees for filing public issues through the payment gateway provided on its intermediary portal. The aim was to ease the operation procedure.

The intermediaries can also generate an e-challan, which can be shared with the companies or entities for making the required payment. Once, the payment is made, the same will be updated on the Sebi's intermediary (SI) portal, the regulator said in two separate notices.

They have been asked to refrain from transferring the Sebi fees directly to the bank account of the regulator or through offline modes since such payments bypass the existing SAP system and create reconciliation issues.

"It may be further noted that with effect from August 12, 2021, the fillings, where the payment has been made through modes other than the payment gateway of SI portal, may get delayed," the regulator said.

This is applicable for making the payment of fees to Sebi in connection with the filings made under buyback of securities norms, ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) rules, and SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations.