Mumbai, Nov. 14 -- The market regulator on Thursday proposed to simplify initial public offering (IPO) disclosures and ease hurdles related to locked-in shares, measures expected to benefit both retail investors and issuers. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recommended introducing a new 'offer document summary,' a concise and standardized version of the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) and red herring prospectus (RHP). A Sebi consultation paper said this would give investors a quick, readable overview of the company's business, financials, promoter background, key risks and the purpose of the issue. It will replace the current abridged prospectus, often criticised for being repetitive and hard to navigate. "An offer document summary is a good thing, but there is scope to reduce the prospectus's size. A US prospectus is a fraction of the size of its Indian counterpart. We don't need a thousand-page prospectus," said Sandeep Parekh, managing partner at Finsec Law Advisors. Sebi also reviewed the framework governing the lock-in of pre-issue capital under Regulation 17 of the ICDR Regulations. At present, the pre-issue capital held by promoters and persons other than promoters are locked in for specified periods after listing. The Sebi paper said issuers face practical difficulties in meeting these lock-in requirements when shares have been pledged before the IPO. The existing system of depositories does not allow lock-in of pledged shares, creating operational challenges at the time of listing. Since shares of an issuer are freely transferable, shareholders can create pledges at any time before the shares become subject to lock-in....