The disclosures required to be made by the companies, which will be made effective through an amendment to the listing agreement, will include the risk of the company's Year 2000 issues, the contingency plans and the costs involved in meeting the compliance.

Sebi has said that the disclosure should be specific to each company and quantified to the extent practicable.

``The disclosures should be in sufficient detail for the reader to comprehend the effect of the Y2K problem on the company's operations/processes/functions and also evaluate the remedial steps taken by the company,'' according to a press release issued by the company. Sebi hasdirected companies to list the operations, processes, functions, which could be adversely affected due to the millenium problem. Companies are required to disclose the status of progress of making their sysems Y2K compliant (indicating the percentage of the work completed). Besides, they have to indicate the target date for completion of the project.

Companies must disclose material historical and estimated costs of remediation. This includes costs directly related to fixing Year 2000 issues. In the worst case, the replacement cost of a non-compliant IT system should be disclosed as an estimated Year 2000 cost.

Sebi has also asked companies to disclose the plans in the event of system breakdown/failure due to the Year 2000 problem. The Sebi has also advised merchant bankers to ensure the disclosure of Y2K preparedness status in the offer documents filed by the company approaching the capital market, in order to achieve total compliance and provide adequate information to investors. Sebi has also advisedits intermediaries to endeavor to make their system Y2k compliant by June 30, 1999 and to take up the matter at all their board meetings, a Sebi release said.