It’s just a little over six months that the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) got its first lady chairperson – Madhabi Puri Buch – and the new chief has already set the ball rolling to make the watchdog more “developmental and facilitative” in its approach.
Widely known for her penchant for data and technology, the former banker – she had a long stint with ICICI Bank – has identified select SEBI staffers across departments to engage actively with industry and market participants to get their views and feedback to formulate better policies for the development of the market.
“There is now in every department at least one individual – usually three individuals — whose KRAs for the year are very simple. You will implement policy which should be developmental and facilitative in nature which the industry will send. That’s the brief,” said Buch while speaking at a capital markets conference organised by industry body FICCI.
“Go to the industry and ask what they want. So, if any of you have been receiving frantic calls from these individuals saying ‘batao kya karna hai’ (tell us what to do), it’s because suddenly they need to deliver…” she added.
She highlighted the fact that the Indian capital market watchdog has a very consultative approach, which is corroborated by the various advisory committees formed by the regulator.
“We may have regulations which… may have been put in place at a time and an era when they were right, they were relevant, they were appropriate. In today’s context, they may be completely inappropriate,” she said.
“We are very happy to not be attached to that dogma and simply say that going forward for us what is important is first, principles and data. We will be led by data… Every aspect of what we do is contingent upon data. There is now not a single piece of paper that is moved within Sebi without data to support,” she explained.
The SEBI chairman appealed to industry participants to work towards ridding the markets from wrongdoings like insider trading, fraudulent transactions, manipulation of stock prices, front running, information asymmetry,
On a different note, the SEBI chairperson said that technology can play a huge role in putting in place better controls while reducing compliance costs as well.
“Technology is the magic bullet. Because what technology has shown us is it is possible to reduce costs, serve the customer better, do better compliance, have better control and all if it at the same time,” she said.
Incidentally, the appointment of Buch was the first since 2002 when the government named a non-IAS person to head SEBI. In April 2002, G N Bajpai, the former chairman of LIC, was named SEBI chairman. His term ended in February 2005.
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