Six years of U K Sinha in Sebi
The move would break the impasse with MCX Stock Exchange. A month later, it notified the Alternative Investment Fund Regulations, which sought to bring the bustling private equity and hedge fund space under regulatory oversight. The Investment Advisers Regulations helped monitor a community straddling the grey area between agency and advisory roles.
The third year (2013-14): As the deadline to comply with minimum public shareholding norms expired in June 2013, as m any as 107 non-compliant companies were hit by orders that froze the voting and dividend rights of errant promoters, barred directorships and transactions. By the year-end, 37 of them had complied. After the framework of Qualified Foreign Investors failed to take off, Sebi decided to merge it with the FII (foreign institutional investor) framework, by bringing in foreign portfolio investor regulations.
The fourth year (2014-15): After getting a surprise twoyear extension, Sinha got Sebi some new powers. The Securities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, finally notified in August, gave Sebi powers to search, seize, disgorge, attach and recover. The Act also brought any pooling of money over ~100 crore under its ambit.
Sebi also focused on shutting down regional stock exchanges, which had little trading activity and were becoming conduits for spurious activities. By March 2015, 12 defunct exchanges had exited. Stringent corporate governance measures brought in by Sebi helped India score a high ranking (‘7’) on protection of minority investors in the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business' report.
The fifth year (2015-16): The merger into Sebi of the commodities market regulator, the Forward Markets Commission, was the major development. After integrating at the regulatory level, the regulator has taken up the task of integrating the two diverse markets, at different stages of evolution. As the government’s fight against undislcosed money became a focus, Sebi did its bit by stepping up inspections of intermediaries.
The bonus year (2016-17): Though the annual report will take time, Sebi’s energies have been spent on tweaking existing regulations and looking at regulatory concerns, after major boardroom wars broke out at Tatas and Infosys. But, several long-pending and high-profile cases are awaiting closure.
Had Sinha been given the long term on day one, he might have utilised it more effectively. It appeared that successor Ajay Tyagi had that luxury, only to be robbed of it by a clarification. Let us see if he can do better in the three years he now has.