Ajay Tyagi takes charge as 9th Sebi chief
Ajay Tyagi on Wednesday assumed charge as ninth chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The former additional secretary in the department of economic affairs made a confident entry in the Sebi’s headquarters and is likely to hit the ground running.
Sources said the finance ministry has set some plan for Tyagi, particularly in the area of commodity markets. “He has been briefed to focus on integration of the commodity market by allowing interoperability for brokers. The government has a view that commodity market still lacks confidence even after the regulator’s merger with Sebi and will need some regulatory changes,” said a government official.
Another immediate focus for Tyagi would be corporate governance. “The government is not satisfied with the way a high-profile boardroom battles has been handled,” said the person cited above.
Some of the recent corporate governance issues involve the Ratan Tata-Cyrus Mistry board tussle and tussle between Infosys management and founders.
Sources said that Sebi under Tyagi may soon come out with detailed guidance after considering market participants’ opinion on overhauling the way listed firms discharge their duties.
National Stock Exchange (NSE)’s co-location issue and a new set of rules for high frequency trade (HFT) would also be on his priority list. Tyagi may also finalise Sebi’s action in the unfair access issue at NSE's co-location facility.
Sebi has set up a committee to suggest changes to the HFT mechanism.
Other key issues involve start-up listing concept, which has failed to take off in a meaningful way. Similarly, other new instruments such as municipal bonds, real estate investment trusts, and infrastructure investment trusts also haven’t made much headway.
Tyagi, a 1984-batch IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, has handled capital markets division in the finance ministry.
Tyagi has diverse experience at the Centre.