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India has become the benchmark for global best practices: Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson, SEBI
Nov 16, 2023
Proposal on delisting regulations and trading plan reforms to be presented in the next SEBI board meeting in January
MUMBAI, 16 November 2023: Addressing the 20th Annual Capital Markets Conference (CAPAM2023), organised by FICCI, Ms Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson, SEBI, underscored India’s advancements in the financial sector and its role as a pioneer in setting global standards, highlighting that the nation is increasingly being looked upon for best practices in capital market regulation and innovation.
“We rarely need to refer to global best practices because we have become the benchmark for global best practices, and more often than not, the world is reaching out to say we want to know how you did it,” she said.
The chairperson highlighted significant progress and strategic initiatives SEBI undertook, emphasising India's commitment to enhancing capital formation and regulatory efficiency. In her comprehensive speech, Ms Buch emphasised SEBI’s fundamental role of capital formation in the economy and the need for efficient regulatory processes. Key reforms in processing applications swiftly and transparently were a highlight, demonstrating India's commitment to minimising delays and eschewing ‘dogmas’. She quoted SEBI’s review of delisting regulations and trading plan reforms, by way of example, which are proposed to be presented to the SEBI Board shortly.
Ms Buch presented data, including charts showing the effective management of application pendency and ageing within SEBI, even with increased market activity.
Her remarks also covered the strides in balancing ease of doing business with trust and stakeholder protection. “If there is no trust in the system, there will be no business,” the SEBI chairperson said, adding, “What is required is addressing the details so that there is ease of compliance.” Ms Buch cited examples like the Industry Standards for implementing SEBI regulations, which reflects a collaborative approach between regulators and market participants. She alluded to the Industry Standards Forum becoming a formal part of the regulatory architecture.
Continuing the theme of data-driven decision-making, Ms Buch highlighted SEBI’s initiatives in adopting a consultative approach towards regulation-making or amendments, now becoming a norm for SEBI's policy-making process, increasing from 7 per cent between 2003 -2013 to 17 per cent over the next nine years and to 33 per cent over the last year,” Buch stressed. This approach has led to significant reforms in various areas, including insider trading policies, delisting regulations, and ESG metrics. The focus remains on ensuring that any new regulations are practical, implementable, and backed by comprehensive data.
Mr Subhrakant Panda, President, FICCI said, “Vibrant capital markets are necessary to provide capital which is the fuel for economic growth. India’s journey to being a $5 trillion economy along with climate change mitigation will require significant investments. Digital infrastructure, increased awareness, and simplified KYC norms have democratised access to capital markets, taking it beyond Tier 1 cities and financialising household savings”. He further added that “The relationship between a regulator and market participants is not adversarial. FICCI has multiple interactions with Sebi and will continue to engage in a constructive manner to enhance ease of doing business without compromising on the bedrock principles of stakeholder protection and transparency leading to good governance.”
Dr Anish Shah, President-Elect, FICCI and MD & CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, underlined high standards of governance, vibrant capital markets, and efficiency as critical. He complimented Chairperson SEBI’s efforts to establish the foundations of the social stock exchange. “In a capitalist society, we often lose sight of the fact that we need to drive inclusive growth and focus on the changes to enable movement of capital in a much more efficient way to causes that are important and will make a big difference for us,” he said.
Mr Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, NSE, mentioned, “The stock markets have functions to help promote capital formation, job creation and wealth creation in the country in a highly regulated way. One out of every three rupees Indians consider as wealth today, which is now represented by National Stock Exchange. It will go up even further in time to come due to better regulations, automation and an increased number of investors. Currently, more than 8.2 crore unique investors are directly registered with NSE, accounting for 17% of India’s population.”
Mr Sunil Sanghai, Chairman, FICCI Capital Markets Committee and Founder & CEO, NovaaOne Capital, Mr Vijay Chandok, Co-Chair, FICCI Capital Markets Committee and MD & CEO, ICICI Securities Limited, and Mr Shailesh K Pathak, Secretary General, FICCI also spoke on occasion.