Chidambaram's message to Sebi: Be a fearless regulator

Finance minister P Chidambaram has three simple messages for market regulator Sebi.

Speaking on the occasion to mark Sebi’s 25 years,Chidambaram asked Sebi to be a fearless regulator and enhance its staff strength as merely 600 employees are not enough to regulate India’s investing community. He further asked the market regulator to revive the faith and confidence of small investors in stock markets.

Appreciating Sebi’s efforts, Chidambaram said financial institutions have seen exponential growth in the last couple of years. “Creditability of Indian markets is recognised globally and India’s offshore investment inflows have grown,” he said.

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, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too praised the market regulator for successfully moderning capital markets and bringing out the best international practices to the sector.

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“Investors are more empowered today than ever before because of the availability of a large amount of relevant information. A number of steps have been taken to attract retail investors into the market such as introduction of Rajiv Gandhi equity savings scheme,” he said.

“Higher savings and investment rates are most productive when there is effective intermediation through well functioning capital markets.The high growth rates that the economy has witnessed in the last decade or so have been driven by enhanced savings and investment rates,” he added.

Sebi Chairman UK Sinha also promised strict action against unauthorised raising of funds by various entities from the public and sought continuing support from the government for the benefit of the markets and investors.

Sinha said that the government has been supportive to the regulator throughout this journey and he expects the same to continue.

Sinha recalled how Sebi started functioning as an independent regulator in 1988, when its first Chairman S A Dave picked up six officers from IDBI and began functioning from IDBI’s office itself. The total head-count of Sebi today exceeds more than 600.