Sebi examining investment avenues for portfolio managers

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is in the process of examining whether registered portfolio managers invest in instruments other than listed securities, an official of the agency said.

"We are looking at other instruments like exchange traded derivatives for investments by portfolio managers," Sebi executive director R K Nair said. The regulator has laid down various norms for portfolio managers to protect investor's interest.

Sebi is looking at other structured products besides listed securities, Nair said at a seminar on Portfolio Management Services organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce here today. 

At present, there are 247 portfolio managers registered with Sebi and total assets under management by these entities stand at Rs 2.72 lakh crore.

Sebi, he added, is also trying to usher in more reforms in the primary and secondary markets to make the capital markets more fair, transparent and inclusive. 

To prevent any scandal taking place in the realm of portfolio management, Nair said, Sebi had asked portfolio managers to de-pool their accounts of listed securities from those of their clients.

The regulator has also asked them to maintain capital adequacy ratio. In this context, he said the net worth of the portfolio managers should be at around Rs 2 crore. 

Touching upon the aspect of investor eduction he said, Sebi would reach out to school teachers for training in basic financial literacy.

These teachers, in turn, would train their students on the various issues relating to preliminary financial matters. The grievance redressal system is also being streamlined in the interest of investor protection, he added.