Centre Begins Hunt For 2 New Sebi Members

The government has intiated process to induct two members on to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to help the market regulator to cope with growing responsibilities, Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said today.

The process of selecting two members of the board to fill the vacancies was on, Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of function organised by the Indian Bank's Association here.

The responsibilities of the regulator have grown manifold and amendment to the Sebi Act was necessary to expand its board, he added.

The vacancy arises from departure of full-time member J R Verma was yet to be filled and ending of tenure of another member, Kumar Mangalam Birla this month.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry is planning to set up a search committee to identify the next chairman of the capital market watchdog. Current chairman D R Mehta is slated to step down in February 2002.

According to sources, the modalities of forming the committee is expected to be finalised this week. Finance secretary Ajit Kumar and senior RBI official are expected to be in the committee which will have a few other members as well.

Jaimini Bhagwati, joint secretary capital market, is a likely contender for the post and hence he may be kept outside the committee.

"The ministry is yet to make up its mind whether it will put up an advertisement for post and let the search committee shortlist candidates or leave the entire selection process to the search committee. It is likely to be decided only after the committee is set up. The ministry wants to complete the process well before end February when Mehta's term comes to an end," said a source familiar with the development.

In the recent past, the ministry had advertised for the chairman's post in the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). Almost seven months after the last full time chairman GP Gupta retired, the ministry announced the appointment of PP Vora as IDBI chairman last week. "No ad hoc arrangement for the Sebi chairman's post is likely at this juncture. The ministry is in favour of a strong who will give the right direction to the capital market reforms," said the source. Bhagwati is likely to emerge a strong contender for the post.