Sebi conducts FMC officials' interviews

Chosen officials to be part of the market regulator's commodities division after the merger

The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has conducted the first round of interviews of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) officials, who will be retained by the former regulatory body after their merger, said sources.

“Interviews have been conducted of the interested candidates. Those selected with the desired skill set would be part of the regulator,” said a source. Another round is slated for Thursday.

FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, has got empanelled as secretaryto the Union government and could be part of one of the ministries.

“Some of the personnel at FMC are very good quality. The law passed by Parliament says FMC staff will be eligible for  induction in Sebi or else will go back to the Government of India. So. no one will have any difficulty so far as their job prospects are concerned,” said Sebi chief U K Sinha.

A separate Sebi department is being created for carrying out the functions on the commodity derivatives market. This would be similar to Sebi’s market regulation department. Additionally, a few divisions would be created within Sebi’s surveillance, legal and investigation departments for regulating the commodity futures market. However, this department might not be housed in the Sebi’s headquarters at Bandra-Kurla Complex here. It is likely to be accommodated at the Air India building in  Nariman Point.

After the merger, Sebi would put in place a policy framework on non-functional comexes. FMC has been issuing show-cause notices to these. In the case of national exchanges, the markets regulator would give six months to a year to comply with Sebi regulations. “Due to the wider scope of Sebi functions, as against FMC, such as broker regulation, market surveillance and investigation, there is a need for additional manpower,” said an official.

In February–March 2016, the regulator would do another assessment of the exact number of people required to carry out commodities market-related functions. The regulator would also review the product design of commodity markets after the merger.

At present, the merger, slated for September-end, is being monitored by a finance ministry committee, headed by Ajay Tyagi, and Sebi constituted a four-member committee. The commodities regulator is being merged with Sebi after a Union Budget announcement.