Sebi Income Down To Rs 15.35cr In '97-98

The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) revenue from various fee collections in 1997-98 has fallen sharply to Rs 15.35 crore from the previous year's figure of Rs 24 crore.

This drop in collection can be largely attributed to the poor state of the primary markets. The total collection from offer documents and prospectuses filed has nearly halved to Rs 61.42 lakh as compared with the last year's figure of Rs 1.14 crore. Merchant bankers fees, which accounted for 25 per cent of previous year's collection at Rs 679.83 lakh, also dropped to Rs 336.38 lakh.

According to Sebi's annual report which was released recently, stock brokers and sub-brokers contribute the most to its coffers. During 1997-98, their contribution was Rs 5.46 crore as against Rs 7.48 crore last year.

Collections from debenture trustees also fell to Rs 14.60 lakh from Rs 34 lakh.

However, the fees collected from custodians has shot up by 44 times from Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 45.10 lakh.

The number of venture capital funds also seems to have moved up sharply. The fee collections from this sector moved up to Rs 26.25 lakh from Rs 7.75 lakh. Similarly, fees collected by Sebi for takeover offers rose to Rs 41 lakh from Rs 10.50 lakh.

The market regulator's performance on solving investor grievance has also improved. Sebi ensured effective follow up with companies, tightening of procedures for issuance of no-objection certificate for the release of one per cent security deposits kept by the companies with stock exchanges and periodic meetings.

The number of sub-brokers registered with the market regulator during the current year was 2212 (which includes multiple registration). While 1,536 were registered with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 301 were registered with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and 147 with the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE). The total number of sub-brokers registered with the market regulator as on March 31,1998 was 3760, up from last year's figure of 1798.

This increase in the number of sub-brokers is important because they are an important link between the investors and the capital markets.

Sebi had initiated a number of measures for bringing them under the regulatory framework in the interest of the investors.