Sebi no to schemes with existing themes

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is not encouraging mutual fund companies to float new schemes — unless it has a new theme. What’s more, the market regulator has asked companies to merge the existing schemes, if the themes are same.

Sebi chairman U K Sinha said on Monday the regulator had also sought the inclusion of financial literacy in school curriculum. As part of the proposal aimed at bringing more investors into the capital market, Sebi has held a discussion with the ministry of human resource and development, besides representatives of secondary schools, he said here.

“The response has been positive. They (school representatives) said the course can be included at the senior secondary level,” Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of a regional investor seminar. Such a move, if ratified, would benefit young students who form tomorrow’s working class, he noted.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, organised by National Stock Exchange in association with Sebi, Sinha said the regulator should take up more tasks, apart from developing the market and protecting the investors. It must create awareness among the investors on the rules of the game, he added.

For instance, while the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can invest 15 per cent of the funds in the equity market, it was not happening. Reason? “The trustees of these funds are concerned about whether they have safeguards, a redressal mechanism and guarantee among others,” he noted.

The address was the present Sebi head’s first address to an investor association.

He said India was the only major economy that had failed to attract money. “Most of the FII investment into India is of money which belongs to retired people,” he pointed out. “They have earned good returns.”

To create awareness on the matter, Sinha said Sebi is coming out with a national strategy on investor education with assistance from two other regulators — Reserve Bank of India and Insurance Regulatory Development Authority.