Sebi chief Sinha's extension official

The Union finance ministry has sent a formal note to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), extending the current chairman U K Sinha’s term by two years.

His term was to end on February 17.

Sinha, who took charge in 2011, will continue to head Sebi till 2016, according to a source familiar with the matter. The finance ministry had sent a proposal for his extension to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet last month.

He is the first person to get a term beyond the three-year mark since D R Mehta’s term ended in 2002. G N Bajpai, M Damodaran and C B Bhave, the three chairmen preceding Sinha, had three-year terms.

Sinha has initiated a number of changes in the regulatory framework. New corporate governance norms, regulations for research analysts, and insider-trading rules are all in various stages of implementation.

Under Sinha’s watch, Sebi revamped the consent mechanism, introduced a single know-your-customer regulation for all financial products under the regulator’s ambit and overhauled the initial public offer regulations. During his tenure, the foreign investor regime also saw a change, with the foreign institutional investor framework being replaced with the new foreign portfolio investor regulations, easing portfolio investments into the country.

Sebi also got additional powers of search-and-seizure as well as attachment of properties to deal with the proliferation of dubious investment schemes throughout the country, during his tenure.

A former joint secretary in the finance ministry, Sinha also headed UTI Mutual Fund.