Sebi@25 seeks greater powers; Govt wants it to be 'fearless'

Celebrating its 25th year, Sebi today sought greater powers to take on market manipulators and those raising money from public illegally, while government promised full support and asked it to be a 'fearless' regulator working for the benefit of small investors.
The government also asked Sebi to root out the disease of insider trading from stock markets, take steps for channelising household savings into capital markets and make it easier for foreign investors to invest in India.
Speaking at a function to mark the silver-jubilee year in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and a host of industry leaders and policymakers, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said that the journey has been challenging and eventful and it has developed Indian markets as the best in the world.

Noting that the last major amendment to the Sebi Act took place way back in 2002, Sinha also said that time has come to further strengthen the regulatory framework.
"I am sure government would consider that and will take a favourable decision. One area I would like to underline here is the development of illegal money, unauthorised money collection by various entities. I am sure giving regulatory clarity in this area would give lot of impetus to savings of the households in the country," he said.
Reciprocating to the demand, the Prime Minister said that the "government remains committed to doing everything that is needed to strengthen Sebi so that it can deliver even more effective enforcement".

On the other hand, Chidambaram asked Sebi to do its job fearlessly to protect the interest of small investors.
"The final message is be a fearless regulator. Bend before no one, bow before no one, be a fearless regulator," he added.
"Win confidence of small investors. It is when a small investor says my money is safe in the financial market because I have Sebi watching over my money, that is the day when Sebi would have achieved its objective," Chidambaram said.