Sebi turns 25, seeks greater powers from Govt

Celebrating its Silver Jubilee, Sebi today sought greater powers from government to rein in market manipulators and said dealing with errant entities that are financially strong and those collecting money illegally is one of the major challenges before it.
Noting that the last major amendment to Sebi Act took place way back in 2002, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said "perhaps there are realisations now that Sebi Act has to be further strengthened".
"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.

Sinha termed unauthorised raising of funds by various entities from the public as a critical area of concern and promised strict action against such schemes and sought continuing support from the government for the benefit of markets and investors.
He said the government has been supportive to the regulator throughout its 25-year journey and he expects the same to continue.
Among other challenges before Sebi, Sinha listed out issues like steps required to ensure that FIIs continue to invest in India and channelising the household savings into the capital market.
Sinha further said that as Sebi looks ahead, the challenges "going forward will continue to be how to deal with technologically advanced entities, entities which are financially very strong".

"Sebi will have to continuously upgrade its manpower, its capacities both in technology and manpower so that we can deal with situations which can arise," he said.