Sebi's Mumbai space quest ends, MMRDA allots BKC plot for expansion

The stock market regulator’s future expansion plans have got a fillip with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) allotting it a new plot close to its headquarters in Mumbai’s tony financial hub, Bandra Kurla complex or BKC. 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had been on the lookout for a land parcel to ramp up its operations, overseeing India’s fast-expanding securities market, for a while now. That quest has now ended with the MMRDA conveying to Sebi that it has decided to set aside a 4,000 square metre plot for the regulator for a sum of ₹800 crore, according to a source aware of the development. The allotment is being done at a concessional rate offered to similar institutions.  

“Sebi is building its capacity as it will require more space as well as resources going forward, especially with the proposed Securities Market Code mooting expedited timelines for carrying out investigations into market misconduct. The additional area near the headquarters will help create room for additional manpower and technological capacity to enhance surveillance and other core operations of the regulator,” the source explained. 

Currently, Sebi has two office premises in BKC, including its headquarters. Additionally, it has one office at Nariman Point in the financial capital, as per the regulator’s annual report. The regulator may need to spend about ₹400 crore to ₹500 crore to construct the building and other facilities at the new plot. Sebi has over a thousand employees, nearly 92 per cent of whom sit at the head office while others are in regional offices in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad. 

Experts have also noted that once the Securities Market Code, 2025 is implemented, the market regulator need to strengthen its workforce further to cope with some of the new provisions like creating an Ombudsperson to resolve investor grievances and the 180-day deadline mooted for probes into market entities and intermediaries. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had introduced the Code in the recently concluded winter session, and it has been referred to the Standing Committee of Parliament on Finance. 

Another source said that Sebi already has plans to invest more in human resources and technology in a bid to hasten its investigations and processing of routine work. 

The regulator has also laid out a plan to establish regional offices in cities like Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, among others, as it seeks to enhance its regional presence at a time when the equity cult is spreading wider across India’s States, including Tier-II and Tier-III cities and non-urban agglomerations. 

Earlier this year in March, the MMRDA had allotted a plot at a prime location in BKC to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for its expansion. BKC is home to major financial institutions in India — with offices of global banks, market entities, corporations and, of course, the market regulator.