The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recently notified an National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) exam for merchant bankers. It is one the best financial jokes. Those who are already in the profession before the notified date get two years to pass the exam, while someone appointed tomorrow, with no experience, gets only one year! And both will be answering questions from the same question bank.
Passing the exam once is not enough - you have to do it every three years. This certification is nothing but a revenue model to sustain the NISM. And it has no professional or academic value because it is being imposed by regulatory diktat from a regulator, whose own staff has hardly worked in any capital market intermediary even for a day.
Will Sebi's staff also have to pass the exam? Then Sebi may cease to be the source of all major scams like in the past.
T R Ramaswami Mumbai
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