Sinha talks tough on ponzi schemes as SEBI turns 25

SEBI Chairman, U K Sinha said that the government has been supportive of the regulator throughout this journey and he expects the same to continue. File photo

Terming unauthorised raising of funds by various entities from the public as a critical area of concern, SEBI Chairman U K Sinha on Friday promised strict action against such schemes and sought continuing support from the government for the benefit of the markets and investors.

Speaking on the occasion to mark SEBI’s 25 years, Mr Sinha said that the government has been supportive to the regulator throughout this journey and he expects the same to continue.

“One of the critical areas today is unauthorised raising of funds by various entities,” Mr Sinha said, and promised appropriate action against such schemes to safeguard the interest of investors.

Mr Sinha recalled how SEBI started functioning as an independent regulator in 1988, when its first Chairman S A Dave picked up six officers from IDBI and began functioning from IDBI’s office itself. The total head-count of SEBI today exceeds more than 600.

These six officers and Dave himself were present today for SEBI’s 25-year celebrations. Besides, NSE’s Vice-Chairman Ravi Narain and NSE’s Managing Director Chitra Ramakrishna were also present.

“In the initial years, the journey of SEBI was quite tumultuous. It had to work as a change agent. These 25 years have been a great journey. Today, we are among one of the best regulators in the world,” Mr Sinha said.

Mr Sinha further said 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.

Noting that the last major amendment to SEBI Act took place way back in 2002, the SEBI chief said “perhaps there are realisations now that SEBI Act has to be further strengthened“.

“I am sure the govt would be considering that and taking a favourable decision. One area I would like to underline here is the development of illegal money, unauthorised money collection by various agencies and am sure providing the regulatory clarity in the area would also give lot of impetus to savings of the households in the country,” he said.

Among other challenges before SEBI, Sinha listed out issues like steps required to ensure FIIs continue to invest in India and channelising the household savings into the capital market