Sebi members ask industry to give feedback in consultative process

Mumbai: Capital market regulator Sebi’s Whole Time Member Amarjeet Singh on Thursday rued that the industry does not participate enough in its consultative process by giving feedback. Singh asked the industry and other stakeholders to raise concerns before a rule gets notified. “We have one little issue. When we come out with a consultative paper, we don’t get enough feedback,” he said, speaking at an event here. “And often times, industry raises objections to a proposal which is already notified. It would definitely help if we heard about the concerns and issues before it gets notified as a regulation,” Singh said.

He said the regulator is very keen on following a consultative process before making any rules and also wants to ensure that there is complete clarity on the rules it drafts. In the year ending September, the regulator came up with 167 circulars, Singh said and added that 44 per cent of them were developmental while 48 per cent were focused on investor protection. Singh emphasised that effective regulations help growth to be sustainable. “There are no simplistic tradeoffs between regulation and growth. In fact, too little regulation can lead to a decline in trust of stakeholders and adversely impact growth,” he said.

Further, he said adequate regulation helps create a trust environment which in turn increases attractiveness for investors and ends up promoting economic growth. According to him, financial misconduct and frauds in the absence of adequate regulation is a recurring pattern in history.