Mkt intermediaries can now register online with Sebi

Stock brokers, merchant bankers and other market intermediaries can now register online, with regulator Sebi operationalising a portal for the purpose.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has operationalised the portal for intermediaries to submit all the registration applications online.

In a circular, the watchdog said the portal has been operationalised for eight categories of market intermediaries.

They are stock brokers, sub-brokers, merchant bankers, underwriters, registrar to an issue and share transfer agents, debenture trustees, bankers to an issue and credit rating agency.

The portal would include "online application for registration, processing of application, grant of final registration, application for surrender/ cancellation, submission of periodical reports, requests for change of name/ address/ other details."

The intermediary portal would be operational for depository participants from May 31, the circular said.

"Henceforth, all applications for registration/ surrender/ other requests shall be made through Sebi intermediary portal only," it said.

The applications in respect of stock brokers, sub-broker and depository participants would continue to be made through the stock exchanges and depositories, it added.

"The applicants will be separately required to submit relevant documents viz declarations/ undertakings required as a part of application forms prescribed in relevant regulations, in physical form, only for records without impacting the online processing of applications for registration," the circular said.

Presenting the Budget for 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the process of registration of financial market intermediaries would be made fully online by Sebi.

Meanwhile, more than 1,600 entities failed to pay penalties imposed on them by markets regulator Sebi for various violations till March 2017.

These defaulters include individuals and companies, which failed to pay penalties levied on them by Sebi for various offences related to securities market, while some of these cases are nearly two decade old.

Some of the defaulters have not paid up amounts as small as Rs 15,000, while the majority of individual penalties are worth a few lakhs of rupees and a few others amounting to a few crores of rupees.

Moreover, some of these dues are pending since 2000, while many of these cases are also pending in courts and at other forums.

As per the latest data released by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), total number of 'defaulters' in payment of penalty imposed by the regulator as on March 31, 2017 stood at 1,628.