‘Indian mkt norms much more robust; P-Notes well covered’

It takes examining over 100 alerts a day, analysing hundreds of bank accounts of suspected entities and digging deep into data about thousands of PANs at times to ensure that Indian securities market remains a safe place to trade, Sebi chief U K Sinha has said.

Terming securities market regulatory framework in India as much more robust than most other countries, Sinha also said that strong measures have been put in place to check any misdemeanors including misuse of instruments like P-Notes and also address the newer challenges as they come up. Areas where challenges remain include those involving high-frequency trades (HFTs) and the commodities derivatives, he said, while asserting that Sebi was seized of these matters and has given itself a target to address all challenges for commodities markets in the next 5-6 months after which new products and players would also be allowed there.

He also sought to put to rest concerns that participatory notes were misused to bring back blackmoney into the country. He said sufficient safeguards have been put in place to check any possible gaps and Sebi is now in a position to identify and check details of beneficiary owners of such funds to the second, third and even fourth levels. In case of any irregularities, Sebi can take penal action and also share the details with the tax department and other authorities for further action on their part.

Sinha, who was here over the weekend for an all-important board meeting of the regulatory body that was also addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, further said that Sebi takes pride in the fact that there have been no instance of any major market misconduct for over a decade.

“We have had such cases in the past and we have learnt from that. We have been able to generate that kind of trust through a series of measures, our very enhanced supervision and also through our enhanced enforcement actions.