The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the market regulator’s long-term goal is to not only create successful businesses but build institutions that last, whilst laying out a detailed five-pillar roadmap to bolster the south Asian nation’s market resilience.
Speaking about SEBI’s focus areas, he said technology, inclusion, governance, innovation, and ease of doing business could help achieve a resilient Indian economy.
Meanwhile, he placed emphasis on how investor trust remains the crux of India’s financial ecosystem.
Pandey said that the future of market resilience is “digital resilience”, noting that algorithmic and high-frequency trading is under continuous review to ensure transparency and fairness.
He added that SEBI plans to release Air Gap guidelines as per its cybersecurity framework, and clearing corporations can now back each other during system failures – a redundancy model in use since December 2023.
The regulator is also using data analytics for predictive surveillance to identify manipulative practices such as pump-and-dump schemes.
Investor Growth
Pandey said that only 9.5 per cent of households invest in securities, with urban participation (15 per cent) being far higher than rural (6 per cent) basis a recently-conducted SEBI survey.
To deepen market reach, SEBI has simplified KYC norms and is working to ease access for NRIs, he further stated, adding that investor protection efforts include combating cyber scams and finfluencer misinformation through SEBI CHECK, Saarthi app and the SEBI vs SCAM campaign.
Strong governance
Reiterating the need for strong governance, Pandey said no director can retain a permanent board seat without shareholder approval, and independent directors are now mandatory for board meeting quorams.
For Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), SEBI has mandated two Executive Directors to reduce key-man risk and prioritise public interest over commercial gain.
Product innovation
Pandey highlighted the introduction of Mutual Fund Lite, Specialised Investment Funds, and Chhoti SIPs to widen participation.
In the bond market, SEBI has reduced the minimum ticket size for privately placed bonds to ₹10,000 and operationalised Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPP).
Ease of doing business policies
SEBI has shortened the IPO listing timeline to T+3 days, reduced rights issue timelines to 23 days, and launched Samuhik Prativedan Manch, a common compliance platform for stock brokers.
On the other hand, the SWAGAT-FI framework aims to streamline the registration of foreign portfolio investors (FPI) through full digitisation.
For his ‘Vision 2030’, Pandey, said, “Our collective goal must be to build resilient institutions,” adding that sustainable growth will depend on innovation, market depth, and the long-term, financial well-being of investors.