Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has been justly “harsh” with those threatening the integrity of capital markets and is not “shy” about it, the outgoing chief U K Sinha said on Monday as he favoured uniform treatment while acting against lapses irrespective of the corporate being “big or small”.
As the regulator makes efforts to protect the interest of investors and safeguard the markets from manipulations, Sinha said, a new set of norms are being worked out to curb misuse of social media as also looking at slapping higher penalty for misuse of high-speed also trades.
Sinha, who would be demitting office on March 1 after being at the helm of the Sebi for six years, sent out a stern warning that action would be taken against violators.
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In his last press conference as Sebi chief, Sinha said Sebi has worked hard on “cleansing of markets” and all potential instruments of manipulation, including defunct regional stock exchanges, have been closed down.
A major effort has been to ensure “uniform treatment” for everyone and also promote competition, Sinha said and mentioned that around 345 companies have been delisted.
He said: “The idea is that if we see that there is some entity which could be a potential threat to the integrity of the market, we have acted very hard on it.
“I have read comments and I am aware that there are comments that Sebi has been very harsh in this period. Well we have been. I don’t think we will feel shy about saying that. “Wherever we have found there are aberrations, violations we have taken action. I am sure this has given comfort not only to domestic investors… but also FPIs.”
