Mumbai, July 05: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will review working of depository services and take steps to introduce hedge funds as part of a strategic plan to be on par with best global capital market practices.
We will clear any backlog of cases and issues in a time bound manner, focus on continuous disclosure standards and improve quality of intermediaries, including auditors, SEBI chairman G N Bajpai said at the launch of its Electronic Data Information Filing And Retrieval (EDIFAR) system here today. “The dematerialisation of securities has helped to cut the transaction costs and maintain up-to-date records but we wish to take urgent steps to review working of depositories to improve their services,” Bajpai said. Introdcution of T1 settlement cycle, contingent upon real time settlement system, and hedge funds are part of long term plans (beyond one year), he added. SEBI would introduce a nationwide investors education programme soon and expect them to take more responsibility for their financial affairs and understand dynamics of financial environment in which decisions are made, he said. We will also implement recommendation of Malegam panels to improve quality of disclosures in the offer documents, he said.
Corporates and their managements should treat consumers and investors fairly and behave with integrity, he added.
Bureau Report