SEBI Meeting Highlights: Expect to have T+0 settlement by March 2024, instantaneous settlement by 2025, says Buch

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The working groups who are in those committees but public suggestions have also been sought for these working group to look at, the last date was November 6. It is too early to comment on because this is so diverse... there are 16 different (groups) in terms of coverage. But it is a very active group and they are looking at various aspects: SEBI Chairperson

On instantaneous settlement: Market infrastructure and brokers have said that the technology path that needed to be taken requires that the in-between step should not be one-hour and then instantaneous but T+0 and then instantaneous. The progress is very good, a lot of discussion has happened. A roadmap is pretty much ready. It is a parallel system that is completely optional: Buch

One change in the roadmap that has been agreed is that we will move to one hour settlement and instantaneous. What market participants have told us that we will need to start at T+0 and then move to instantaneous. For T+0 will be by the end of March then instantaneous will be another year later: Buch

'We have followed principles, we didn't pick and choose... according to us, it (training) is covered under our consultation paper (on finfluencers)'

'The most complex data analysis we have done at SEBI (for inclusion of stocks in derivatives market)... It's been one of the most complex analytics we have undertaken and we are still not at a place where we are completely comfortable with whatever is emerging. Every time we have a meeting we see two more things we have to see... perhaps we will need more time to complete our data analysis'

On proposal to extend F&O trading, Buch says, "We have spoken to the exchange.We need feedback from all three constituencies- exchanges, brokers and investors. Only once they give feedback can we take a decision"

“IPOs price discovery mechanism isn't perfect. If institutional investor has to buy, they have to buy big... they can't buy in secondary market. But retail investor needs to buy small, so better strategy (is) that they wait for price to settle after IPOs, see the quarterly results etc... and then invest through secondary market: Madhabi Puri Buch

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On high IPO valuation: if price justification is being done through meaningless language we will look into it. We will review this if needed.

The press statement from Sebi, following the Board meeting, said that the minimum issue size in case of public issuance of zero-coupon zero principal instruments (ZCZP) by non-profit organisation (NPOs) on SSE has been reduced to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 1 crore.

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The intention of the regulator is not to be prescriptive on what index providers should do. Our role is to describe the government process and disclosures needed: SEBI Chairperson Buch

Have not introduced anything as it needs the convergence of many regulators hence there is no notification on that expected right now: Chairperson Buch

The purpose of this regulation is that India is following the global trend where a lot of passive investment is happening. India is also following that trend. Hence it is important that there is a process. This is becoming more and more important as more funds follow the index: Buch

As a regulator we have two tasks: one is to make sure there is no systemic risk. From an ecosystem angle we are not worried. From an investor level they are losing money. As a regulator we are wondering why investors are doing this. It is our duty to warn investors and that is there free choice after that: Chairperson Buch

"Regulator should not intervene because we might be taking away from opportunity. but there is a natural check and balance in the market, investment banker make that assessment checking if there is a crowding in the market. As far as the capacity for institutions to handle this load, we have not faced this problem... during T+3, we had done stress testing (for intermediaries and infrastructure institutions)... at the end of the day market forces operate."

"It was discussed in the Board meeting. Very happy to report that the commitment for using data for policy making is (so strong) that since the number of delisting applications even over five years is small, the data is very limited to draw significant conclusions (is limited) Board has asked us to go back and do some consultation because the data set was limited."

IPO's price discovery mechanism isn't perfect. If institutional investor has to buy, they have to buy big... they can't buy in secondary market. But retail investor needs to buy small, so better strategy that they wait for price to settle after IPOs, see the quarterly results etc... and then invest through secondary market: Buch

On fractional ownership platforms (FOPs), the consultation paper on classifying them as micro, small and medium real-estate investment trusts (MSM REITs) was floated on May 12 this year.

These platforms, which allow investors to own a fraction of a real-estate property through pooled instruments, have become popular over the past two to three years. As the consultation paper noted, the threshold for these instruments is as low as Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

Currently, price for the delisting is discovered through a reverse book-building (RBB) process. In this, the public shareholders are invited to tender their shares and the discovered price is that at which the post-offer shareholding of the acquirer (along with the persons acting in concert) crosses 90 percent of the total shares. The advisory committe has recommended that an acquirer be allowed to offer a fixed price--instead of a discovered price--under certain conditions.

Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Madhabi Puri Buch had said recently that the delisting norms would be discussed in the next meeting with the regulator's Board. She was speaking at FICCI's Capital Market Conference, and said this to illustrate Sebi's approach to regulations, which will be led by data and logic and not dogma.