Unified Investor App will help track investments, shareholder resolutions, tax data: SEBI's WTM Kamlesh Varshney

At the event, SEBI's WTM Kamlesh Varshney commended the two depositories CDSL and NSDL who came together in a spirit of "coopetition", which is a word used to describe cooperative competition, to launch this app.

The newly launched Unified Investor App will help investors see details of all their stock market investments, from their holdings and margin requirements to profit and loss, across brokerages in one place.

It will also allow shareholders to vote on resolutions across companies and allow taxpayers to track the investment information that is being shared with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on a quarterly basis, said Kamlesh Varsheny, the Whole-time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), at the launch of the app on Thursday, February 20, at ICAI Tower.

Varshney, who was Joint Secretary (Tax Policy and Legislation) in the Department of Revenue, explained the importance of being able to track the information being sent to CBDT on a quarterly basis. He said that hardly anyone checks their Annual Information Statement (AIS) regularly, and people usually check this only at the end of the financial year. Therefore, if there is any mistake, it would be hard to correct it.

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With the app, this information can now be tracked as and when it is sent to the CBDT, which is every quarter. If there is any mistake, the investor can get in touch with the depository and ask for the revision to be done.

Officer-driven initiative

At the event, he commended the two depositories CDSL and NSDL who came together in a spirit of "coopetition", which is a word used to describe cooperative competition, to launch this app.

Varshney shared an interesting anecdote on this app's origin. He said that officers in SEBI's Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department (MIRSD) had taken the initiative to build this app and then brought it to his notice.

He named SEBI's officers Ishan, Aradhna and Sushma, and the depositories' employees Rachna, Yogesh, Anupol and Parthiv as the people who needed to be commended for initiating and making the app.

Varshney said that he was reminded of his training as an IRS officer, when the maverick of the Tata Group Russi Mody spoke to the officers. Mody said that the job of the management is to guide the workers or officers, that the officers should know what the thinking of the management is and what the targets are our workers. "Then, the management must delegate and trust them and the officers will deliver results that beat expectations," he said.

"SEBI has used technology to bring efficiency and transparency, and this direction was given by the (regulator's) management to them (the officers). The management has also given ease of doing business and investor protection as guiding principles. With these, what the officers have delivered is praiseworthy," he said.