Sebi is scheduled to hold a board meeting on Monday, the first since US short-seller Hindenburg Research raised allegations against the chairperson of the market regulator.
Hindenburg alleged that Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had stakes in offshore funds managed by Gautam Adani's brother Vinod Adani. It claimed that the funds were used to manipulate the prices of Adani stocks.
Another issue faced by Sebi is the protest by employees who voiced concerns about shift hours and toxic work environment. Following this, SEBI refuted the claims and said it has high employee standards, condemning 'external elements' for triggering protests. It said in its statement that complaints of ‘public humiliation’ at its offices were “misplaced” and undermined the institution's and its leadership's credibility.
However, later it retracted the press release that blame outside influences behind the protest and appreciated the contribution of its employees for decades. It assured the employees that their concerns will be resolved through proper internal mechanisms.
However, it is not clear if any of these issues will be discussed during the September 30 meeting.
What the meeting could discuss are the issues in the derivatives market as a report recently revealed that nine out of 10 retail investors incurred losses by trading in the futures and options (F&O) segment. To tackle this, Sebi is likely to bring in stringent regulations in F&O trading.
In July, Sebi proposed seven measures in a consultation paper and they are likely to be implemented based on feedback from stakeholders. It plans to limit weekly options contract to a single index per exchange, higher margin requirements near expiry and higher entry point by increasing contract size. Exchanges have raised concerns on requirement for higher margin as well as tracking of position limits, reported Business Standard.
