The Securities and Exchange Board of India (frequently abbreviated SEBI) is the regulator for the securities market

in India. It was established on 12 April 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.[1]

Contents

1 History 2 Organization structure 3 Functions and responsibilities o 3.1 Powers o 3.2 SEBI Committees 4 Major achievements 5 Controversies 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History
It was officially established by The Government of India in the year of 1992 with SEBI Act 1992 being passed by the Indian Parliament. SEBI is having it's Headquarter at the business district of Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Regional Offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively. Controller of Capital Issues was the regulatory authority before SEBI came into existence; it derived authority from the Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947. Initially SEBI was a non statutory body without any statutory power. However in the year of 1995, the SEBI was given additional statutory power by the Government of India through an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1992. In April, 1998 the SEBI was constituted as the regulator of capital markets in India under a resolution of the Government of India. The SEBI is managed by its members, which consists of following: a) The chairman who is nominated by Union Government of India. b) Two members, i.e. Officers from Union Finance Ministry. c) One member from The Reserve Bank of India. d) The remaining 5 members are nominated by Union Government of India, out of them at least 3 shall be whole-time members. The office of SEBI is situated at SEBI Bhavan, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai400051, with its regional offices at Kolkata, Delhi,Chennai & Ahmadabad. It has recently opened local offices at Jaipur and Bangalore and is planning to open offices at Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Kochi and Chandigarh in Financial Year 2013 - 2014.

Organization structure

Further information: SEBI Organization Chart Upendra Kumar Sinha was appointed chairman on 18 February 2011 replacing C. B. Bhave.[3] The Board comprises[4] Name Designation Upendra Kumar Sinha Chairman Prashant Saran Whole Time Member Rajeev Kumar Agarwal Whole Time Member Dr. Thomas Mathew Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance V. K. Jairath magya Member Appointed Anand Sinha Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India Naved Masood Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs List of former Chairmen[5]: Name From To C. B. Bhave 18 February 2008 18 February 2011 M. Damodaran 18 February 2005 18 February 2008 G. N. Bajpai 20 February 2002 18 February 2005 D. R. Mehta 21 February 1995 20 February 2002 S. S. Nadkarni 17 January 1994 31 January 1995 G. V. Ramakrishna 24 August 1990 17 January 1994 Dr. S. A. Dave 12 April 1988 23 August 1990

Functions and responsibilities

SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute the market:

the issuers of securities the investors the market intermediaries.

SEBI has three functions rolled into one body: quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasiexecutive. It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity. Though this makes it very powerful, there is an appeal process to create accountability. There is a Securities Appellate Tribunal which is a three-member tribunal and is presently headed by a former Chief Justice of a High court - Mr. Justice NK Sodhi. A second appeal lies directly to the Supreme Court.

Powers
For the discharge of its functions efficiently, SEBI has been invested with the necessary powers which are: 1. to approve bylaws of stock exchanges. 2. to require the stock exchange to amend their bylaws. 3. inspect the books of accounts and call for periodical returns from recognized stock exchanges. 4. inspect the books of accounts of a financial intermediaries. 5. compel certain companies to list their shares in one or more stock exchanges. 6. levy fees and other charges on the intermediaries for performing its functions. 7. grant license to any person for the purpose of dealing in certain areas. 8. delegate powers exercisable by it. 9. prosecute and judge directly the violation of certain provisions of the companies Act. 10. power to impose monetry penalties.

SEBI Committees
1. Technical Advisory Committee 2. Committee for review of structure of market infrastructure institutions 3. Members of the Advisory Committee for the SEBI Investor Protection and Education Fund 4. Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee 5. Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC) 6. Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC) 7. Mutual Fund Advisory Committee 8. Corporate Bonds & Securitization Advisory Committee 9. Takeover Panel 10. SEBI Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards (SCODA) 11. High Powered Advisory Committee on consent orders and compounding of offences 12. Derivatives Market Review Committee 13. Committee on Infrastructure Funds 14. Regulation over Financial Terms of Various Athourities.

Major achievements
SEBI has enjoyed success as a regulator by pushing systemic reforms aggressively and successively. SEBI is credited for quick movement towards making the markets electronic and paperless by introducing T+5 rolling cycle from July 2001 and T+3 in April 2002 and further to T+2 in April 2003. The rolling cycle of T+2[6] means, Settlement is done in 2 days after Trade date.[7] SEBI has been active in setting up the regulations as required under law. SEBI has also been instrumental in taking quick and effective steps in light of the global meltdown and the Satyam fiasco.[citation needed] In October 2011, it increased the extent and quantity of disclosures to be made by Indian corporate promoters.[8] In light of the global

meltdown, it liberalised the takeover code to facilitate investments by removing regulatory structures. In one such move, SEBI has increased the application limit for retail investors to Rs 2 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh at present.[9]

Controversies
Supreme Court of India heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by India Rejuvenation Initiative that had challenged the procedure for key appointments adopted by Govt of India. The petition alleged that, "The constitution of the search-cum-selection committee for recommending the name of chairman and every whole-time members of SEBI for appointment has been altered, which directly impacted its balance and could compromise the role of the SEBI as a watchdog." [10][11] On 21 November 2011, the court allowed petitioners to withdraw the petition and file a fresh petition pointing out constitutional issues regarding appointments of regulators and their independence. The Chief Justice of India refused the finance ministrys request to dismiss the PIL and said that the court was well aware of what was going on in SEBI.[10][12] Hearing a similar petition filed by Bangaluru-based advocate Anil Kumar Agarwal, a two judge Supreme Court bench of Justice SS Nijjar and Justice HL Gokhale issued a notice to the Govt of India, SEBI chief UK Sinha and Omita Paul, Secretary to the President of India.[13][14] Further, it came into light that Dr KM Abraham (the then whole time member of SEBI Board) had written to the Prime Minister about malaise in SEBI. He said, "The regulatory institution is under duress and under severe attack from powerful corporate interests operating concertedly to undermine SEBI". He specifically said that Finance Minister's office, and especially his advisor Omita Paul, were trying to influence many cases before SEBI, including those relating to Sahara Group, Reliance, Bank of Rajasthan and MCX.[15][16]...

SEBI - Introduction
In 1988 the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was established by the Government of India through an executive resolution, and was subsequently upgraded as a fully autonomous body (a statutory Board) in the year 1992 with the passing of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act (SEBI Act) on 30th January 1992. In place of Government Control, a statutory and autonomous regulatory board with defined responsibilities, to cover both development & regulation of the market, and independent powers have been set up. Paradoxically this is a positive outcome of the Securities Scam of 1990-91. The basic objectives of the Board were identified as:

to protect the interests of investors in securities; to promote the development of Securities Market; to regulate the securities market and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Since its inception SEBI has been working targetting the securities and is attending to the fulfillment of

its objectives with commendable zeal and dexterity. The improvements in the securities markets like capitalization requirements, margining, establishment of clearing corporations etc. reduced the risk of credit and also reduced the market. SEBI has introduced the comprehensive regulatory measures, prescribed registration norms, the eligibility criteria, the code of obligations and the code of conduct for different intermediaries like, bankers to issue, merchant bankers, brokers and sub-brokers, registrars, portfolio managers, credit rating agencies, underwriters and others. It has framed bye-laws, risk identification and risk management systems for Clearing houses of stock exchanges, surveillance system etc. which has made dealing in securities both safe and transparent to the end investor. Another significant event is the approval of trading in stock indices (like S&P CNX Nifty & Sensex) in 2000. A market Index is a convenient and effective product because of the following reasons:

It acts as a barometer for market behavior; It is used to benchmark portfolio performance; It is used in derivative instruments like index futures and index options; It can be used for passive fund management as in case of Index Funds.

Two broad approaches of SEBI is to integrate the securities market at the national level, and also to diversify the trading products, so that there is an increase in number of traders including banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, mutual funds, primary dealers etc. to transact through the Exchanges. In this context the introduction of derivatives trading through Indian Stock Exchanges permitted by SEBI in 2000 AD is a real landmark. SEBI appointed the L. C. Gupta Committee in 1998 to recommend the regulatory framework for derivatives trading and suggest bye-laws for Regulation and Control of Trading and Settlement of Derivatives Contracts. The Board of SEBI in its meeting held on May 11, 1998 accepted the recommendations of the committee and approved the phased introduction of derivatives trading in India beginning with Stock Index Futures. The Board also approved the "Suggestive Bye-laws" as recommended by the Dr LC Gupta Committee for Regulation and Control of Trading and Settlement of Derivatives Contracts. SEBI then appointed the J. R. Verma Committee to recommend Risk Containment Measures (RCM) in the Indian Stock Index Futures Market. The report was submitted in november 1998. However the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) required amendment to include "derivatives" in the definition of securities to enable SEBI to introduce trading in derivatives. The necessary amendment was then carried out by the Government in 1999. The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 1999 was introduced. In December 1999 the new framework was approved.

Derivatives have been accorded the status of `Securities'. The ban imposed on trading in derivatives in 1969 under a notification issued by the Central Government was revoked. Thereafter SEBI formulated the necessary regulations/bye-laws and intimated the Stock Exchanges in the year 2000. The derivative trading started in India at NSE in 2000 and BSE started trading in the year 2001.