 "Madhabi Puri Buch, Madhabi, Madhabi Puri")
Puri Buch declined to comment on the allegations or the questions surrounding her ownership in consultancy firms when reporters approached her on the sidelines of the event | (Photo: PTI)
Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), on Thursday called for better compliance from market infrastructure participants and industry players to “foster trust”.
She spoke at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) in Mumbai in her first public address after New York-based shortseller Hindenburg Research said earlier this month it doubted her objectivity in probing the Adani Group for several violations, citing her alleged conflict of interest.
The Sebi chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had earlier issued a statement refuting Hindenburg’s allegations. The couple said they had made all necessary disclosures to the market regulator and had included companies with conflicts of interest in her recusal list.
At GFF, Puri Buch said that in a social environment where there is an imbalance of power between large corporations and institutions and small investors, compliance helps protect the small investors.
“Our ultimate objective is that for every entity we regulate, compliance should simply be a low hum in the background. It’s like breathing. I do not have to think about breathing,” she said.
Regarding recent norms bringing fractional ownership platforms in real estate under the regulatory ambit through Small and Medium Real Estate Investment Trusts (SM REITs), the Sebi chairperson noted that the industry had proactively sought regulation.
“They wanted to be regulated. They were operating in an unregulated environment and were suffering from the fact that investors did not have faith and trust in their products and services because it was unregulated,” she said.
Hindenburg has questioned Sebi’s recent regulatory developments on REITs, calling it a conflict of interest as Dhaval Buch is associated with Blackstone.
Puri Buch said that to encourage innovation in fintech, the regulator’s role has been to create standards and infrastructure—including those to speed up the initial public offering (IPO) process, approvals for online bond platforms, and execution-only platforms for mutual funds.
She added that the regulator has accepted around 70 per cent of the proposals made by 16 working groups formulated to ease business operations. While 20 per cent of the proposals are under review, 10 per cent were not accepted because they either contradicted the core principles of regulations or were inconsistent.
Puri Buch disclosed that the regulator is working on more than a dozen projects using artificial intelligence (AI), half of which are aimed at speeding up the approval process.
The ageing of applications for IPOs has decreased, with the majority of draft documents being approved within three months.
First Published: Aug 29 2024 | 1:19 PM IST
