Sebi working on instant settlement of stock market transactions: Buch

Mumbai: Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Monday said the capital markets regulator is working on instant transaction settlement in the stock markets. Buch said the day is not far off when stock market transactions will be settled instantaneously.

She said the regulator is working with stakeholders to improve the timelines on transaction settlement towards this goal.

The regulator has been working on upping the pace of new equity issuances, debt issuances, approvals for mutual fund schemes using technology and other interventions with the aim of helping capital formation in the economy, she said.

Such interventions have accrued in monetary benefits of Rs 3,500 crore for the investor community on an annual basis, she added.

The market regulator will also consider permitting the delisting of companies via fixed price instead of the reverse book-building procedure, Buch said. Sebi will issue a discussion paper on the subject by December, the regulator said.

In the reverse book-building process to delist a company from stock exchanges, shareholders place offers for the price at which they are willing to sell securities back to the promoters, or large shareholders who can influence company policy.

A delisting price is then computed based on these offers.

The investment banker-turned-regulator said India is in a very good place as an economy which ups the importance of Sebi's role in aiding capital formation.

The GST collection number show that the economy is doing extremely well and the advance tax payments by corporates are also a forward looking statement by corporates on their performances, she said.

Highlighting the growth on both these fronts, Buch said the "growth of the economy is real".