A tighrope walk for Sebi

It was only in 1995 that the term collective investment schemes found its way into the Sebi

If news reports are right, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is coming full circle with collective investment schemes (CIS) and is seeking to “relinquish” the statutory mandate to regulate such schemes.

It was only in 1995 that the term found its way into the Sebi Act through an amendment to the list of market intermediaries that ought to be registered with Sebi to be able to carry on business in India. Then, too, Sebi had been a reluctant regulator. Schemes promising returns on the basis of plantations, animal farming, chain-marketing and the like mushroomed in the 1990s. The