Finance Minister P Chidambaram today indicated at comprehensive amendments to SEBI Act to launch Investor Protection Fund (IPF) and that the government will launch a package to enhance financial literacy skills soon."We need to advance the level of investor protection and impart financial literary skills at an early stage. We will come up with a financial literacy package, free of cost for schools and colleges," Chidambaram said.He was addressing the annual convention of National Stock Exchange members today.A comprehensive amendment to SEBI Act was under examination, he said adding that an IPF will be set up soon as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier.Investor protection was the surest way to attract small investors to capital market, he said."Only four per cent of household savings get into the capital market. With IPF a sizeable portion of household income will enter stock markets," he noted.Stressing on the need to consolidate brokers Chidamabaram said large number of them raised the cost of regulation and it was in the mutual interest, SEBI, NSE and Association of NSE Members of India (ANMI) should work towards this end."I urge ANMI, NSE and SEBI to consider whether it is possible to incentivise consolidation of market participants," he said.Chidambaram was responding to NSE CEO and MD Ravi Narain, who regretted that consolidation of broking houses had not happened so far.
