Sebi makeover set to be expedited

FM to meet global management consultant on Wednesday

Plans to restructure the capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), are likely to take a concrete shape at a meeting this week in the finance ministry.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will on Wednesday meet management consultant Oliver Wyman, a consultancy appointed by the regulator for redesigning its functions, structure and vision, said a senior finance ministry official. The whole process is set to be expedited which will empower Sebi for facing new challenges in the current global context. The meeting, in which senior finance ministry officials, including Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, will also be present, will help the consultant prepare a blueprint for changes in Sebi's framework, said the official, who did not want to be named.

This is the first time that a regulator in India has opened itself to a performance review by an outside agency.

As part of its mandate, the consultant is to develop various scenarios for the development of Indian securities markets, identify possible triggers for change, assess implications for market participants and envisage the role of Sebi in the Indian financial sector for a 5-10 year time horizon. The exercise will also involve identifying specific areas for deepening the securities markets and studying the inter-linkages between Sebi and other regulatory bodies.

Oliver Wyman is a US-based management consultancy operating in 25 countries.

It's a leading global management consulting firm with specialised expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, leadership development and organisational transformation and the company is a part of the NYSE-listed Marsh and McLennan group.

Established in 1992, Sebi had earlier undertaken the exercise of organisational restructuring in 2003. According to officials, the capital market has witnessed lot of change and transformation which requires re-prioritising the areas of regulatory focus, especially in the backdrop of the 2008 global financial crises.

The idea behind the appointment of a global consultant is to re-assess the impact of Sebi's regulatory measures and its role in meeting the mandate given by the Sebi Act.