Watchdog floods market with draft proposals

A usually reticent Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has surprised the markets with a flurry of draft proposals and new products.

But market participants expect some more announcements, before Meleveetil Damodaran ends his three-year term as its chairman next month.

On December 17, Sebi put out a note on the introduction of new products in the futures and options segment. That was followed by permission for short-selling by institutional investors on December 20, stating that the securities lending and borrowing mechanism would be put in place along with short-selling, which will begin from February.

A Sebi order amending the equity listing agreement, introduction of mini contracts on the Sensex and the Nifty and disposing of a complaint against Reliance Power's initial public offer (IPO) came on December 27.

The regulator put out draft rules for real estate investment trusts (REITs), proposing a minimum networth of Rs 5 crore the next day.

Three days later, in what was widely termed as "Sebi's new year gift" to investors, the regulator finally waived the entry load for direct applications for mutual funds on December 31. Yesterday, it put up a draft paper to curb insider trading.

"Introduction of short-selling and waiver of entry load for direct applications in mutual funds are a part of an ongoing process. Since the market is going at a new peak, it is a good idea to introduce new products at this time," said the research head of a broking firm, who did not want to be quoted.

However, market participants are not ruling out more regulations. The draft regulations for investment advisors that were put up on the Sebi website in October could become a reality very soon, feels a mutual fund distributor.

Corporate governance remained on the top of Sebi's agenda with the regulator amending Clause 49 of the equity listing agreement, requiring the issuer company to place the monitoring report before its audit committee.

It is for the same reason that market sources feel that the insider trading regulations "� a new rule barring insiders from making short-term trading profits on stocks of companies where they hold key positions was put out for comments on Tuesday "� will also come into force soon.

The Sebi chairman would like to clear all the files before he leaves, unless he got an extension, said the research head of an institutional broking firm.