A few months ago at a glittering mutual fund awards night, the chief executive of an asset management company was asked where he likes to go on vacation. The compere expected an exotic destination like Montreux or Tuscany. Pat came the reply: “My hometown in Bihar”. The answer was classic Upendra Kumar Sinha — simple and forthright. And, yes, he was on the dais to accept one of the many awards on behalf of UTI Mutual Fund.
Sinha is set to don a new hat. Come February 18, he will succeed C B Bhave as the new chairman of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi). His new office will be only a block away from his current one in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, but the added powers will bring more responsibilities, too.
Even before the 59-year-old industry veteran occupies the spacious eighth-floor room in Sebi’s headquarters, which offers a commanding view of the commercial hub, there is enough speculation about the stance he will take on sensitive matters like an entry-load ban on mutual funds, overhauling of regulations governing corporate takeovers and foreign institutional investors (FIIs), and ownership issues related to stock exchanges.
The disciplined Sinha, however, is not one to be swayed by biased opinions. The 1976-batch IAS officer has seen it all during his stints with the finance ministry, first as joint secretary in the banking division and later with the economic affairs division. People who know Sinha are not surprised when the government entrusts him with vital jobs related to financial markets.
“He has many qualities that will make him an asset to any institution,” says an industry veteran, who has worked with Sinha on a committee on securitisation of bonds. “He is a good listener, thinks logically and does his homework before entering any meeting. As a result, one finds it almost impossible to negate his views. And the biggest plus point is that even the government has faith in him,” he says, requesting not to be named.
The Bihar cadre bureaucrat, who has a degree in law and a master’s degree in physics, may well be a part of the mutual fund industry that has been in perpetual cribbing mode ever since entry loads were banned in 2009. But he is definitely not one among the CEOs sticking their necks out to enhance assets under management. Sinha, however, was one of the most vocal critics when Sebi barred fund houses from charging an entry load.
At a time when most fund houses found innovative ways to attract corporate money to top the monthly charts, Sinha’s UTI MF joined hands with the Bihar government to launch Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana to ensure education for girls. The scheme envisages developing 250 schools exclusively for them. It did not lead to a quantum jump in the assets of UTI MF, but it did work towards the aim for which mutual funds were created in the first place.
Sinha is also credited with the launch of a micro-pension scheme, targeted at low-income groups, which is believed to have attracted more than 2 lakh investors. The scheme has people from the lowest strata of society, including railway porters and dairy farm workers.
At Sebi, Sinha’s working style is not expected to be drastically different from that of Bhave, as both are known to be well versed in the workings of the market and are open to new ideas. While investors will not complain, television journalists tracking Sebi may find the going a bit difficult. Unlike his predecessor, Sinha — he is interested in Urdu poetry, especially the works of Ghalib — is not known to give exciting sound bites that can be played over and over again.
