Sebi's diktat puts institutional investors, fund houses in a fix

The latest regime directs companies to make investors' call recording public with transcription

The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) recent directive to make analyst calls public knowledge may be troublesome for fund houses and institutional investors.

Until now they provided exclusive insights to large institutions in these calls. However, they will become non-events and merely public relations exercises, say experts.

While listed companies will become careful about what they say in analyst calls, the blame would be on them if anything goes wrong.

“The unintended consequences will be that companies will stop talking. The new regime is democratising information, which otherwise is not available in the public domain. Keeping in mind