With reference to your editorial “Déjà vu at Sebi” (April 25), my suggestion is that you should keep this editorial handy because you will need it every five years or so.
Instead of worrying about new initiatives, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) should focus on old initiatives that have been gathering dust. What happened to the much touted free-float regulation that was announced in a press release way back in 2005? What is the status of the amendments to the Substantial Acquisition of Shares & Takeovers (SAST) regulations? In both these cases promoters have ensured that they are more powerful than an independent regulator. In fact, Sebi does not even know how to define “promoter” and various definitions appear in various regulations to suit promoters. A Sebi committee formed way back in 2003 was supposed to harmonise the definition of “promoter” and other definitions. Status? The fresh impetus to training and development is a joke.
T R Ramaswami, Mumbai
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