MUMBAI: In a major relief for DLF, the Securities Appellate Tribunal on Friday quashed a Sebi order against the realty giant that had barred the company and its six top executives from capital markets for three years.

Soon after the tribunal pronounced its order, the shares of DLF soared higher by about 8 per cent. The stock was trading 7.75 per cent up at Rs 160.5 at the BSE in early afternoon trade.

The government has proposed to amend the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act to take away money market regulatory powers from the central bank and bring it under the purview of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Though the proposal wasn’t mentioned in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget speech, the Finance Bill proposes to amend sections 45U and 45W of the RBI Act, which effectively takes away the central bank’s powers to regulate government securities and other money market instruments.

The capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has simplified the rules for opening of trading and demat accounts by resident individual investors, to boost retail participation in the securities market.

It has introduced the concept of a ‘Saral (Simple) Account’, with much more relaxed Know Your Customer requirements as compared to a normal demat account. Such accounts are primarily aimed at investors who only participate in the cash market, without availing other facilities like internet, mobile banking or margin and derivative trading.

Merger of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) allows a commodity exchange to expand in segments permitted under a stock exchange and vice versa.

From the proposed Bill in this regard, “all recognised associations under the Forward Contracts Regulation Act shall be deemed to be recognised stock exchanges under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act”.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced that the Forward Markets Commission will be merged with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). While Sebi is the regulator for the capital markets, the FMC oversees commodities markets.

Among other things, he said that this will help reduce wild speculation.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has imposed a total penalty of Rs 86 crore on real estate major DLF and 40 related entities, including subsidiaries and key officials. The matter relates to disclosures made at the time of its Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 2007.

The regulator imposed penalties through two separate orders. One is for a sum of Rs 52 crore on DLF and seven officials. The second order is for Rs 34 crore on Sudipti Estates Ltd and 34 other related entities.

Back in 2009, U K Sinha, the then UTI chief (currently Sebi chairman) told Business Standard that the regulator needs to be open to criticism. The comment had come in the backdrop of Sinha's predecessor C B Bhave's decision of banning entry load on equity schemes.

The move had attracted widespread criticism from all stakeholders - including AMCs and distributors. And that phase lasted for not less than four long years. Even today, it is not surprising to see people wishing for a return of entry load, though in hushed tones.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday suspended trading in Kamalakshi Finance Corp (KFCL), widening the crackdown against shell companies used to allegedly launder money through the stock exchange route.

In an interim order, the regulator barred a little more than 30 entities, including the promoters of Kamalakshi, from accessing the capital market. This is the fourth order by Sebi in its probe in this regard, where unscrupulous entities apparently attempted to launder up to Rs 20,000 crore.

Equity assets in B-15 cities almost doubled from March 2013 to December 2014, while the MF industry also saw an increase of 27 lakh folios from semi-urban and rural areas.

Investor awareness programmes, coupled with adoption of districts and steps to re-energise the MF industry by Sebi, have resulted in higher participation from beyond the top-15 (B-15) cities.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering keeping the stock markets open on Budget day. The Budget is set to be presented on February 28, Saturday, a market holiday.

Sebi will await a final cue from the finance ministry and an announcement is likely to be closer to the Budget day, said a person familiar with the developments.

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