Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday allayed fears that Ponzi scheme operators will split schemes into small funds to avoid being caught by the new law being proposed to empower the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to regulate those collecting at least Rs 100 crore.

Jaitley also expressed the hope that the new financial inclusion programme of the Narendra Modi government will provide avenues to investors to avoid these schemes.

The government today tabled a bill in the Lok Sabha to empower market regulator Sebi to deal with the menace of ponzi schemes, but the legislation curtailed its powers related to search and seizures compared to those provided in the ordinance that it replaced.

The government today tabled a bill in the Lok Sabha to empower market regulator Sebi to deal with the menace of ponzi schemes, but the legislation curtailed its powers related to search and seizures compared to those provided in the ordinance that it replaced.

With less than two months to go for implementation of the new corporate governance norms, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has warned India Inc to comply or face the music. The capital markets regulator has ruled out extension of the October 1 deadline. Nearly 1,000 companies are yet to comply with some or the other provision of the corporate governance norms.

As it goes after fraudsters who dupe gullible investors of their hard earned money, capital markets regulator Sebi has launched an all-out mass media campaign to make the public aware about troubles of investing on hearsay and in pursuit of high returns in less time.

Using various media including TV, radio and print, the Securities and Exchange Board of India is specially targeting the collective investment schemes (CIS) wherein investors are promised doubling of their investments within a few months, or guaranteed fixed returns for their entire life after investing some thousands or lakhs of rupees.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has criticised companies which wrap up their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) within 15 minutes. AGMs are once-a-year exercises, allowing shareholders to interact with company officials. “Allocation of 15 minutes for conducting the AGM of a public listed company having more than 100,000 shareholders does not appear adequate enough to facilitate a constructive discussion on matters transacted. Such a practice affects the rights of investors to seek clarifications/hold discussions and prima facie appears prejudicial to the interest of the investors,” said the Sebi circular, issued on Friday.

The overall worth of open offers for public shareholders hit a one-year high of Rs 12,549 crore in June, almost entirely on account of a mega offer by global liquor giant Diageo Plc to acquire stake in United Spirits.

As per Sebi's latest monthly report, the market regulator approved a total of 8 open offers for shares worth Rs 12,549 crore in June, 2014. This is the highest value for open offers made for a month after Rs 29,242 crore recorded in June, 2013.

As the Government has decided against granting search and seizure powers to SEBI, a top official today said the market regulator has to approach a designated court to be set up in Mumbai for seeking sanction for it.

Replying to a specific question whether the Board felt that its power was diluted with the new Bill, Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U K Sinha said the bill provided for the establishment of a designated court and the Board has to approach to seek sanction for seizure and search operations.

The Union Cabinet cleared the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill on Thursday, to empower the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to effectively check illegal deposit taking and Ponzi schemes, with a corpus of at least Rs 100 crore.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has cleared the Bill,” a finance ministry official said after the meeting. It will be introduced in Parliament and replace an earlier ordinance to this effect.

To facilitate divestment by erstwhile promoters of MCX, Sebi has relaxed lock in period for such stake sale in the commodity bourse.

Sebi has allowed Financial Technologies to bring down its stake to 1.99 per cent in MCX.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is set to issue fresh guidelines on the settlement guarantee fund (SGF), which could see the introduction of a core fund and limit the liability of non-defaulting members.

The capital markets regulator undertook the revamp of SGF, a corpus used for settlement of trades during defaults, following the Rs 5,600-crore settlement crisis at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) a year ago.

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