Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was established in the year 1988 and given statutory powers on 12 April 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992. SEBI was set up to regulate the functions of securities market. Its headquarters is in Mumbai, and has Northern,
Eastern, Southern and Western Regional Offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively. There are local offices also.
Earlier SEBI was set up to only observe the activities of the market but in May 1992 it was granted legal status. It is known as the market watchdog.
The Board consists of the following members, namely:-
- A Chairman,
- Two members from amongst the officials of the ministry of the Central Government dealing with Finance,
- One member from amongst the officials of the Reserve Bank,
- Five other members of whom at least three shall be the whole-time members to be appointed by the central Government.
SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute the market:-
- The issuers of securities: SEBI provides a place to issuers where they can raise their finance fairly and easily.
- The investors: SEBI provides investors from any fraudulent activities and provide them with the accurate information.
- The market intermediaries: SEBI provides the market intermediaries a competitive professional market.
Some facts about SEBI:-
- It regulates the business in stock exchanges and any other securities markets;
- It promotes and regulating self-regulatory organizations;
- It prohibits fraudulent and unfair trade practices relating to securities markets;
- It prohibits insider trading in securities;
- It approves the appointments of chairman in the Exchanges in the country like NSE, BSE, etc.
- A company should register with SEBI when it wants to go for an IPO (Initial Public Offering).
Securities Appellate Tribunal:-
Securities Appellate Tribunal is a statutory body established under the provisions of Section 15K of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 to hear and dispose of appeals against orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Complaints against companies registered with SEBI:-
If one has any complaint against a listed company/ intermediary registered with SEBI, he should first approach the concerned company/ intermediary against whom he has a complaint. If one is not satisfied with the response, he can turn to SCORES (Sebi COmplaints REdress System). SCORES facilitates you to lodge your complaint online with SEBI and subsequently view its status.