The capital market regulator SEBI has said it needs to work towards spreading financial education, upgrading technology and be strict and prompt in enforcement to create an atmosphere of trust in the market, confidence in the investor and efficiency in the system.
Expressing concern over the marked decline of financial savings and increasing channelisation of domestic savings into physical assets, such as gold and real estate of late, SEBI said it would take care of the interests of retail investors in the market and appropriate measures as and when required would be taken in the future.
In its annual report for FY13, SEBI said it had constantly worked to fulfil its goal through supervision and proactive regulations and had an infrastructure for disclosure, surveillance and trading that was robust and in sync with global standards.
A high-level committee is looking into the current insider trading regulations and reviewing them so as to align the regulations with global best practices, said SEBI.
The surveillance system has been effectively monitoring the market and aberrations are investigated to ensure a free and fair market. To widen and deepen the market, it would consistently pursue market developments and take proactive policy measures, said SEBI.
Grey areas
While some segments of the market may require constantly evolving vigil due to their pervading effect, all grey areas would require immediate intervention, it said.
As the regulatory framework for grey areas such as unauthorised capital mobilisation is still under construction, it is imperative for the investors to be well informed of the financial decisions they take. The only antidote to this is increasing the access to banking and regulated financial services and awareness of investors and continuous fine-tuning of regulations to address any regulatory lacunae, SEBI said.
Investor education though various measures would continue to remain a priority area, said SEBI.
To enable SMEs access capital, SEBI is working on a proposal to allow these enterprises to list on the SME exchange platform without the mandatory initial public offering, besides amending the SEBI Act to strengthen the regulator.