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The Finance Ministry on Thursday brought in a new perspective to the ongoing debate on Bimal Jalan committee report on how to run stock exchanges. There is a need to find some kind of “middle path” to the strong divergent views emanating from stakeholders post the submission of the report, a top Ministry official said.
This would imply that the Finance Ministry is keen to take the report forward, but may not fully endorse all its recommendations for implementation by the capital market regulator. The Bimal Jalan committee was set up by SEBI in February 2010 to look into ownership and governance issues of market infrastructure institutions including stock exchanges. The report was submitted to SEBI in November 2010.
Not for listing
While the Bimal Jalan committee had recommended that bourses should not be allowed to list for now, all the stock exchanges are unanimously opposed to any such regulatory stance.
There is also divergence on the issue of balance between regulatory and business functions of stock exchanges. Not all stock exchanges favour segregation of regulatory and commercial role. A few stock exchanges are in favour of segregation along with an option to list. There is no unanimity of views among exchanges on whether they should only be allowed to go in for self-listing or even cross-listing could be pursued.
“This (Jalan committee) report for a number of reasons has generated opinions for and against in equally strong manner. We need to find some kind of middle path given the strong views on both sides,” Mr R. Gopalan, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry told an Assocham summit on Capital Markets here.
Mr Gopalan said that the Finance Ministry has not yet firmed up its views on the Bimal Jalan committee report and that stakeholder consultations are still being held. “The outcome of those consultations is something that we will take forward,” he said. Mr Gopalan also said that SEBI was seized of the matter.
Takeover code
Meanwhile, on the Achutan committee report on changes to the takeover code, Mr Gopalan said that the Government as a stakeholder has given its views. “My understanding is that SEBI is very keen to take this forward very quickly. I am sure in doing so, it would be a kind of sui-generis system, definitely an improvement over existing regime. SEBI will soon tackle this,” he said.
At the capital market summit, both BSE and MCX-SX chiefs made it clear that they were in favour of listing of bourses. “We look forward to be listed at the earliest,” said Mr Madhu Kannan, Managing Director and CEO of BSE.
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