Fault Lines in India’s Regulatory State

Dr. M. S. Sahoo and Sumit Agrawal, writing in Business Standard, argue for a stronger and more transparent separation of powers within India’s regulators. They note that regulators today often act as lawmaker, investigator, and adjudicator, blurring institutional boundaries and raising concerns of fairness and conflict of interest.

Citing landmark judgments such as Vishal Tiwari v. Union of India (2024) and Deloitte Haskins v. Union of India (2025), they highlight the judiciary’s growing recognition that regulators like SEBI and National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) must structurally distinguish their executive and quasi-judicial functions. Drawing parallels with the U.S. SEC and FTC, the authors stress that independent adjudication and transparent enforcement are essential to credibility of Indian regulators such as SEBI Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India PFRDA- Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority IFSCA Official Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Competition Commission Of India National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), etc.

They conclude that the real strength of India’s regulatory architecture lies not in the breadth of its powers, but in the fairness and institutional integrity with which those powers are exercised.

The article is available
at: https://lnkd.in/da9_kNiT

Sumit Agrawal and Dr. M. S. Sahoo have in the recent past authored a
series of articles on various significant policy issues in the
regulatory field:

(1)   𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
— https://bit.ly/3RTxHVj
(2)   𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐈 ‘𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬’ 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐬 – 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭?
— https://bit.ly/3tnWVSf
(3)   𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐈 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧-𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝
— https://bit.ly/3irEmad
(4)   𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐂𝐈 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬?
— https://lnkd.in/dyiH8Mik
(5)   𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐬 – 𝐀𝐓1 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬
—https://bit.ly/3RvMggc
(6)   𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬
— https://lnkd.in/dxQTAa6U
(7) 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 –
https://lnkd.in/d3KCaG9h
(8) 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 –
https://lnkd.in/gqz-MFpx
(9) 𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐠: 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 –
https://lnkd.in/dUGKQEdZ
(10) 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 –
https://lnkd.in/djPSt7bT
(11) 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐈 –
https://lnkd.in/dVN57wvS

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