Madhabi Puri Buch’s SEBI Tenure: Reform, Resistance & Regulatory Hurdles

Mint (Neha Joshi & Shayan Ghosh) has published a deep-dive into the legacy of former SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who reshaped India’s securities regulation with over 800 policy changes in just three years. From implementing T+0 settlements to overhauling IPO disclosure norms, her leadership brought unprecedented reforms. However, these changes also sparked pushback from market participants, judicial scrutiny, and internal resistance within SEBI.

In this context, Mr. Sumit Agrawal, Founder & Managing Partner of Regstreet Law Advisors, is quoted in Mint’s article titled “𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘪 𝘉𝘶𝘤𝘩’𝘴 𝘚𝘌𝘉𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘦: 𝘈 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.” He analyzed the impact of SEBI’s regulatory stance during her tenure and stated that some regulatory actions, though well-intended, led to unintended consequences, particularly for smaller players struggling with compliance burdens.

He is also of the view that at times, SEBI’s approach seemed to hurt market players more than it helped. Most of the orders issued during her tenure adversely affected brokers, financial institutions, and investors.

Further, Mr. Sumit Agrawal has commented that with hundreds of IPOs coming in, methods of data collection and processing had to evolve. Employees recognized this shift, but even SEBI staff struggled to keep up with the frequency of regulatory changes.

A full text of the article can be accessed at: https://lnkd.in/drkhCH2a