Giving more teeth to the capital market watchdog, the Union Cabinet approved the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act amendment, which ensures that the regulator retains powers to act against fraudsters and other defaulters.
The Bill, among other things, seek to give Sebi extensive powers like attachment of properties, launch of recovery proceedings, seeking call data records to investigate cases and ordering search and seizure against manipulators and fraudsters. Following the CCEA approval, the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill will be introduced in Parliament.
Although, the previous UPA government too sought to empower the market regulator to deal with ponzi schemes through an ordinance, which was promulgated thrice, but the ordinance failed to become a bill in absence of Parliament’s approval. Thus, once the amendment, approved by the CCEA, is passed by Parliament, SEBI would get the requisite powers to deal with economic offences of serious nature.
Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting led by PM Narendra Modi, in the same meeting, also has given a green signal to the proposal to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector from the current 26% to 49%
