Sebi Plans To Re-Open 16 Local Offices Across India

Dematerialised accounts and digital discount broking apps are becoming the norm with new age investors. However, even in the midst of rapid technological changes in the world of investing, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to expand its physical presence across India.

Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey plans to re-open the market regulator’s local offices across India. Pandey emphasised that while the regulator’s physical presence has reduced in recent times, there’s need to review the decision. He emphasised that there’s merit to having a physical presence in tier two and tier three cities where investing is still nascent.

“I think to some extent, our footprints have gone down in the last few years. We have to probably ramp that up. We have to have a review. Whatever we might say about the electronic campaign and so on; there is also a lot of merit in being there on the ground. And India is a vast diverse country and lots and lots of investors are now coming from smaller centres, tier-II cities, tier-III cities,” Moneycontrol quoted Pandey as saying.

Pandey also mentioned that having a physical presence can help the regulator in connecting more with investors and raising awareness about the equity market. He added that such physical presence can also help investors in getting the information they require in a language which they understand.

Pandey also talked at length about the need for digital programs and interpersonal communication with investors for increasing investor awareness. Notably, the market regulator had a strong physical presence in the form of 16 local offices situated across India in both state capitals and in other regions.

Earlier in March 2023, Sebi began a restructuring and reorganising exercise in which offices across locations, such as Jammu, Shimla, Dehradun and Panaji were shut down. Soon after, offices in Bangalore, Patna, Jaipur, Kochi, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Raipur, Hyderabad and Vijayawada were also closed down. However the market regulator’s Indore office was not shut down, and officers across Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai were retained.

Following the closing down of the local offices, key operations conducted by such physical offices, such as vetting of draft papers, registration of intermediaries and other inspective or scrutiny based tasks were centralised.