The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulator for the stock market in India. It was established in 1988 and was granted statutory powers on January 30, 1992 through the SEBI Act of 1992.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was first established in 1988 AQF as a non - statutory body to regulate the stock market,. It became an autonomous body by the Government of India on 12 April 1992 and was granted legal powers in 1992 with the approval of the SEBI Act of 1992 by the Indian Parliament. SEBI is headquartered in the business district of the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai and has North, East, South and West Regional Offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively. It has opened local offices in Jaipur and Bangalore and is planning to open offices in Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Kochi and Chandigarh in the financial year 2013-2014.
The capital affairs regulator was the regulatory authority before SEBI came into existence; Derived the authority of the Capital Control Act (Control) of 1947.
Functions of SEBI:
The SEBI performs functions to meet its objectives. To fulfill three objectives SEBI has three important functions. These are:
I. Protection Functions
Ii. Development Functions
III. Regulatory functions.
1. Protection functions:
These functions are performed by SEBI to protect the investor's interest and provide security of the investment.
As SEBI protection functions it performs the following functions:
(I) Check the price of the rig:
Price rigging refers to manipulating the prices of securities with the primary purpose of inflating or depressing the market price of the securities. SEBI prohibits such a practice because this can defraud and deceive investors.
(Ii) Prohibits the use of inside information:
Insider information is any person related to the company, such as directors, promoters, etc. These informed have sensitive information that affects the prices of the securities. This information is not available to people in general, but the privileged get this inside information working within the company and if they use this information to make profits, then it is known as inside information, for example, the directors of a company may know that The company will issue bonus shares to its shareholders at the end of the year and buy market shares to obtain bond-issuing profits. This is known as inside information. SEBI maintains strict control when insiders are buying company securities and take strict measures on insider trading.
(Ii) SEBI prohibits fraudulent and unfair business practices:
SEBI does not allow companies to make misleading statements that may induce the sale or purchase of securities by any other person.
(Iv) SEBI is committed to educating investors so they can evaluate the values of various companies and select the most profitable securities.
(V) SEBI promotes fair practices and the code of conduct in the security market by taking the following measures:
(A) SEBI has issued guidelines to protect the interests of bondholders in which companies can not change terms in the medium term.
(B) SEBI is empowered to investigate cases of insider dealing and has provisions for fines and imprisonment.
C) SEBI has stopped the practice of preferentially allocating shares unrelated to market prices.
2. Development functions:
These functions are carried out by the SEBI to promote and develop activities on the stock exchange and to increase the stock exchange business. Under development categories the following functions are performed by SEBI:
(I) SEBI promotes the formation of stock market intermediaries.
(Ii) SEBI seeks to promote stock market activities by adopting a flexible and adoptable approach as follows:
(A) SEBI has allowed Internet trading through registered brokers.
(B) SEBI has made subscription optional to reduce the issue cost.
© Even the initial public offering of the primary market is allowed through the stock exchange.
3. Regulatory functions:
These functions are performed by SEBI to regulate the stock exchange business. To regulate the activities of the bag the following functions are carried out:
(I) SEBI has framed rules and regulations and a code of conduct to regulate intermediaries such as merchant bankers, brokers, insurers, etc.
(Ii) These intermediaries have been subject to regulation and private placement has become more restrictive.
(Ii) SEBI registers and regulates the operation of stockbrokers, sub-brokers, stock transfer agents, trusts, mercantile bankers and all those who are associated with the stock in any way.
(Iv) SEBI registers and regulates the operation of mutual funds, etc.
(V) SEBI regulates the takeover of companies.
(Vi) SEBI conducts research and audits of stock exchanges.