Jaitley asks SEBI to step up vigil

12 March, New Delhi

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday advised stock market regulator SEBI to step up its monitoring of the market given the turmoil in the global financial markets .

Jaitley also asked the regulator to expand investor base by improving ease of doing business in the securities market. He advised using technology to simplify KYC rules for investors to this end.

Jaitley said following the passage of the Bill providing statutory backup to Aadhar, this process can be expedited, an official statement said here.He appreciated the emergence of Indian Mutual Funds as a counter balance to foreign portfolio investors.

Jaitley also stressed the need for new products in the commodity derivatives market and for encouraging actual hedgers to take benefits of the commodity derivatives market.Appreciating the role of National Institute of Securities Market (NISM) and its upcoming campus at Patalganga, Maharashtra, the Finance Minister advised that the institute may provide for courses for legal professionals in the securities market in the areas of regulation and compliance besides preparing and training manpower for the securities market.

Besides, UK Sinha, the chairman of SEBI, the meeting was attended by members of the board including Tapan Ray, Arun P Sathe, Prashant Saran, Rajeev Kumar Agarwal and S Raman. Executive Directors and other senior officials of SEBI were also present.Mr Jaitley was accompanied by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Ajay Tyagi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Praveen Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance.