Highlights
- The appointment of Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India signals a commitment to fostering growth through effective regulation and enhancing market confidence.
- Recent regulatory reforms by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Reserve Bank of India, and Competition Commission of India aim to create a more stable, liberalized regulatory environment while balancing compliance costs for businesses of varying scales.
The appointment of Tuhin Kanta Pandey as Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson signals a path towards growth through effective regulation, addressing challenges and bolstering market confidence.
The market regulator strives to ensure equity and transparency within the regulatory framework, balancing the power of various market stakeholders. This policy aims to foster growth while encouraging innovation in emerging markets.
“Over the last couple of years, market regulators such as MCA, SEBI, RBI and CCI have brought in various regulatory reforms to safeguard the interests/integrity of the market and public at large, to keep pace with emerging businesses and technological advancements and simultaneously increase ease of doing business,” said Vaibhav Kakkar, Senior Partner at Saraf and Partners.
Regulations from various regulators signal proactive policy changes addressing industry concerns. Other regulators, such as the Competition Commission of India, have also undertaken significant amendments, including a public consultation on revamping their approach to predatory pricing and studies to understand the impact of AI on competition, efficiency, and innovation.
Vaibhav Kakkar highlights some of these regulatory reforms such as the recent overhaul of the competition law regime by CCI, permissibility of overseas listing by MCA, regulations in relation to digital payment and lending platforms by RBI, and regulations in relation to increasing disclosures of material events (including ESG related disclosures) and tightening the related party transactions framework by SEBI.
Regulators such as the RBI and SEBI have also introduced cybersecurity and data protection frameworks for their registered entities, to ensure these regulated entities are well-positioned to tackle challenges posed by increased reliance on digital infrastructure.
Most recent regulatory reforms can be said to have met the aim and objectives of the Government and concerned market regulators in creating a more stable and liberalized regulatory regime.Vaibhav Kakkar, Senior Partner at Saraf and Partners
Compliance norms must not only ensure equal enforcement of regulations but also equitable applicability, considering the varying costs of compliance for businesses operating at different scales. To address this, the capital market regulator must balance regulation with the ease of doing business, aiming to enable growth and transform compliance into a growth engine.
The recent appointment suggests that the reforms are likely to continue. “This is evident from the 2025 budget speech wherein potential reforms with respect to inter alia the financial sector, merger/amalgamation regulatory framework, KYC regulatory framework, model bilateral investment treaty, artificial intelligence regulation and decriminalization of additional legislations have been proposed by the Government. Such reforms are intended to develop a more modern, flexible, people-friendly, and trust-based regulatory framework appropriate for the twenty-first century,” Vaibhav Kakkar adds.
