The Hindu Business Line : SEBI to relaunch MAPIN, sans fingerprinting of investors

SEBI will shortly begin another round of its Unique Identification programme under MAPIN (Market Participant and Investor Database), this time doing away with the requirement for fingerprinting of market participants.

Unlike the earlier system, the new method would be based on the alternative system suggested by the SEBI committee, which had recommended doing away with fingerprinting, said a SEBI official.

The committee, under the chairmanship of Mr Jagdish Capoor, had suggested a new software system called "dedupe" which will issue unique numbers to each market participant without having to use the biometric system.

Those who had already been issued their unique identification number (UIN) would be exempted from the second round, said the SEBI official.

"Some sections of market participants had opposed the biometric system, and therefore we had appointed a committee to study it. On the recommendation of the committee, SEBI had suspended issuing identification numbers under MAPIN," the official said.

Registrations for UIN, which had begun in November 2004, had been suspended some time in June this year following the SEBI committee's recommendations. Nearly four lakh unique identification numbers had been issued under the earlier system, mostly to senior officials in companies, institutions and broking firms. SEBI had charged a fee of Rs 300 per person.

Mostly, small market participants and retail investors will come under the second round.

The SEBI official said both sets of data — that which had already been collected and the new data to be collected by the alternative system — would be used. For the time being, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) is managing the data of UINs that have already been issued. NSDL is still awaiting communication from SEBI as to what it is supposed to do with the data already collected. An NSDL source said the depository would soon approach the regulator for advice as maintenance of such a huge data involves costs.

A stock broker said originally MAPIN guidelines required brokers, their spouses, parents and children to provide biometric impressions of their left thumb, left index finger, right thumb and right index finger for obtaining UIN. This was challenged by a section of market participants and subsequently children with no capital market dealings were exempted from obtaining UIN.

However, there is still a section of market participants which believes that the UIN based on the biometric system offered better security. One of them said several software companies that were invited to make presentations to the committee had asserted that the biometric system was the most unique.

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SEBI to relaunch MAPIN, sans fingerprinting of investors