The Hindu Business Line : G. Anantharaman retires as SEBI whole time member

Mumbai, March 13 Two out of the three posts of Whole Time Members at SEBI will be vacant from Friday with the retirement of Mr G. Anantharaman on Thursday. Another Whole Time Member, Mr V.K. Chopra, had retired earlier this month. The capital markets regulator is now left with just one whole time member, Mr T.C. Nair.

According to SEBI sources, the selection procedure for the two vacancies is expected to begin soon. The Board will then have several new faces including the Chairman, Mr C.B. Bhave, who took over only last month when Mr Damodaran’s term as Chairman ended.

Mr Anantharaman, outgoing Whole Time Member, was in charge of the key portfolios of investigations, legal and market surveillance. He could be credited with bringing in new techniques in investigating market irregularities and unearthing major frauds.

I-T experience

SEBI officials say that Mr Anantharaman’s experience of over 30 years in the Income Tax Department helped him deal with sensitive investigations. Resorting to the tool of issuing ex-parte orders, he promptly cut market access to the accused, thereby limiting the scope for further manipulation of the market.

He had issued orders against several entities including banks in the case related to manipulation in IPO allotments. His insistence on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms in regulatory enforcements paved the way for making PAN the sole identification for market participants.

Disgorgement order

Mr Anantharaman had also come out with a ‘disgorgement order’ (which is being challenged in the Supreme Court), the first of its kind in India, forcing those unjustly enriched from IPO manipulations to compensate the victims.

One of Mr Anantharaman’s first orders was against UBS Securities, preventing the foreign broking firm from issuing Participatory Notes.

Another landmark order by him was against “customised front-running” by traders in the shares of Ballarpur Industries Ltd. In front-running, a trader takes a position of unfair advantage in advance of a large buy or sell order that the trader knows will move the price of that equity in a predictable fashion.

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