The Hindu Business Line : SEBI chief talks tough on violators

THE Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India, Mr M. Damodaran, has vowed not to succumb to pressures when it comes to protecting the interests of investors in general and retail investors in particular.

He was referring to the pressures encountered after taking action against UBS Securities in connection with last year's stock market collapse.

Mr Damodaran said he was committed to remaining tough on the capital market entities that violated the norms prescribed by the regulatory system.

Further, Mr Damodaran said he would continue to remain tough on 11 more entities being probed for their alleged involvement in the last year's stock market crash. On May 17, 2004, the stock markets suffered an unprecedented fall with trading being halted twice as circuit filters were activated. The day witnessed over Rs 2-lakh crore erosion of market capitalisation.

Following an investigation into the issue, the market regulator on Tuesday passed on order barring the Swiss broking house UBS Securities Ltd from issuing offshore derivative instruments for a period of one year.

"I received a large number of phone calls from influential persons from both within and outside the country saying that this is a very big party. They said I should have been careful before issuing the order. With regard to 11 other cases in the pipeline, I was advised to go little easy on them," Mr Damodaran said.

Addressing a seminar on `Relevance of Ethics in Public Administration' here on Friday organised by the Indian Railway Accounts Service, the SEBI Chairman said he would never go easy on those who hold back the information at the time of investigation.

The regulator would punish those who refuse to cooperate with investigators and also those suppressing information in the guise of `client's confidentiality'.

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