The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wants the Budget allocation for the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to continue up to five years after the merger.

In this year’s Budget, the government proposed to merge the two regulators, in the Finance Bill, which will be taken up for debate and approval in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

SEBI generates resources to meet its expenses, while the FMC gets a budgetary allocation for expenditure on development, salaries and other things.

SEBI wants that Budget allocation continued till it can generate resources to meet staff costs. The Finance Ministry provided ₹60.23 crore for the FMC in the Budget for 2014-15, which was revised to ₹40.72 crore later. In 2015-16, the Budget has made a provision of ₹44.43 crore.

SEBI has also requested the ministry for continuation of experienced FMC staff for three years, as also some fresh recruitments. The Finance Bill has left it to SEBI to decide on the continuance of existing FMC staff after the merger.

According to the FMC’s annual report, it had 76 people against the sanctioned strength of 132, as on March 31, 2014.

Office hunt SEBI is also working to find 30,000 sq ft of space. It is looking to get some space in the Air India Building at Nariman Point in Mumbai and has requested the ministry to provide resources to buy or rent space. Currently, SEBI operates from its own building in the Bandra Kurla Complex, while the FMC operates from a rented office in Nariman Point.

The merger of the two regulators is likely to be completed in 6-12 months.

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