In the past three years, Madhabi Puri Buch had one of the toughest jobs as a regulator — keeping retail investors as safe as possible in a roaring bull market. The Securities Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) first woman chairperson – and the first to come from the private sector – who completes her three year term on February 28 can take credit for achieving that, though some would argue most of the guidelines came only in the last few months amid a falling market.
The futures and options (F&O) and small and medium enterprises initial public offer (SME-IPO) guidelines are likely to go a long way in curbing retail enthusiasm in riskier segments. Further, the relentless crackdown on finfluencers has also ensured that there is more awareness about people providing trading tips under the garb of educational courses. Even mutual fund houses felt the regulatory pressure, with some even complaining that the regulator was being too harsh.
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That Buch managed to bring in all these tough guidelines when retail investors were flocking to the market and it was rewarding them for even being reckless is quite commendable.
The numbers speak for themselves: The number of unique investors at the National Stock Exchange crossed a whopping 110 million last month. The total market capitalisation in February 2025 is `392.6 lakh crore – up 55.15% from `252.4 lakh crore in February 2022. The money raised from mainboard initial public offers between March 2022 and now is `2.77 lakh crore while `16,791 crore has been raised by SMEs. Overall, the Sensex is up 32% and the BSE Mid-cap index is up 68% during her tenure. And this despite a correction since September 2024.
Amid all this hectic action, SEBI tried to keep tight vigil and used the powerful tool of communicating through data. There were regular reports on losses being made by investors in the F&O market. In fact, it even floated a paper on royalty payments being made by Indian companies to their foreign partners.
Data show that during the past three years, the markets regulator published 197 reports for public comments compared to 112 in Ajay Tyagi’s five-year period and 71 in that of UK Sinha from February 2011 to March 2017.
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