Sebi taking action quite quickly to address issues: Ajay Tyagi

Amid instances of crises at various entities in the financial sector, Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi on Monday said such things affect trust of investors but that do not mean everything is wrong, and the regulator is taking steps quite quickly. "Whatever improvement is required, we are doing it quite quickly... whatever is in Sebi's domain," Tyagi said and referred to action taken in the case of crisis at Karvy Stock Broking Ltd.

When asked whether instances such as crisis at DHFL, IL&FS and KSBL have impacted investors' trust, Tyagi said, "definitely such things affect the trust (of investors) but that does not mean everything is bad or everything is wrong". According to him, whatever was in Sebi's domain, the regulator has done things quite promptly.

"Karvy was in our domain. We did very promptly. We are trying to improve on rating agencies side... and on bond market development," Tyagi said. "We will take some more steps," he added.

On November 22, Sebi barred KSBL from taking new clients in respect of its stock broking activities and also prevented it from using the power of attorney (PoA) given by clients after the broker was found to have allegedly misused clients' securities. IL&FS and DHFL are grappling with financial woes and the authorities, including the corporate affairs ministry and regulators, have taken various measures.

To a query on why the regulator is not reducing the disclosure time for debt default to one day or seven days, Tyagi said, "if you ask me, I wish it was". He recalled that Sebi's circular issued in August 2017 had proposed one-day time, which was later changed. Various other issues were discussed by the regulator's board, he added.

On November 21, Sebi asked listed companies to disclose any loan default within 24 hours of any failure to repay principal or interest amount to banks or financial institutions beyond 30 days. The decision is aimed at addressing the gaps in the availability of information to investors, the regulator had said in a circular.

"I would say it (disclosure time) is to begin with and we will see that based on experiences gained, it could be tweaked further. That is the history of it," Tyagi said. According to him, the disclosure time is one day for default on bond payments.