The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday said the regulator is reviewing key market regulations, including variable net-worth requirements for stock brokers and the price discovery framework for initial public offerings (IPOs), as part of efforts to make India’s capital markets more efficient and investor-friendly.
Speaking at the ICICI Securities India Investor Conference 2026, Pandey said Sebi was examining changes to ensure capital requirements for brokers better reflect their operational scale and risk profile. The regulator is also studying improvements to the pre-open call auction mechanism for IPOs and relisted securities to enable more stable and efficient market openings.
“We are currently reviewing the framework for variable net-worth requirements for stock brokers so that capital requirements better reflect operational scale and risk,” Pandey said. He added that Sebi was examining measures to improve price discovery, particularly through the pre-open call auction mechanism for IPOs and relisted securities.
The chairman said the regulator was also working to ease compliance requirements for research analysts, including rationalising obligations such as call recordings during institutional interactions. For mutual funds, Sebi has proposed a framework that would allow intraday borrowing to be used more efficiently for managing temporary liquidity mismatches.
Pandey said Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India were working together to introduce derivatives on corporate bond indices and operationalise a market-making framework to improve liquidity in the corporate bond market.
The Sebi chief also outlined steps taken to facilitate foreign portfolio investment, including the SWAGAT single-window onboarding framework and efforts to further reduce registration timelines in coordination with custodian banks and the RBI.
On being asked about the Rajesh Exports matter, Pandey declined to comment on the specific case.
“As a matter of principle, on individual cases we don’t really comment. This is a quasi-judicial process in which orders are issued and they have to be accordingly complied with or gone through in a manner which has been provided as per the law,” he said.
Pandey said Sebi’s regulatory approach remained focused on “optimum regulation” that protects investors, preserves market integrity and enables growth.
