Sebi has laid out key focus areas to boost capital formation in infrastructure products, lower minimum investments in mutual funds and build strong institutions for this financial year in its annual report 2023-24, published on Friday.
The regulator said one of its focus areas is capital formation through real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), along with municipal bonds.
Sebi has set up an advisory committee for REITs and InvITs to understand the needs of the market and its stakeholders. “If businesses following the models of democratisation are supported by thoughtful and innovative policies, a day will come when our REITs, InvITs and municipal bond markets could be many times their current size,” Sebi noted.
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Sebi is also planning to launch low-ticket systematic investment plans (SIPs) for investors to promote financial inclusion and to inculcate the habit of investing.
“To promote low-ticket systematic investment plans (SIPs) and to ensure their viability, Sebi and Amfi are in consultation with stakeholders to reduce the overall cost associated with the product to aid financial inclusion,” the report said.
Sebi is also working on a data benchmarking institution (DBI) and performance validation agency (PVA), aimed at improving the quality of information provided to investors in the securities market.
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The DBI will provide a central repository of standardised and comparable data related to various asset classes. PVA will validate claims of performance related to services offered by investment advisors, research analysts and algo providers.
Sebi said it will also be reviewing the existing rights issue framework to rationalise the disclosure requirements and reduce the timeline for the same.
Some of the other key areas include ease of doing business, streamlining processes, better market surveillance, shortening the time to access funds for investors, review of corporate governance, deepening the corporate bond market and improving technological and cybersecurity capabilities.