Madhabi Puri Buch, the first female head of Sebi, wants to make the regulator developmental and facilitative in its approach, and believes that tech can be a magic bullet
When Madhabi Puri Buch entered Sebi’s corner office around a year ago, she brought with her an important cultural change at the regulatory body. Buch, the first non-IAS Chairperson of Sebi since 2002 (former LIC chairman G.N. Bajpai was named Sebi chief in 2002), brought in a culture that was more in sync with the corporate world
The regulator’s top brass started making powerpoint presentations at conferences, instead of the age-old practice of reading out from a prepared speech.One also saw a big change in the manner in which officials of the watchdog, formed in 1988, were evaluated in terms of performance
Madhabi Puri Buch, who returns to Business Today’s Most Powerful Women in Business list 2022 after 2010 when she was MD & CEO of ICICI Securities, identified Sebi staff across departments to engage actively with industry and market participants to get their views and feedback, and help formulate better policies for the development of the market
If there is one thing that the Sebi chief never gets tired talking about, it is the combined prowess of data and technology. When BT asked her what matters to her the most while making crucial and tough business decisions, Madhabi Puri Buch said she ensures that “… all stakeholders have had the opportunity to present their data and that I have looked at all their data completely objectively”.
Madhabi Puri Buch had once highlighted that Sebi had developed in-house an algorithm that throws alerts related to insider trading and front running. Incidentally, she had once called technology a “magic bullet” that could help stakeholders in various areas of the market including compliance, cost reduction and controls, among other things
Madhabi Puri Buch has spearheaded many important initiatives. Norms related to buybacks, the role of mutual fund trustees, alternative investment funds (AIFs), public issues, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and investor grievance redressal mechanism are among those that have already been reviewed and updated or are currently under review
Madhabi Puri Buch also oversaw the transition of the Indian stock markets as they became one of the fastest in the world in terms of settlement with the introduction of T+1 settlement mechanism in January. She was even quick in tightening the regulatory framework for public issues after a slew of IPOs brought to the fore issues that needed to be addressed fast
Madhabi Puri Buch, who has worked with organisations like ICICI Bank, Greater Pacific Capital and New Development Bank (as a consultant), was also at the helm when Sebi passed orders against names like Mehul Choksi, Brickwork Ratings, Bombay Dyeing, CG Power, Parsvnath Developers, Indian Commodity Exchange, and Fortis Healthcare, among others