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Informist, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

 

By Rajesh Gajra

 

MUMBAI – The Securities and Exchange Board of India's code on conflict of interests for members of its board cannot be set up or modified by the board or members, Whole-Time Member Ananth Narayan said on the sidelines of the Business Standard BFSI Summit Thursday. Narayan was addressing a query by Informist on whether the code needs to be upgraded to provide for making public all disclosures and recusals by SEBI board members.

 

According to the whole-time member, any upgrade or change in the code has to come from the legislative act (Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992), that is, from the government and Parliament. "I am very happy to comply with whatever they want us to comply with," Narayan said.

 

Alluding to an allegation made against him by the Congress Party last week on his investments in shares, Narayan said when SEBI members like him left the private sector to join the regulatory institution, "we didn't come here to make money". Narayan was emphatic that the code on conflict of interests for SEBI members needs to be observed.

 

Among the conflict of interest allegations made by the Congress party last week against SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, it also made some against Narayan with respect to renting out a property owned in Mumbai to a tenant who is an employee in brokerage firm IMC India Securities, and 100,000 shares held in Proud Securities and Credits, now Incred Capital.

 

Following these allegations, Narayan had issued clarifications through a statement. The rental matter, he said, was executed at an arm's length with an individual who happened to be employed by a stockbroker. "All of this (including the rental agreement and the broking connect) was fully and proactively disclosed to SEBI. Along with the full pre-emptive disclosure, I have recused myself from all matters pertaining to this stockbroker, and no such matters have ever come before me," he said in his clarifications last week.

 

With regard to his holdings in Proud Securities, the whole-time member had said that he acquired the shares since it was a company started by a former banking colleague of his in October 2018, which was around four years before joining SEBI. "As with other investments, this holding was disclosed to SEBI immediately after I joined in October 2022, and regularly thereafter...(and) appropriate recusals are also in place for these entities, and no such matters have ever come before me," Narayan said in his statement last week.  End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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