NEW DELHI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has on an average one employee for every six listed companies, compared to its counterpart Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, which has almost one staff for each listed firm, according to a report by a high-level panel on corporate governance.
In key divisions such as corporate finance, which is responsible for ascertaining the quality of financial statements of listed firms, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has 15 more employees than Sebi.The SEC has a total of 4,554 employees compared to 780 with Sebi.
“Staff strength at Sebi needs to be increased to strengthen its monitoring and enforcement functions,” the panel headed by Uday Kotak recommended.According to the panel, successful enforcement of actions by Sebi can have the twin effect of penalising the guilty, on the one hand, and creating a significant deterrent effect on the other hand.
It suggested Sebi to develop teams comprising data scientists, accountants,lawyers specialised in corporate law, engineers and academicians. The members need to have knowledge within their respective areas as also possess broad expertise across functional areas. In addition, Sebi should build its market intelligence through regular review of market research and reports of proxy advisors.