The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the statutory regulator of the securities and capital markets, tasked with protecting investors and promoting fair, orderly market development.
- Set up as a non-statutory body in 1988 and given statutory powers by the SEBI Act, 1992; its headquarters is in Mumbai.
- Its three-fold mandate is to protect investor interests, develop the securities market, and regulate it.
- It registers and regulates stock exchanges, brokers, concept mutual funds, merchant bankers, depositories, credit-rating agencies and other market intermediaries.
- It has quasi-legislative, quasi-executive and quasi-judicial powers; it can frame rules, conduct investigations and search and seizure, and impose penalties; appeals lie with the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).
- It regulates the capital market, while the RBI regulates the money market and banking.
The 1992 statutory basis, the three-fold mandate, the SAT appeal route and the SEBI-versus-RBI jurisdiction split are standard capital-market items.
SEBI (securities and capital market regulator) versus the RBI (banking, money market and monetary policy); SEBI was non-statutory from 1988 but became statutory only in 1992.
Statutory securities-market regulator under the SEBI Act, 1992; protects investors and regulates the capital market; appeals go to the SAT.