TUHIN KANTA PANDEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA (SEBI), SHARES HIS VISION FOR THE REGULATOR'S ROLE IN INDIA'S DYNAMIC CAPITAL MARKET, EMPHASISING BALANCED REGULATION AND SUSTAINABLE MARKET GROWTH.

You have spoken about building trust between Sebi and market participants and doing away with excessive micromanagement and outdated roles. Could you elaborate on what you meant by that?

- SOURAV MAJUMDAR, V. KESHAVDEV, AND ASHUTOSH KUMAR

Trust must be viewed broadly. Firstly, the public should have confidence in the regulator. Sebi has evolved into a robust institution over time, with successive leadership refining it. We have faced and overcome challenges, building significant capacity. Sebi is among the world's best regulators—technologically, institutionally, and in terms of rules and implementation. However, trust-building is an ongoing process. When issues arise, we need honest feedback to understand why they occur and what more we can do. For instance, concerns about conflicts of interest prompted us to review our framework. While we have a 2008 framework for board members and employee service regulations, there is currently no public disclosure. Introducing some level of public disclosure could be valuable. Internally, we also need a clearer understanding of conflicts of interest to avoid impeding our work. To address this, Sebi [has] formed a six-member high-level committee to review and strengthen the framework for managing conflicts of interest, disclosures, and related matters. This is an opportunity to proactively address concerns and improve.

Secondly, trust is built through our consultative process, a longstanding strength of Sebi. We release consultation papers for public input and form industry-representative committees to deliberate. We have also established a regulation on how to draft regulations, ensuring a structured process. While we are progressing, we aim to enhance the quality of consultations, possibly by allowing more time for deliberation to avoid rushed decisions. Additionally, we must balance the number of concurrent initiatives to ensure sufficient time for meaningful discussions. Trust-building requires time to understand each other's perspectives and rationale.