The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday announced the setting up of a research advisory committee. According to a press release by the trading watchdog, the committee will be headed by Dr Sankar De and will comprise prominent financial economists and market practitioners as its members. This committee will define the objectives, scope, and direction of research relevant for the development and regulation of capital markets in India, specifically for SEBI, keeping in view the linkage of research in its policymaking.
Speaking at the 55th Annual Conference of the Indian Econometric Society, Ajay Tyagi, Chairman of SEBI said that the move is to aid surveillance and other functions. He mentioned that a process by SEBI is also underway to further strengthen its in-house analytics capacity to support its market surveillance and risk management functions.
“Policymakers often have preconceived biases towards the outcome of their policy prescriptions. A policy backed by independent research could go a long way in mitigating such biases, thereby leading to optimal decision making,” said Tyagi in the conference.
SEBI chairman Ajay Tyagi at an event also said that “research is an essential input for any public policy making, particularly in financial markets which are highly dynamic and ever-changing. Without independent research inputs, taking decisions is like shooting in the dark and that too blind-folded. This can be through its aid in helping evolve a robust market, and identifying regulatory gaps compared to what is done elsewhere in the world ”.
The new committee will also be developing strategies for effective execution and delivery of research along with promoting databases relevant for capital market regulation research. The SEBI statement added that the committee will also explore and develop research collaborations with both internal and external researchers, including other regulators as well as academic institutions.
SEBI has been on a spree at improving and upskilling its capabilities with emerging technologies be it analytics or AI. Earlier, SEBI had even issued directives to disclose all AI-Based tools used in the stock market.
In 2018, SEBI had even invited expression of interests from organisations to enhance their analytical capabilities. The EoI had also included a call for setting up a private cloud and kept computing and storage capacity ready for different projects.
The regulator for the securities market had also shortlisted seven tech firms months ago, which included companies like Wipro, L&T Infotech, Accenture, Capgemini, Hewlett Packard, EIT Services India and Tharavu Technologies to bolster its analytics capabilities, build a storage cloud and to also automate the inspection of brokers.
