Markets, US-64 safe: Panel

October 15: The Inter-Surveillance Co-ordination Group of stock exchanges ISCG, which met at SEBI headquarters here on Thursday gave a ...

October 15: The Inter-Surveillance Co-ordination Group of stock exchanges ISCG, which met at SEBI headquarters here on Thursday gave a clean chit to the Unit Trust of India8217;s US-64 scheme. The fears over US-64 were a creation of a section of the media and the market participants have corroborated the fact that UTI will continue to remain a major player, SEBI officials said.

quot;The common view was that there was not the kind of panic as it was reported in the media,quot; explained top SEBI officials after attending the meeting. 8220;The market representatives are confident about the scheme,8221; SEBI chairman D R Mehta told this newspaper.

SEBI officials said that a particular FII 8212; which hammered the Sensex since October 5 8212; has explained that they are getting out of Indian markets as they are facing redemptions in home markets as well as to invest in the Thai stock market which is showing signs of revival.

quot;After evaluating the present surveillance checks we realised that it was adequate enough to monitor andensure market safety even when there is so much of an upheaval,quot; explained LK Singhvi, Sebi executive director in-charge of surveillance and investigation.

During today8217;s meeting, the group felt that the surveillance mechanism in all the stock exchanges needs some fine tuning by changing the daily reporting system.

In the light of the current norms on the eligibility criteria for the entry of a broker into the governing board, the group decided that a broker suspended from trading will not be allowed to get elected to the board for a period of two years. Currently this condition is applicable only in the event of a broker8217;s license being cancelled by Sebi.

The group also felt that surveillance staff at all the stock exchanges needs formal training and later certification.

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The group has, therefore, decided to conduct a training and certification programme for the surveillance staff of the exchanges. Singhvi explained that the ISCG has formed a sub-group comprising of representatives of the stockexchanges and Sebi, who would be responsible for preparing a quot;training capsulequot; within a span of 15 days.

The group also realised that it was essential to improve the process of information sharing between exchanges. Another committee was formed comprising of senior officials from BSE, NSE, Calcutta, Bangalore and Delhi Stock Exchanges, who would work out the modalities for dissemination of information between exchanges.

The group also discussed the modalities of the reporting format, which the exchanges need to adhere to. It was decided that the current format is outdated and needs to be restructured and tuned with a specific focus.