Sebi to submit report on banking scrips: Jaswant

Expressing disappointment over the volatile trend in public sector bank scrips, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday said the government has asked Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to study the trading pattern in these stocks and urgently submit a report. ‘‘I have already asked Sebi chairman G.N. Bajpai to look into the matter, ’’ Singh said while addressing the India’s Best Managed Company Awards function organised by Business Today and A.T. Kearney here.

However, he did not elaborate on the timeframe given to the market regulator for submission of the report. Scrips of PSU banks have been witnessing volatility in the last few days, especially in those stocks where banks have announced their plans to return equity to the government. The minister said government has made operations in the banking sector transparent and ‘yet when one comes across such developments, one is unhappy’.

Asked about the pricing and related issues of public sector bank stocks, Singh said he would not like to comment till the government gets the report.

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On the experience of investors with capital markets, the minister said, ‘‘It is a sad reality that between 1990 to 2003, we have seen fractures in investors’ confidence’’.

The markets are thin with limited investors presence and in fact in rural areas, those trading in stocks are looked upon as ‘satorias’ (gamblers)’’, he lamented adding, ‘‘we have to collectively work to correct the impression about stock markets’’.