On Tuesday, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch appeared before a Parliamentary panel to be questioned over the Sahara case, the NSE controversy, share offers of Paytm and Patanjali’s acquisition of Ruchi Soya.
Former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha chaired the meeting of the Parliamentary standing committee on finance. It lasted for more than two-and-a-half hours, in which queries were raised on cryptocurrencies.
The committee had called Buch to reflect upon regulatory issues related to International Financial Services Centres, initial public offerings, and alternate investment funds, according to a notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Earlier in the day, the newly appointed Sebi chief was also questioned by the Parliamentary committee on petitions on the progress made to date in refunding money to Pulse Agro Corporation Limited (PACL) investors.
In December 2015, SEBI had ordered the attachment of all assets of PACL and its nine promoters and directors because of their failure to refund the money due to investors.
Members asked several queries about the investigation being done by SEBI in the NSE fiasco in which several of the top officials, including former Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, are being investigated.
Several members also asked questions about the Paytm IPO, follow on public offer (FPO) of Ruchi Soya and money related to the Sahara case lying with the capital markets regulator.
On March 28, SEBI had asked bankers of Ruchi Soya to give an option to investors in its FPO to withdraw their bids. In the case of Paytm, its shares have tanked after the mega initial public offer (IPO).
