SEBI expresses urgent need to revive investor sentiment, faltering growth

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India - SEBI has expressed an urgent need to revive investor sentiment and faltering growth. Addressing the Skoch summit in Mumbai today, SEBI Chairman, Upendra Kumar Sinha said that the government should accelerate work on some of the urgent reform measures to avoid further growth deceleration. He added that the government should resolve issues plaguing the implementation side and clear the road for all the long pending reforms. 

Talking about pension reforms, Mr. Sinha said that merely passing the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill will serve a limited purpose unless the reforms come about in Employees Provident Fund Organisation - EPFO. 

Noting that EPFO has 40 million accounts amounting to a whopping Rs 2,00,000 crore in funds, Mr. Sinha said, if the government succeeds in bringing about even a small amount of this money into the markets, it will benefit a lot. Although admitting that a part of our problems are due to global issues, Mr. Sinha said the government cannot become complacent about policy making and implementation domestically.

Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, RBI’s Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said that the recent fall in GDP figures was driven by a host of factors and not just because of RBI’s high policy rates. Countering the view that low GDP growth was driven by low investment growth, Mr. Chakrabarty said that GDP growth has suffered due to poor growth in manufacturing, lack of productivity and inflation. 

Talking about the possible exit of Greece from Eurozone, Mr. Chakrabarty said that it might adversely affect the Indian economy. He however added that, in case of an emergency, the government and RBI will switch to their contingency plan.