India's market watchdog Sebi needs stricter controls amid charges against Madhabi Puri
Securities and Exchange Board of India won’t make it go away. Nor will chair Madhabi Puri Buch’s decision to stop answering questions about her potential conflict of interest prevent the opposition Congress Party or Hindenburg Research from asking them.
Buch, the first SEBI chief from the private sector, is yet to respond to the opposition party's repeated questioning of her income sources, though she was quick to deny the short seller’s criticism of her past investments.
Also Read: Madhabi Buch maintained complete silence for weeks: Hindenburg
Investments weren’t really a problem for her predecessors. They might have dabbled in stocks on their modest civil-servant salaries, but income from wealth was unlikely to have taken up much space in their tax filings. Unlike Buch, they didn’t own a consulting firm or have access to a segregated account in an offshore fund — two of the points in Hindenburg’s Aug. 10 report that questioned her objectivity. These gentlemen (they were all men) had government pensions, but no employee stock options from a regulated entity — an issue the Congress has made much of.
It will be a pity if the media glare on Buch prompts New Delhi to revert to reserving top regulatory jobs for retired or retiring civil servants. They covet these plum sinecures. But restricting the field could deprive institutions of talented outsiders who are genuinely interested in public service. Besides, government insiders don’t have a lock on perceptions of probity: Past SEBI chiefs have also attracted
