Exclusive | SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey: 58 Reforms; Bond Indices Soon; Options Review

In an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), reflects on his first year at the helm of India’s capital markets regulator and outlines a reform agenda anchored in trust, transparency, teamwork and technology. He highlights the implementation of 58 ease-of-doing-business reforms, easing compliance overlaps for intermediaries, streamlining Foreign Portfolio Investor registration, and strengthening investor protection architecture. Pandey makes several significant and forward-looking observations. He underscores that India’s corporate bond market, now about ₹58 lakh crore and growing at nearly 12% annually, must deepen further, with corporate bond indices and derivatives in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India expected to move ahead soon. On derivatives, he clarifies that regulatory tightening targeted only short-dated options hyperactivity, adding that SEBI will review impact data before considering further steps. He explains the rationale behind mutual fund rationalisation to ensure schemes are “true to label” and avoid overlap, and stresses accountability in artificial intelligence-driven trading. Pandey also notes India ranked number one globally in number of Initial Public Offerings in 2025, reinforcing the country’s growing stature as a preferred capital-raising destination.