SEBI chief for change in takeover code

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 19. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Mr. D. R. Mehta, today expressed the opinion that there was a need to change the company takeover code and said that a committee headed by Justice P. N. Bhagwati was looking into this.

Talking to presspersons after meeting the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, here today, Mr. Mehta declined to comment on the Arun Bajoria-Nusli Wadia issue but made a general comment that there was need for changes in the takeover code. Asked whether SEBI had sought more powers from the Government, Mr. Mehta said the Dhanuka Committee recommendations were already with the Government for necessary action.

PTI reports:

Mr. Mehta described his meeting with the Finance Minister as a `routine' one, but there were indications that the issue of giving more teeth to monitor companies by SEBI figured prominently in the discussions.

``We need more powers to investigate the companies as the market has become more complex and business in the exchanges have increased from Rs. 5,000 crores a few years ago to the current Rs. 20,000 crores a month," he said.

About the market, Mr. Mehta said 15 scrips in the B1 group out of the 163 scrips would be tried on the daily carry forward system in the Bombay Stock Exchange, continuous net settlement (CNS) system in the National Stock Exchange and automated lending and borrowing mechanism (ALBM) in other exchanges.

The 15 scrips would be selected on the basis of a thumb-rule of companies having net worth of more than Rs. 200 crores, he said.

The new instruments daily carry forward, CNS and ALBM would be tried out for a few days and a final decision on implementing the rolling settlement would be taken after considering the investors' interests, he said.

After the introduction on rolling settlement, Mr. Mehta said ``We found investors were the biggest losers in this process and we want to do something about it but at the same time we are committed to introduce rolling settlement."

Meanwhile, the Calcutta-based jute baron, Mr. Arun Bajoria has claimed that he had acquired 14 per cent stake in Mr. Nusli Wadia's company, Bombay Dyeing, recently and there are apprehensions that he would try to acquire a majority stake in the company.

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