SEBI chief Ajay Tyagi gave information about more people investing in stock market in India due to lockdown

Since the lockdown came into force to control the coronavirus epidemic, retail investors' participation in the equity market has increased. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman Ajay Tyagi said this on Wednesday. Addressing a FICCI event, Tyagi said that there has been an increase in new Demat accounts as many participants have invested for the first time. Tyagi said, "We have seen a huge increase in the participation of retail investors in the last few months."

 

He has said that the regulator has taken various steps to make it easier for corporates to raise funds as many companies are facing a variety of challenges due to the epidemic. Tyagi said that companies have been given policy discounts on various fronts including rights issue, follow-on public offers. Apart from this, the pricing framework associated with the allocation of shares has been made easier by preferential issue.

 

Tyagi said in the meantime that the corporate bond market is limited to bonds with good ratings. He said that very few issues are able to raise funds through debt. He said that there is a need for institutional investors as well as other companies in the corporate bond market as mutual funds are the major players in this segment.