India to unveil measures to make stock markets safe

Monday, 15 December 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said Friday the Indian government proposed to unveil a series of measures to free stock markets from any kind of manipulations and wrong doings. Singh was making a statement in parliament on the action taken pursuant to the recommendations of a parliamentary committee on the stock market manipulation scandal in 2001. The minister said the government had taken a number of measures in the past few months that included setting up "additional institutional mechanisms" to keep a regular watch on the financial markets. A Serious Frauds Investigating Office and a coordination mechanism with financial market regulators and investigating agencies have also been established, said Singh. "The government is also considering bringing about other legislation like the Companies Law (Amendment) Bill and Government Securities Bill 2003," he said. "While some recommendations (of the parliamentary panel) are pending for want of legislative mandates, others can be implemented only after the current investigations or judicial proceedings in courts of law are completed." The 30-member parliamentary panel was set up on April 26, 2001, to probe allegations of manipulations and insider trading that shook the country's stock markets in March and April, wiping off billions of rupees of investors' wealth. Singh said the government was monitoring developments on the actions taken based on the parliamentary panel's suggestions and that there had been good progress in the investigations into the market scam. "It shall be our endeavour to see that wherever any action is pending, it is most expeditiously completed," said the minister.
Source: IANS
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