Jalan panel report sparks off hectic lobbying

Stakeholders’ meeting sees sharp exchanges over proposal to disallow the public listing of exchanges. Vicious lobbying, including open letters, advertisements and personal attacks, is underway among different stakeholders in the capital market over the recommendations of the Bimal Jalan committee on ownership and governance of market institutions such as stock exchanges. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an industry lobby, on Tuesday organized a meeting between former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Jalan, two of his committee members, and stakeholders in the capital market to exchange views. The only stakeholder not represented was the retail investor. The meeting was marked by some sharp exchanges between stakeholders and committee members over a recommendation to disallow the public listing of exchanges, a personal attack by one of the stakeholders on Jalan, which resulted in an intervention from the moderator with a request to restrict conversation to issues and not personalities and veiled suggestions that the report did not reflect the majority view of the 29 stakeholders who deposed before it. The committee was constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to review the ownership structure and governance of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) such as stock exchanges.