SEBI bets on technology, market reforms to strengthen capital markets amid global uncertainty

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday said India's securities markets demonstrated strong resilience in FY26 despite global geopolitical tensions, trade wars, volatile capital flows and rapid technological disruption, with the regulator shifting its focus towards "resilience by design" through technology-led supervision and regulatory reforms. 

In his message in SEBI's Annual Report 2025-26, Pandey said the true strength of a well-regulated market lies not in avoiding volatility but in ensuring orderly price discovery, protecting investors and enabling efficient capital formation. He said India's capital markets continued to deepen in both scale and sophistication, positioning themselves as a key pillar in achieving the country's Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. 

IPO leadership, bond market reforms drive capital formation 

Highlighting capital formation, Pandey said India ranked first globally in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) and third in terms of funds raised during FY26. To support this momentum, SEBI restructured the minimum public shareholding framework by giving large issuers up to 10 years to meet the mandatory 25% public float requirement. It also allowed founders of new-age companies to retain pre-IPO employee stock options (ESOPs). 

The regulator also introduced several measures to strengthen alternative investment and infrastructure financing. These included accredited investor-only schemes for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), lowering the minimum investment threshold for large value funds to ₹25 crore from ₹70 crore, and permitting Category I and II AIFs to offer co-investment schemes. Pandey said Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) have matured into important channels for infrastructure financing. 

On the debt side, SEBI launched the Pan-India Bond Issuer Outreach Programme to improve corporate bond market participation and made the Electronic Book Provider (EBP) platform mandatory for debt issuances of ₹20 crore and above. Issuers were also allowed to offer incentives such as additional interest or discounts to retail investors and senior citizens. 

The municipal bond market also gained traction, with 14 issuances raising ₹1,756 crore during the year. Pandey said the launch of electricity derivatives would further strengthen energy risk management by enabling transparent price discovery and hedging against price volatility. 

AI-powered surveillance, investor protection take centre stage 

A key theme of SEBI's reforms during FY26 was technology-driven market supervision. Pandey said the regulator launched Project Sudarsan to monitor unauthorized financial advice on social media and SEBI R(AI)DAR, an artificial intelligence-based platform to review advertisements. It also introduced the Past Risk and Return Verification Agency (PaRRVA) to independently verify performance claims made by market intermediaries. 

To improve investor safety, SEBI rolled out validated UPI handles, the SEBI Check facility and partnered with Google Play to provide verified labels for registered stock trading apps. Citing SEBI's latest investor survey, Pandey noted that 62% of investors are influenced by financial influencers, reinforcing the need for stronger oversight of digital financial content. 

Pandey said SEBI's regulatory philosophy during the year focused on "optimum regulation" by simplifying compliance while maintaining robust investor safeguards. The regulator introduced the SWAGAT-FI framework for trusted foreign investors, launched the India Market Access portal, simplified mutual fund regulations, introduced common contract notes and modernised decades-old regulations governing brokers, registrars and transfer agents. 

Roadmap for FY27: Simpler regulations, deeper markets 

On market integrity, Pandey said SEBI continued its crackdown on insider trading, front-running, market manipulation and corporate fraud. The regulator also introduced reforms in the derivatives market by reducing expiry-day concentration, rationalising weekly index options and strengthening intraday position monitoring to improve market stability. 

Looking ahead, Pandey said SEBI will continue simplifying regulations, deepen the cash equity and corporate bond markets, revamp the Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) framework, introduce a fast-track approval mechanism for AIF schemes and pilot tokenisation of corporate bonds using distributed ledger technology. It also plans to strengthen cybersecurity preparedness and expand the use of artificial intelligence in market surveillance. 

On investor education, Pandey highlighted Project Jagrook, launched by the Union Finance Minister, which will bring together SEBI, market infrastructure institutions, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) and the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) to create a nationwide investor awareness campaign aimed at promoting informed and responsible participation in India's capital markets.