Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 15 (ANI): The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will pursue a broader set of capital market reforms to simplify regulatory compliance, improve liquidity in corporate bonds and expand investor access, while retaining safeguards, Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday.

Addressing the Financial Express Modern BFSI Summit 2026 in Mumbai, Pandey said the regulator's priorities included updating listing rules, improving the functioning of debt markets and exploring new technologies to make financial markets more efficient and resilient.

"Our next priorities are simpler rules, deeper markets, responsible innovation and wider access," Pandey said.

He said India's market capitalisation had grown nearly fivefold over the past decade to Rs 472 lakh crore, with more than 15 crore unique investors and Rs 83 lakh crore in mutual fund assets. With markets expanding, he said, regulation must keep pace without creating unnecessary complexity.

"We cannot add a manual check for every new transaction. Safeguards must work by design," Pandey said, adding that SEBI's approach was to match regulatory requirements with the activity, its risks and investor sophistication. "Investor protection and market integrity remain non-negotiable," he said.

As part of its regulatory review, SEBI is undertaking a comprehensive review of the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) framework and has proposed stronger monitoring of funds raised through public issues.

It is also reviewing the small and medium enterprise (SME) initial public offering framework to help genuine businesses raise capital while protecting investors.

On corporate bonds, SEBI is developing a market-making framework to improve liquidity in secondary-market trading. It is also working on a framework for Fixed Income Channel Partners to widen retail access through regulated online bond platforms. The second phase of its Demat 2.0 pilot will enable secondary-market trading of tokenised corporate bonds.

Pandey said the regulator was also exploring an artificial intelligence (AI) sandbox to test applications in a controlled environment, assess risks and develop safeguards while providing regulatory clarity to innovators.

"The best regulation prevents risks before they become problems. Technology lets us build safeguards into market systems," he said.

Highlighting the need to improve investor awareness, Pandey said SEBI's Investor Survey 2025 found that only 36 per cent of investors had moderate to high knowledge of securities markets.

"While digital access creates opportunity, investor education must build the knowledge to use it wisely," he said.

Pandey said SEBI would continue to focus on simpler rules, deeper markets and wider access, while ensuring that technological innovation and market expansion do not weaken investor protection. (ANI)