SEBI warns merchant bankers against approving bad IPOs

Kolkata, May 9 (UNI) Capital market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today warned merchant bankers against approving bad quality offers to protect investors interests.

''If any IPO went wrong, then there will be no talking terms between the regulator and the merchant banker,'' Sebi Chairman M Damodaran said here.

Sebi was attaching great importance to the quality of IPOs hitting the market, he said adding that if merchant bankers intended to do business in the long term, then they should not approve bad quality IPOs.

'' It was Sebi's job to see that only good quality IPOs enter the market so that more and more retail domestic investors joined the market,'' he said.

" Retail investors must constitute the backbone of the market, not overseas investors,'' he said.

The Sebi Chairman also called for inclusion of more stocks in the market since at present, more money was chasing few stocks for which the markets were becoming overstretched.

The Sebi was in favour of optional grading of IPOs to help the average investor understand the risk factors, he said.

UNI TJP KK RN 1802