SEBI to cut intermediary fees by 50-80%,forms committee against NSDL

New Delhi, Mar 5 (UNI) The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today said it will reduce intermediary fees by 50-80 per cent, which will be effective from April 1, 2008.

The board in its pervious meeting had formed an internal committee, headed by Mr V K Chopra, to examine its fee structure for rationalisation and after the committee submitted its report giving a wide range of recommendations so as to directly or indirectly benefit the common investors.

It has also decided to set up an independent panel to oversee the ongoing proceedings by Sebi against National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) in the initial public offering (IPO) scam.

''The board has decided that it will form a committee of three independent board members headed by Mr Mohan Gopal, Director National Judicial Academy and Mr V Liladhar, Deputy Governor RBI, and Mr Anurag Goyal, Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to oversee the conduct of all the proceedings initiated against NSDL,'' Sebi Chairman C B Bhave said.

The committee may seek the advice of Advocate General of Maharshtra Ravi Kadam in its work he added.

The board approved the proposal for granting ''in-principle'' approval for the proposed arrangement between NSE and MSE (Madras stock exchange) where the members of MSE will be allowed to trade in NSE subject to certain terms and conditions after an MoU was signed between the two boards.

Earlier in the day, the board was addressed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram who emphasied on the need for greater investor protection, education and market development to increase the base of genuine investors, particularly from non metro cities as they are interested for long time investment.

Mr Bhave added that the board will look into Primary Market issuance process for cutting gap between IPO close and listing dates.

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