Around 400 Sebi Employees Resort To Protest, Demands Sebi Chief Resignation

Amid the ongoing chaos within the market regulator mechanism and multiple allegations on Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chief, Madhabi Puri Buch, around 400 employees resorted to protest and displayed their agitation outside the office premise.

The agitation was instigated after the Sebi denied the allegations of toxic work culture, humiliation and other anti elements prevalent in the organisation citing that the employees are perhaps misguided by external elements to target the credibility of it and its leadership.

The protesters demanded that the press release should be recalled based on false claims. Moreover, the Sebi chief should also submit her resignation.

As per reports, Sebi officials made a complaint to the finance ministry last month, accusing the regulator's leadership of fostering a 'toxic work culture'.

"We would not like to speculate on who those external elements may be or what their motives might be," Sebi said in a five-page statement. Sebi added it is committed to enhancing the capacity of all its employees and allowing them to actualize their full potential.

Sebi on Wednesday said that in the recent past, amongst numerous other benefits, employees were demanding 55 per cent increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA), over the allowance set in 2023.

Also, employees raised an issue on the update of Sebi’s automated management information system for key result areas (KRAs), which had been designed to bring more transparency, fairness, and accountability within Sebi.

Thereafter, after seven days, reportedly a second letter was submitted with a long list of 16 demands, for numerous monetary and non-monetary benefits including an increase in HRA. Further, automatic promotions at lower performance ratings without interviews have also been demanded, the Sebi statement said.

“Sebi officers are already well paid, and for entry-level officers at Grade A, the cost to the company is approximately Rs 34 lakh per annum, which compares extremely favourably even with the corporate sector. The new demands placed by them would amount to an additional CTC of almost Rs 6 lakh per annum,” Sebi said.

In the statement, Sebi said it is committed to ensuring that it is responsive to the market ecosystem and all its participants, both in terms of speed of approval and facilitating ease of doing business as well as in carrying out timely investigation and enforcement against wrongdoing in the market.

"It is unfortunate that some elements have attempted to diminish the significant capabilities of Sebi employees by instigating employees to believe that, as "employees of a Regulator" they should not be required to have such high standards of performance and accountability,” Sebi said in its statement today.