Madhabi Puri made history in 2022 by becoming the first woman to hold the prestigious position of Chairperson at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), marking a significant milestone in her remarkable career spanning nearly three decades in the financial sector.With an extensive background, Madhabi accumulated 30 years of experience, serving as a whole-time member of SEBI from 2017 to 2021 before assuming the role of Chairperson. Notably, her appointment broke new ground as she became the first non-IAS officer to hold this esteemed position.
Madhabi commenced her professional journey in 1989 at ICICI Bank, where she worked as a project finance analyst until 1992. Her commitment to knowledge and education led her to become a lecturer at West Cheshire College, United Kingdom, from 1993 to 1995.
Earning recognition for her capabilities, Madhabi took on various roles at ICICI Bank, including Executive Director in 2006Her responsibilities encompassed diverse areas such as marketing, sales, product development, operations, and brand marketing.In 2016, Madhabi extended her entrepreneurial spirit by founding the Singapore-based Agora Agency Pvt. Ltd.Reflecting on her earlier years, Madhabi shared insights into her academic life, describing herself as a dedicated student during her 12th-grade studies – a self-proclaimed nerd with large spectacles and a penchant for books.
When it comes to her sources of inspiration, Madhabi admires the creativity of Disney’s Walt and the trailblazing achievements of Kiran Bedi.In discussing her success mantra, Madhabi emphasized the importance of a straightforward approach – delivering results. She believes in understanding the organizational objectives, meeting expectations, and consistently delivering excellence. According to her, this formula has proven to be unfailing, leading to recognition and opportunities to take on significant roles within an organization.Madhabi’s journey serves as an inspiration, showcasing resilience, dedication, and a commitment to breaking barriers in the financial sector.
MUTUAL FUNDS AND SEBI
Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Friday said the capital markets regulator wishes to sachetise mutual fund investments going forward.Speaking at an event hosted by Business Today here, Buch said the mutual fund industry feels investments of Rs 500 per month in a systematic investment plan are viable, but Rs 250 are not and the focus will be to try to look at ways of making such investments rewarding.
“We are working with them (Mutual Fund industry) to see where is the cost, what can Sebi do to facilitate making it possible to bring that viability down to Rs 250 a month, because then it is the equivalent of what Hindustan Lever did with shampoo sachets. You just explode the market,” Buch said.The comments come on a day the Mutual fund industry reported its highest-ever monthly investments through SIPs at over Rs 17,000 crore for November. It also comes amid expectations of an aggressive entry by the Reliance Group entity Jio Financial Services into the MF space.
Buch said such sachetisation will help the financial inclusion agenda, and also help the Indian capital markets.Citing the experience of over the last one year, Buch said hardening of rates in the developed markets made foreign investors sell Indian equities, but India was not impacted as much as other emerging markets because the domestic investors held fort and also forced the foreign investors to come back because of the yields the market was offering.
In effect, the benefit of our domestic flows and the retail flows had a double impact. The impact of them coming in and the impact of the foreign money returning because they couldn’t afford to miss the Indian story,” she added.Buch said she will focus on this aspect in the last year of her three-year term, and added that the attempt will also be to institutionalize the reforms and initiatives done over the last few years so that it lasts as long as possible.
She reiterated that rather than ticking boxes by appointing women on boards, it is necessary for companies to employ women across the hierarchy, starting from the key management personnel on top to down below, and added that it is because of this view that Sebi focuses on making the top-1,000 listed companies disclose the share of payments to women in the overall wage bills.Buch said she is very passionate about technology and data, and uses both in her work.
The investment banker-turned-regulator said her knowledge of the way the market works and the loopholes used by practitioners helps her perform better at the job as the chairperson of SEBI.