Pratip Kar resigns from Sebi board

MUMBAI: Pratip Kar, the longest serving executive director on the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) board, has resigned from the post citing personal reasons, sources familiar with the development said, . Mr Kar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. He was in charge of derivative, investigation, surveillance departments and new products at Sebi.

Mr Kar’s departure sparked intense speculation that he was joining Reliance Industries as an advisor, but RIL sources said they have no knowledge about the development.

Mr Kar has been on the Sebi board since 1992, when the market regulator was set up, and has worked under four chairmen — SS Nadkarni, DR Mehta, GN Bajpai and the incumbent M Damodaran.

Mr Kar has been part of the organisation as it underwent a dramatic change from a toothless regulator to one which locked horns leading corporates and market intermediaries for violation of stock market norms.

He was on the Sebi board when HLL was charged with insider trading, Sterlite, Videocon and BPL were handed down punishments for allegedly rigging their stock prices, Ketan Parekh and his group companies were debarred from the stock market for 14 years for stock price manipulation.

He was also witness to the major policy announcements by the regulator, including the tightening of IPOs so as to make the bourses a safer place for the retail investor.

Mr Kar’s earlier portfolio included mutual funds, takeovers and foreign institutional investors (FII). Prior to joining Sebi, he has worked with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and with the Industrial Finance Corporation of India.