SEBI employees set to protest over various issues, says report, but employee associations deny move

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) officials are set to protest at the Mumbai Head Office—SEBI Bhavan Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)—on Monday, August 5. NDTV Profit quoted anonymous sources on Saturday, August 3, that as many as 700 officers employed with the market watchdog will be involved in this protest.

LiveMint couldn't independently verify the report.

The official's protest is fueled by the rising discontent amongst the SEBI employees with the regulator's leadership, which has been built in the last 2.5 years. The report said the employees have not been happy with the leadership for the last two and a half years.

The upcoming SEBI employee protest is also driven by key factors such as dissatisfaction with the allowances provided by the regulator, which are not updated to be in line with those offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as per the report. 

A new system for uploading the Key Result Areas (KRAs) has been introduced, as per the news report. This threatens the allowance stoppage in case of non-compliance and heightens the unrest.

SEBI has sent a follow-up apology letter in the form of an email to the employees to address the issues and grievances, yet the employee distress is persistent, reported the news organisation quoting an anonymous source who highlighted the issues of mistrust in the regulatory body.

“While SEBI is working to improve conditions for external stakeholders, there is a growing mistrust among its own employees that needs to be addressed,” reported NDTV Profit, quoting an anonymous source.

SEBI Employee Associations Deny Protests

Meanwhile, in a statement rebutting the media reports, two employee associations, which claimed to represent 80 per cent of the regulator's employees said news od protest is “misinformation by a few disgruntled people”.

“The SEBI Employee Association (SEA) and SEBI Employee Association for Legal Stream (SEALS), which are the two employee associations of SEBI, representing about 80 per cent of employees strongly condemn the action of spreading of mis-information by few disgruntled persons with respect to mistrust within the organization which is misplaced,” the statement read.

“Employees related issues are critical to SEBI. SEA and SEALS regularly interacts with SEBI management on every HR related issue including allowances impacting a large number of employees, which are dealt with in a consultative manner,” it added.

The statement further noted that SEBI has brought “greater thrust on transparency, accountability and consultation in the functioning of the organization including in the formulation of HR policies”.

“We once again condemn the spreading of mis-information,” said the SEA spokesperson.