The newly introduced Closing Auction Session (CAS) mechanism for determining stock market closing prices will strengthen Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI’s) ability to detect and act against market manipulation, its Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a FICCI Capital Markets event in Mumbai, Pandey said the regulator would take swift and strict action against attempts to manipulate prices during the CAS.

“We want to make one thing clear, that if people do manipulation in CAS, then we will take strict action and do it immediately,” Pandey said. He added that the CAS mechanism provides SEBI with greater capabilities to identify manipulation compared with the earlier Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP)-based system.

SEBI to release granular derivatives study

SEBI is set to release its study on retail and non-retail participation in the derivatives market for 2025-26 on August 20, Pandey said.

He said the latest report would maintain continuity with SEBI’s earlier studies while providing greater granularity in the data and analysis.

“The idea of this report is to be, number one, consistent. We have been releasing these data. But the analysis this time will be more granular and there will be more people to comment,” he said.

Pandey said the report would examine different categories of market participants and their activity, with particular attention to retail investors, while not being limited to them.

SME IPO framework set for overhaul

The SEBI chairperson also said the regulator was looking to overhaul the framework governing the initial public offerings (IPOs) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) , noting that the existing system had created difficulties for traders.

He further said there was a need to facilitate global fund management in India and indicated that the new Portfolio Management Services (PMS) regulations would help ease the process.

Published - August 19, 2026 08:03 pm IST