In an attempt to instill confidence in markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has also decided on various measures and has given an in principle approval to enforce `code of ethics' for directors and functionaries of the stock exchanges.

Other broker-directors will also have to disclose details of proprietary trading to the ethics panel of the governing boards. The market regulator has also made it mandatory for all registered intermediaries to disclose their interest in a security or investment proposal if they make a public investment advice in such shares. Directors of asset management companies are also required to file the details of their transactions in securities on a quarterly basis. The Sebi board has decided to amend the required regulations for this purpose.

Among the other measures the Sebi board cleared today, the stock exchanges will have to comply with the requirement of introducing gross margining on the basis of data available from the systems (and not on self-certification basis) by March 31, 2001.

Sebi will also issue a directive to the stock exchanges that shares lend under the ALBM and the BLESS will have to be deposited with clearing corporation, making them unavailable for sale/substitution in the same settlement.

Accepting the report of its working group, the regulator has barred the investors to make multiple applications for primary issues unless they specify and identify themselves in all subsequent applications. At the time of allotment, such multiple applications will have to be clubbed together.

All the registrars should be equipped with a uniform minimum standard procedure for the detection of multiple applications.

In addition to pre-numbered, pre-printed application forms, investors can also apply for new issues through the Internet, newspapers and through photocopies of application forms. Besides the listed companies, the Sebi has now allowed unlisted companies to access the debt markets, which was earlier open only for infrastructure companies and municipal corporations.

However, among other requirements, such companies will have to get their securities rated and their promoters need to bring 20 per cent of equity capital and lock it for three years from the date of allotment of debt securities. The board has made it mandatory for mutual funds to publish their half-yearly unaudited results in a simplified format for the benefit of investors. In such advertisements, the funds will have to disclose details like information of large holdings, unit capital, results, performance in terms of dividends and rise/fall in net asset values (NAVs) during the period. Commenting on the critical issues, Sebi chairman DR Mehta said the demutualisation of stock exchanges required legal changes and that it depended on the government how soon it could be implemented. This can be done through amendment in the existing Act or through a separate Act, he added. Sebi has also found some prima facie evidence of price manipulation by certain marketmen in Global Trust Bank during October-December,2000, he disclosed.