With a new finance minister in North Block, the capital market regulator has decided to try its luck with some of the proposals that did not find any takers during the earlier regime. Sources say the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) brass will meet the finance minister in the coming days, ahead of its board meet scheduled for August 16.

On top of the list is its request that the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme (RGESS), announced by former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget for 2012-13, be routed through mutual funds. Sebi is hoping P Chidambaram will be more receptive to its ideas.

Sebi will also take up the issue of minimum public shareholding norms and try to convince policymakers that requests for an extension of the deadline should not be entertained in any manner. This assumes significance as India Inc has been trying to lobby hard for an extension of the deadline, citing sluggish market sentiments and a bleak outlook. Under the circumstances, they feel they will not be able to pare their holdings at reasonable valuations and would be compelled to sell equity at throwaway price. According to the minimum public shareholding norms, promoters of all listed companies have to bring down their stake to 75% by 2013. The deadline for private companies is June 2013, while that for PSUs is August 2013.

Sebi is also keen on taking up the issue of accessing call records to strengthen its surveillance capabilities, sources say. While the home ministry and the department of telecom have the final say on this subject, recent reports suggest that the finance ministry is keen that Sebi be included in the list of agencies that can access call records. The regulator may also broach the subject of further reforms with the new finance minister since, of late, the finance ministry has been taking the lead in inviting fund managers, distributors and industry bodies to work out a model to help revive the fortunes of the fund industry.

?The regulator is of the view that relaxations in the norms should be balanced with some amount of added responsibilities too,? said a person familiar with the development.

?So, while an increase in the expense ratio is suggested, fund houses will be given more headroom if they move beyond the top cities into the hinterland,? he added.