Raising the Bar: Madhabi Puri Buch Buch is the first woman to head the SEBI, taking over from Ajay Tyagi, who had a five-year term, in March 2022.

Whether it was indictment of 15 entities, including individuals, for insider trading in shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises or coming down hard on the Sahara Group after finding that the group company raised INR 14,000 crore in violation of SEBI rules through optionally fully convertible debentures or a more recent crackdown on burgeoning finfluencers misleading retail investors by offering them biased investment advice, there is one common person behind it. And that is Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

While earlier two orders were passed by her in the capacity of a whole time director with SEBI, the recent one was taken in the capacity of the Chairperson. Buch is the first woman to head the SEBI, taking over from Ajay Tyagi, who had a five-year term, in March 2022.

One of her other recent moves also include moving the stock market to T-1 trade settlement. At Global Fintech Fest 2023, she also hinted at moving to one-hour trade settlement, and then eventually to "instantaneous" settlement.

In her stint with SEBI, she has also handled important portfolios including the Market Regulation Department, Market Intermediaries Regulation & Supervision Department, and Integrated Surveillance Department. In December 2021, she also headed the Advisory Committee for Leveraging Regulatory and Technology Solutions (ALeRTS) — a committee to detect market anomalies, at SEBI.

An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Buch brings along an experience of over three decades in the capital markets and banking sector. She has served as the executive director on the board of ICICI Bank and later became the MD & CEO of ICICI Securities from February 2009 to May 2011. She also had successful stints at the Singapore-based Greater Pacific Capital LLP and the New Development Bank in Shanghai.