At an NSE event on July 30, 2024 the SEBI Chairperson released a report on “Indian Capital Markets: Transformative shifts achieved through technology and reforms”. The Report referred to potential annual benefit of Rs. 2,800 crore if ASBA for secondary market were to be adopted fully by retail investors.
In this context, a question was posed to the SEBI Chairperson on the ASBA facility being optional due to which retail investors still do not have access to this facility despite such significant potential savings. To this question, the SEBI Chairperson replied that, to begin with, perhaps SEBI might take a proposal to its Board to make it mandatory for the Qualified Stock Brokers to offer ASBA as an option to their clients. The Chairperson emphasised that the option as to whether to use ASBA for their trading shall still remain with the clients.
This has been erroneously reported in a section of the press as “SEBI bats for making T+0 system mandatory for all”.