Going Public

Upendra Kumar Sinha spent years at the head of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and Going Public is his account of that time. Governments of different political stripes reappointed him to the post, which made him one of the longest-serving chiefs in the regulator's history. The book looks back on the decisions, pressures and battles that came with overseeing the country's markets during a period of rapid change.

Among the episodes he covers is SEBI's prolonged legal fight with the Sahara group. He also describes the action taken against operators such as PACL, Rose Valley, Saradha and the MPS groups, which had been gathering deposits from the public without authorization. These cases put the regulator's powers, and its duty to protect ordinary savers, to a serious test.

Sinha's career reached well beyond SEBI. He chaired UTI Mutual Fund and headed the Capital Markets division at the Ministry of Finance, and in these roles he helped shape how Indian markets work today. He was a driving force behind reforms that strengthened investor protection and made stock exchanges more secure. He also oversaw the introduction of alternate investment funds, real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts, and he is credited with reviving and growing the country's mutual funds industry.

The memoir is candid in tone and traces his journey through India's evolving financial landscape. It will interest readers who want an insider's view of how the country's markets were regulated, challenged and reformed.