Sebi's gift to staff: Paternity, child care leave

In a first of its kind pro-staff initiatives at a regulatory body, Sebi has introduced paternity leave for its male employees and special child care leave for female staff members.

Sebi board has recently approved a proposal for introduction of special casual leave for 'child care' of 15 days annually per child to a female staff member for taking care of up to two eldest children till the age of 12 years, officials said.

The facility would be available to both natural as well as adoptive mother. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in its latest annual report, said that paternity leave has been introduced for male staff members.

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The market regulator also said that it has started a Medical Assistance Fund to provide financial assistance for meeting a part of medical expenses incurred by staff members.

Also, Sebi is encouraging its employees to pursue higher studies and upgrade their skills.

Besides, the scheme for purchasing computers and computer-related items has been started for all staff members including those on contract or deputation.

The market regulator has taken various initiatives like entitlements of lodging and halting allowance for staff members transferred at the Sebi's instance.

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"Entitlement limit towards reimbursement of vehicle maintenance expenses has been revised for Executive Directors; also reimbursement towards driver's salary has also been revised for the eligible officers," as per Sebi's annual report.

Also, new benefits and allowances have been extended to officers in Grade A and junior engineers among others.

Currently, Sebi has more than 600 employees in various grades and has begun a recruitment drive to hire another 75 officers.

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The regulator is hiring these officers as part of plans to beef up its headcount for faster and more effective execution of newly granted powers.

The recruitment drive began soon after the government decided to grant greater execution powers and a larger oversight role against potential investment fraud that would require Sebi to have a much larger workforce.

Besides, the capital market regulator is opening local offices on a pan-India basis for enhanced investor awareness and services that require additional manpower.