APMI officials felicitating SEBI Executive director Manoj Kumar (third from left)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) consultation paper to review the regulatory framework for the portfolio management services (PMS) industry is being finalised and will be out “very soon,” SEBI Executive Director Manoj Kumar told businessline on the sidelines of an event here on Friday. Use of advanced technologies like AI is also helping the regulator identify patterns and flag few instances of “sort of front-running” in the PMS industry,” the ED said.“All these regulations were designed at some point of time. Now business has gone up over a period of time. So there is a huge expectation that regulation should also align itself to the changes,” he said, speaking about the new framework. He declined to confirm if the limit of Rs 50 lakh mandated by SEBI as minimum investment for PMS will see any change.On the front-running signals, Kumar said, “What I have flagged to the industry is that we are getting some instances where we feel that something similar to front-running is happening. So my job as a regulator is to tell the industry that this is not a right practice and we have to rectify it,” he said. The decision on how to rectify it is a call that will be made going forward, he added.“That’s why we are entering into a dialogue and if need be we will create a regulation.But I don’t think that at this juncture we need to do any further regulation,” he said. We have also started sharing our inspection observations with the industry body, he noted.He was in Chennai as the chief guest for the ‘PMS Leadership Conclave 2026’ hosted by the Association of Portfolio Managers in India (APMI), the representative body of SEBI-registered portfolio managers. The event brought together regulators, portfolio managers, distributors, family offices and wealth management professionals to discuss the sector’s evolving priorities and growth opportunities.
