Stock Exchange under RTI

The market regulator SEBI has said the country’s stock exchanges are “public authorities” and, therefore, have to disclose information, if asked to, under the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Currently, any request for information from the stock exchanges has to be routed through Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). While this will make it easy for investors to obtain information from the exchanges, some experts said it could lead to disclosure of sensitive information regarding trades and could be misused by people. Representatives of India’s largest exchange, the National Stock Exchange, said they were studying the matter and would need more time to respond.
Sebi’s written submission to the Central Information Commission (CIC), the body that oversees applications made under the RTI Act, comes in the context of requests by investors for information from the National Stock Exchange and the Jaipur Stock Exchange. Both exchanges had refused to provide the information and the investors appealed to CIC.
The commission had written to Sebi asking for its opinion and the regulator has replied that the exchanges were indeed beholden to provide information under the RTI Act.