GV Ramakrishna, 91, who was the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India as it became a statistically empowered market regulator, died in Chennai on Saturday.
Beginning his career as a biochemist conducting research in hematology, Ramakrishna joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1952 and served in several capacities in the Government of Andhra Pradesh before rising to the post of Chief Secretary of State.
An administrator, noted for his honesty and no nonsense approach to addressing issues, Ramakrishna was appointed as the second chairman of the then two-year Securities and Exchange Board in 1990. During his tenure, he oversaw the board’s transformation into a legally empowered market regulator following the enactment of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.
Formally established under the Act on April 12, 1992, Ramakrishna became its first fully empowered president and through the strength of his reputation helped lay the roadmap for a modern and vibrant securities market. In his vision to protect the interests of investors, Ramakrishna was convinced that the way to do this would be through the establishment of systems and processes to take care of problems automatically. In the end he tried to get a merchant banker to ensure that the prospectus provides correct and sufficient information to investors for any capital problem. He also demanded and pushed for increased transparency in the work of the country’s GVstock exchanges.
Ramakrishna, who served the government in many other capacities both at the Center and abroad during his more than five-decade career in public service, was also the first chairman of the Disinvestment Commission.
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