Thank you, but no thank you. The message behind the bourses' response to the package of measures announced by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) couldn't have been more succinct. D.R. Mehta, 60, the chairman of SEBI, was, obviously, trying to inspire the small investor to return to the capital markets, as the starting point of a process of revival. But judging from the specific measures, the individual has little reason to feel more protected than before. Reflecting that sentiment, less than half the 50 brokers, fund-managers, and foreign institutional investors surveyed in a BT-AIMS poll said that they expected the SEBI package to talk up the stockmarkets. Just why is the market so sceptical?

For starters, it is the implementation, and not the actual presence of laws, that's the problem where disclosure is concerned. Thus, SEBI's directive making it mandatory for companies to announce their unaudited financial results quarterly, while a good move in theory, is pointless so long as companies continue to get away even without publishing half-yearly results, as the law demands. No wonder only a little over half the respondents even approve of the move, leave alone expecting it to yield definite results. Moreover, disclosure norms in today's M&A-driven environment will not be improved so long as there is no requirement for companies to reveal purchases of stock by the promoters. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed would like such a measure to be introduced.

Just as important as disclosure is the issue of providing for stringent action against companies that defraud investors. The requirement for companies to have all debt issues credit-rated, including those for periods below 18 months, may send out comfort signals, but they do little to assure punishment for transgressors. Suggests L.C. Gupta, 66, director, Society for Capital Market Research & Development: ''Exemplary punishment to some of the earlier fly-by-night operators and the promoters would have sent out the right message about SEBI's determination to avoid recurrence of frauds.'' Nor has SEBI compensated for the lack of the stick with carrots by offering reasons for companies to enter the primary market, which could be the starting point for a resurgence of interest in the bourses. Says Prithvi Haldea, 47, CEO, prime Database: ''There is an urgent need to review SEBI's counter-productive, unreasonable entry barrier guidelines which are preventing good companies from entering the market.'' Of course, the one bull signal which the markets wanted in the short run, a government in New Delhi, has now been provided. Now, rather than SEBI's package, it is Budget 98 that will determine whether it is the bull or the bear that will rule the bourses.

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