Like the "messiah" and the FM, I think bringing in necessary changes to the PN policy is good for the small investor. I think it puts a face to a name and brings in more accountability.
So then why did the markets slump if its good? Per this messiah, because of "dilly-dallying". No. Markets crashed because of the curbs being imposed. Whether they would have been imposed immediately or whether they would have been imposed after a phased 18 month period, it would only have altered the nature of the crash and the revival and the timing.
I agree the FM and the SEBI could have better worded this and the SEBI redrafting in 5 minutes is the direct indication of what the stock market was doing and how it was perceiving the curbs. In fact, I think they did a great job in getting the point across after that and the "perception" of the draft was corrected to prevent further loss to the investors.
As for foreign funds, if there is foreign money driving the market up, I benefited from it as a small investor who saw the price of his share go up. And if this foriegn money goes out and drives the market down, the markets are going to take a hit which should also be acceptable to the investor who benefited from markets going up due to the foreign funds. Its not a one way street...
Bottomline.. more procedures... more restrictions on investments caused a hiccup. Were they necessary? Yes.
