Bhubaneswar: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will soon open a branch office in Bhubaneswar, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey announced on Monday. 

Pandey said the regulator would initially start operations from a small office. Activities that were earlier handled through SEBI’s Mumbai and Kolkata offices will gradually be managed from Bhubaneswar. He also stated that SEBI plans to establish a permanent office in the city in the future.

The announcement was made while addressing a regional investor awareness programme organised by the Association of Mutual Funds in India in Bhubaneswar.

During his address, Pandey highlighted the growing importance of municipal bonds as a financing tool for urban development projects. He urged Odisha to seriously explore the use of municipal bonds for raising funds for urban infrastructure.

According to him, 22 urban local bodies across the country have so far issued 33 municipal bonds and raised around Rs 4,500 crore. Municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have already benefited from the mechanism. Odisha should also take advantage of the opportunity, he said, adding that municipal bonds can help meet the increasing financial needs of rapidly expanding urban areas. He further noted that the Central government is also providing incentives in the form of grants for such bond issuances.

Speaking about the mutual fund sector, Pandey said the size of India’s mutual fund market has increased significantly from Rs 12 lakh crore in 2015-16 to around Rs 82 lakh crore at present. Odisha’s contribution to the sector stands at nearly Rs 71,000 crore, which is less than one per cent of the national market.

He pointed out that Odisha contributes nearly three per cent to the country’s economy and therefore its share in the mutual fund market should also rise to at least three per cent. At the same time, he said Odisha is among the leading states in terms of monthly growth in Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) investments.

Pandey also underlined the rapid expansion of India’s capital market over the past decade. He said the country’s total market capitalisation has grown from Rs 95 lakh crore in 2015-16 to Rs 463 lakh crore in 2025-26. During the same period, the number of individual investors increased from 3.8 crore to 14.5 crore.

He further said that India witnessed 366 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in 2025-26, through which companies raised around Rs 1.9 lakh crore. India currently ranks first globally in terms of the number of IPOs launched, he added.