Capital markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India, Sebi has fixed one-year target for completion of all its investigations, while sharply focusing on cases involving bigger offences.

In an interview to PTI, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said, this 12-month target would apply to all the cases where an investigation has been initiated this year onward.

At the same time, the Sebi has expedited its probe into all long-pending cases and their numbers have been brought down drastically.

Mr Sinha said, there are 221 investigations pending with Sebi right now. Out of these, there are only 20 cases that are more than three-year old and 86 cases are of one year or less.

The Sebi chief also gave a stern warning to those indulging in bigger offences, saying that such cases were being dealt with extra focus and most of the smaller offences were being prevented very effectively by a robust surveillance system put in place at the regulatory authority.

He said, the surveillance mechanism is also ensuring a continuous pipeline of cases for further follow-ups including by way of investigations.