SEBI’s recent decision to restore the open-market buyback mechanism through stock exchanges is a welcome and pragmatic step. The move reflects regulatory responsiveness and recognises changing market realities.
The debate around share buybacks has always been intense in India. While critics often view buybacks with suspicion, they remain one of the most widely accepted and effective mechanisms of capital management across global markets. At the core, buybacks are a simple concept: when a company generates surplus capital beyond its operational and growth requirements, it can return that capital to its rightful owners-the shareholders. Buybacks are merely one of the several ways through which this can be achieved.
