'Transparency is not about the volume of disclosure but its quality, timeliness and usefulness.' Discuss this statement in the context of SEBI's evolving regulatory philosophy.

SEBI's statutory mandate under the SEBI Act, 1992 is investor protection, historically pursued by expanding disclosure requirements. Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey's [5] assertion that true transparency lies in the quality, timeliness and usefulness of information rather than its volume [1] signals a discernible recalibration of that approach.

Why volume alone fails

• Disclosure fatigue: voluminous filings bury decision-relevant facts, leaving retail investors unable to price risk.
• Compliance becomes a box-ticking ritual, raising the cost of capital-raising without adding informational value.
• Bulk does not prevent diversion of issue proceeds — a concern SEBI addressed only by tightening "objects of the issue" norms in 2022 [3].

Quality — substance over form

• Monitoring agencies (credit rating agencies) under the ICDR Regulations verify actual end-use of IPO/FPO funds against stated objects, converting raw data into assurance [2].
• SEBI proposes to further clarify the related-party transaction framework under Regulation 23, LODR, so requirements are workable for issuers while retaining investor safeguards [1][4].

Timeliness — information that is still actionable

• ICDR mandates public dissemination of monitoring-agency reports on the company website and exchanges within prescribed periodic timelines [2].
• The August 2026 review of the issue-proceeds framework explicitly seeks more timely disclosure and streamlined compliance [1].

Usefulness — proportionate, calibrated regulation

• SEBI has moved from flat materiality thresholds toward scale-based, turnover-linked thresholds for RPTs, targeting scrutiny where risk is greatest [4].
• Caveat: "less but better" must not become a euphemism for dilution; in a market with rising retail participation, any pruning needs demonstrable evidence that the discarded disclosure was genuinely redundant.

The statement thus captures a maturing regulatory philosophy — from quantity-driven compliance to outcome-driven transparency. The way forward lies in machine-readable, standardised filings and continuous supervisory analytics, so that ease of doing business and investor confidence reinforce rather than trade off against each other.