As a measure for investor protection, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator, has introduced SEBI’s Virtual Assistant (SEVA), an artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot that addresses investor questions.
This chatbot will help investors with information on certain processes and seek responses.
“In line with its mandate of investor protection, SEBI has launched SEBI’s Virtual Assistant (SEVA)–an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based conversation platform for investors,” SEBI said in a statement.
The chatbot will consist of multiple features such as citations, answer follow up questions and will convert speech-to-text and text-to-speech for ease of use.
“The Beta version of the chatbot includes features like citations for generated response, speech-to-text and text-to-speech functionality for accessibility, follow-up questions, etc.,” the statement said.
The market regulator also mentioned that the chatbot is currently enabled to answer questions relating to general information on the securities market, the latest master circulars, the grievance redressal process, etc. SEBI will add more features to the chatbot and receive feedback from users.
The chatbot’s main menu will enable users to ask questions on the securities market and SEBI’s complaint redressal platform (SCORES). Additionally, it will give employee details, the option of registering any complaint with the regulator, the contact details of SEBI, and feedback to the chatbot itself.
The beta version of the chatbot is available on SEBI’s official website (https://investor.sebi.gov.in/) and SAARTHI mobile app (Android and iOS).
Investors can download the app through the following links. The link for Android devices is –https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebi.invapp .
The link for iOS devices is- https://apps.apple.com/in/app/saa%E2%82%B9thi/id1589426387
The market regulator has taken multiple measures to protect investors from potential fraud. It has simplified the share transfer and allotment process, assigning a unique order code to every transaction to avoid duplication, maintaining the timestamp of every order, establishing an investor protection fund and bringing in regulations for brokers and sub-brokers. The introduction of SEVA will also be one such measure to protect the interest of investors.
