A move this big wouldn't be possible without the tacit support of big brokers. By big brokers, I mean full-service brokers, not discount brokers. If we consider the top 10 brokers in the country by trading activity, almost 8-9 of the names will be full-service brokers. Zerodha is the only discount broker in that list but I doubt that many FIIs trade on Zerodha. Discount brokerage is, for the large part, the preferred choice of the retail trader.
Let's consider a few simple questions:
Q. Who runs these full-service brokers?
A. Banks, financial institutions, Nifty heavyweights & foreign players. The ones with expensive research teams & tons of money crisscrossing the globe. The sharks. The retail nemesis. The "anti-discount" brokers.
Q. Who are these full-service brokers' most valuable customers?
A. HNIs
Q. Which group is SEBI planning to exempt net worth requirements from?
A. HNIs
Connecting these basic dots, it wouldn't be preposterous to assume that the authorities are targeting not just retail traders but also seeking to dampen the growing influence of discount brokers. Any other conclusion just doesn't gel.