Reports suggest capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)plans to buy about Rs 280 crore worth of residential and commercial properties in 2012-13 and this is almost eight times the amount it spent in 2011-12.  
 
 It has proposed to open new local offices in cities, including Patna, Chandigarh and Indore. The move is part of Sebi’s objective to provide services at investors’ doorsteps to develop a balanced pan-India securities market. Part of the amount will be spent on buying new flats for its senior executives in Mumbai.   
 
 The regulator is also planning to buy a new office premise or a plot of land in Mumbai’s commercial business district, Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), where it is headquartered.
 
 Among other things, Sebi will renovate its head office, set up offices at five new locations and purchase office space to set up its Northern Regional Office in New Delhi.
 
 Physical proximity of Sebi office to investors and intermediaries would promote deepening and broadening of the securities market, Sebi’s board had said at its board meeting last year.