Convinced that it has managed to establish a watertight rule of stringent laws, Sebi, the market regulator, last week took a big measure to turbo-charge the rally that began seven months ago.

Last Wednesday, Sebi announced it would introduce ‘margin trading’ and ‘stock-lending’, which, for all practical purposes, means ‘badla’ in a new guise.

The B-word terrifies retail investors. ‘Oh, it’s going to prise open the door for the crooks to return to the market,’ is a common refrain though Sebi insists there are enough “checks and balances”.

‘Badla’ enables you to go beyond your means while looking for profits. For instance, ‘margin trading’ is a mechanism where you borrow money to invest in stocks. And ‘stock-lending’ is just the opposite — it’s a mechanism where you can borrow stocks. You’d borrow a stock when you think its price has peaked and it’s going to go down. You profit by selling the borrowed stock, and buying it back when the price has declined.

These are risky tools and if your call goes wrong, you’d lose much more than if you were trading within your means. But whatever the risks, it’s impossible to stamp out ‘badla’ from the market, which continued secretly.

Sebi has now brought the concept out of the closet and hopes to regulate it. The move has already wowed the markets. The sensex — that 6000-pound gorilla — put on another 100 points on the day after the announcement, but experts aren’t going gaga yet; they are waiting for Sebi to unravel the schemes. “It’s a positive step, but the devil’s always been in the fineprint,” a broker said. It appears Sebi is going to maintain a tight leash on investors availing of the facilities.

“You never know the cost of compliance could be so high that the schemes don’t take off,” one broker cautioned. The advice from the market mavens: don’t be afraid of the B-word. ‘Badla’ invites you to go beyond your means, but it’s the avarice that kills.