Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow:

The securities market in India is regulated by four key laws — The Companies Act, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (SEBI Act), the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) and the Depositories Act, 1996. The framing of these laws reflects the evolution and development of the capital market in India. 

The SEBI Act empowers SEBI to protect the interests of investors and to promote the development of the capital/securities market, besides regulating it. SEBI was given the power to register intermediaries like stock brokers, merchant bankers, and portfolio managers and regulate their functioning by prescribing eligibility criteria, conditions to carry on activities and periodic inspections. It also has the power to impose penalties such as monetary penalties, including suspending or cancelling the registration. The SCRA empowers SEBI to recognise (and derecognise) stock exchanges, prescribe rules and laws for their functioning, and regulate trading, clearing and settlement on stock exchanges. As part of the development of the securities market, Parliament passed the Depositories Act and SEBI made regulations to enforce the provisions. This Act introduced and legitimised the concept of dematerialised securities being held in an electronic form. Today almost all the listed securities are held in dematerialised form. SEBI set up the infrastructure for doing this by registering depositories and depository participants. The depository regulations empower SEBI to regulate the functioning of depositories and depository participants by prescribing eligibility conditions, periodic inspections and powers to impose penalties including suspending or cancelling the registration as well as monetary penalties.