Ricoh India given 21 days to comply with Sebi norms

The BSE issued a notice to Ricoh India, giving the latter 21 days to comply with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)'s listing regulations, failing which the company faces suspension of trading in its securities.

Ricoh can avoid suspension only if it complies with the provisions of Sebi Listing Regulations, 2015, including payment of requisite fines, by May 20. The exchange has also frozen the entire promoter shareholding till further notice. Promoters held 73 per cent stake in the company at the end of March 2016.

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Ricoh India is a subsidiary of Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh Company, which directly holds 46.04 per cent in the Indian firm. The parent company holds another 27.56 per cent of Ricoh India through NRG Group, taking it to 73.6 per cent. Ricoh had received a notice dated April 12 from the BSE on compliance issues regarding filing requirements and possible freezing of shareholding of promoters of the company.

The shares of Ricoh India are currently placed in the Z category on account of non-filing of quarterly results for the September 2015 and December 2015 quarters.

In a April 20 filing on the exchange, Ricoh India had said it had appointed new auditors BSR & Co and an independent agency to conduct forensic review of the company. It said the company had not been able to declare its financial results as BSR had not been able to finalise its audit on account of the review process by the independent agency and the suspicion of potentially fraudulent transactions.

The company has been under the radar of Sebi for allegations of financial irregularities. Last month, Ricoh India asked its top officials, including its managing director and CEO Manoj Kumar, chief financial officer Arvind Singhal and chief operating officer Anil Saini to proceed on leave without pay.

Subsequently, Kumar resigned from the board. He is currently serving a six-month notice.