Sebi slaps Rs 40 lakh fine on Ankur Drugs for non-disclosures

Company failed to make quarterly disclosures to NSE in respect of the aggregate number of shares pledged by the promoters

Market regulator Sebi has slapped a penalty of Rs 40 lakh on Ankur Drugs and Pharma for its alleged failure to make quarterly disclosures to the NSE about the shares pledged by promoters.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said that Ankur Drugs had failed to make quarterly disclosures to NSE in respect of the aggregate number of shares pledged by the promoters during the quarters ending March 2010 to September 2011, as was required under the takeover norms.

"It is observed that a substantial percentage of the promoters' holdings were pledged during the relevant period and no disclosure in respect of the same is made by the noticee (Ankur Drug and Pharma) to the stock exchange," the regulator said in an order dated August 23.

Sebi thereby said it is imposing "a penalty of Rs 40 lakh on the noticee, namely Ankur Drugs and Pharma Ltd".

As per the takeover norms, if the aggregate number of pledged shares of a promoter/promoter group together with the already pledged shares by these entities during that quarter exceeds 25,000 or 1% of total shareholding of the company, then the firm is required to disclose such details to the concerned stock exchanges within seven working days.

It was found that Ankur Drug's promoters had pledged shares in excess of 25,000 shares or 1% of the total share capital of the company but failed to make disclosures.

However, the regulator added that "it is difficult to quantify the unfair advantage made by the noticee or the loss caused to the investors in a default of this nature".