Sebi imposes Rs 1 cr fine on Omkar Overseas' promoter, 6 others

Markets regulator Sebi today imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Omkar Overseas' promoter Champalal Gopiram Agarwal and six others for trading in the firm's stock while having access to unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI).

The others named in the Sebi order are: Varsha Agarwal, Shashidevi Agarwal, Krishnadevi Agarwal, Ronit Agarwal, Prashant Agarwal and Satyabhama Agarwal.

The ruling followed a probe into the trading activities of certain entities in the shares of Omkar from October 2009 to April 2010. During the investigation period, Champalal was the chairman and managing director of the company.

It was alleged that the seven individuals had traded in the shares of the firm while in possession of UPSI and thus violated PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations.

In an order, the regulator noted that the information pertaining to the financial results of Omkar for the quarter ending September and December 2009 was price sensitive and since it was not published until November 2009 and July 2010, respectively, it was UPSI.

Champalal, Prashant, Krishnadevi, Satyabhama, Shashidevi, Ronit and Varsha were trading in the shares of Omkar for six months and during this period on two occasions they had traded while "having access to UPSI", the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.

The individuals are liable for penalty, the regulator added, and imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on them.