Sebi imposes Rs 8 lakh fine on R S Agarwal

Markets regulator Sebi today imposed a penalty of Rs 8 lakh on Emami chairman R S Agarwal in a matter related to Amrutanjan Healthcare Ltd (AHL).
In an order, the regulator said that the desire expressed by the chairman of a listed company (Emami) to buy AHL, without first discussing the same in its board is a reckless statement, which impacted the trading as well as the price of the scrip of AHL.
Sebi said that Emami as well as Agarwal have confirmed that the board of directors of the firm did not make any plan of acquiring AHL before the publication of the statement or after publication of the statement in the media.

"Further, I note that the company (Emami Ltd) has also confirmed that no valuation of AHL was done neither any entity engaged for the purpose of valuation/ acquisition of AHL," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.
"Therefore, the desire expressed by the noticee/ Chairman of a listed company, without first discussing the same in its board is a reckless statement and the statement had impacted the closing price of AHL risen by almost 20 per cent on April 5, 2010 after the media report on both NSE and BSE and the traded volumes also increased by 188 per cent on NSE and by 228 per cent on BSE on that day," it added.

According to the order, Agarwal violated the provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to the Securities Market) Regulations.