Sebi slaps Rs 28 lakh fine on promoters of Hydro S&S

Markets regulator Sebi today imposed a total penalty of Rs 28 lakh on three promoters of Hydro S&S Industries for disclosure lapses.
According to the regulator, five promoters of the firm -- Vidya Srinivasan, V Srinivasan, Murali Srinivasan Venkatraman, Narayan Sethuraman and Suchitra Murali Balakrishnan -- had executed inter-se transfer of shares among themselves in March 2011, October 2012 and December 2012.
It was alleged that following the transactions, the promoters did not make the required disclosures under SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations as well as PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations to the company and the stock exchanges where the shares of the firm were listed within the stipulated time.

The first transaction, which took place in March 2011, was between V Srinivasan and Vidya Srinivasan. However, the regulator disposed of proceedings against the two promoters following their demise earlier this year.
In October 2012, Murali Srinivasan Venkatraman and Narayan Sethuraman transferred 17,31,700 shares amounting to 27.02 per cent of voting rights of the company to Vidya Srinivasan, following which their respective shareholding in the firm fell to nil from 14.54 per cent and 12.48 per cent, respectively.
In an order, the regulator noted that both the promoters failed to disclose the change in their shareholding to the company and the stock exchanges within the stipulated time, violating takeover as well as insider trading norms.

In December 2012, Suchitra Murali Balakrishanan had transferred 46,000 shares each to the four other promoters as a result of which her shareholding fell from 4.55 per cent to 1.67 per cent and that of Murali Srinivasan Venkatraman and Narayan Sethuraman increased from nil to 0.72 per cent.

According to the regulator, the promoters again failed to make timely disclosures to the company and the stock exchanges regarding the change in shareholding and violated takeover and insider trading regulations.
The promoters -- Murali Srinivasan Venkatraman, Narayan Sethuraman and Suchitra Balakrishnan -- have violated takeover and PIT regulations for the transaction in December 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.

Accordingly, the regulator has imposed a total fine of Rs 28 lakh on the three promoters.
The fresh ruling has come after the Securities Appellate Tribunal had set aside an earlier order of Sebi and directed the regulator to pass "fresh order on merits".
In 2015, Sebi had imposed a total fine of Rs 46.5 lakh on the five promoters of the firm for disclosure lapses.