SEBI imposes small penalty on Unilever

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Securities and Board Exchange of India (SEBI) fined Unilever Plc 5 million rupees for being late in making certain disclosures tied to its share ownership in its domestic unit Hindustan Unilever Ltd last year.

It said Unilever, had delayed filing disclosures related to its shareholding in Hindustan Unilever in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013.

The regulator said it came across the omissions when Unilever initiated an open offer for the domestic unit.

The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company had acquired a little over two-thirds of its Indian unit last year for about 2.45 billion euros.

"There was no change in Unilever's shareholding between March 2005 to April 2013 and therefore, there was no unfair benefit attained nor was any harm caused to the investors or public at large due to the delayed disclosure," a Unilever spokesperson said in a statement.

SEBI said on Friday Unilever had admitted to the omissions in disclosures but had said the delays were inadvertent in nature.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma; Editing by Rafael Nam and Jane Merriman)