Reliance Fined Over L & T Deal

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been fined Rs 4.7 lakh by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for violating its Takeover Code when it breached the five per cent equity exposure limit in Larsen & Toubro and not informing the concerned exchanges about it.

The adjudicating officer P Vohra, appointed by Sebi to look into the matter, issued the ruling today after nearly five months of investigations. The official Sebi spokesman confirmed the development.

When contacted, an official RIL spokesperson confirmed that the company has paid an amount of Rs 4.7 lakh to Sebi in the matter relating to the disclosure of information vis-a-vis acquisition of shares in L&T Ltd in November 2001. The RIL official spokesperson further stated that this was in line with the voluntary payment offer made by RIL in February 2002 to avoid unnecessary controversy.

 

In February this year, Sebi had tabled a preliminary report with the finance ministry detailing the transaction wherein Reliance had sold its stake in L&T to Grasim last year. While the report was not conclusive, Sebi officials had held it to be a technical violation of non-reporting.

Reliance, though not admitting to any violation, had lodged an amount of Rs 5 lakh with Sebi, though the company was not officially declared to be a violator. The capital market regulator, however, did not encash the cheque and the matter was referred to an adjudicating officer. RIL