Page 149 - Sebi

SAT reduces Sebi's penalty on former Maars Software MD to Rs 10 lakh

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has slashed the penalty imposed on the former MD of Maars Software International to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 1 crore in a case related to manipulation in the issuance of global depository receipts. Maars Software International Ltd (MSIL) came out with a global depository receipts (GDRs) issue on August 10, 2007. Pravin Champalal Jain was the former managing director of MSIL. "While affirming the order of Sebi's Adjudicating Officer (AO) for the violations committed by the company, we reduce the penalty from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 lakhs. "In our opinion, the penalty imposed is excessive and disproportionate to the violation and is also discriminatory," the tribunal said in its ruling on Tuesday. The verdict came after Jain challenged the order passed by Sebi in July 2020. Sebi's AO had imposed Rs 10.25 crore on MSIL, Rs 1 crore on Jain and Rs 10 lakh each on Harshawardhan S Rathore and Nikunj Babulal Choradiya for flouting Prohibition of Fraudulent a

Sebi approves proposal for change in control of HDFC Capital Advisors

HDFC Ltd on Wednesday said that the market regulator Sebi has cleared a proposal for change in control of HDFC Capital Advisors Limited (HCAL). Sebi vide its letter dated April 10, 2023 to HCAL, a subsidiary of HDFC Limited and a co-investment portfolio manager, has granted its approval for the proposed change in control of HCAL, subject to certain conditions mentioned in the said letter, HDFC said in a regulatory filing. The proposed amalgamation is subject to receipt of final approvals from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in respect of change in control of certain subsidiaries of HDFC Limited, it said. As per the proposed composite scheme of amalgamation, it said, HDFC Investments Limited and HDFC Holdings Limited, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC Limited) would be first merged into HDFC Limited and subsequently into HDFC Bank. HDFC has already received the required approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board, .

Sebi imposes Rs 25 lakh fine on 5 entities for non-genuine trades

Sebi on Wednesday imposed fines totalling Rs 25 lakh on five entities for indulging in non-genuine trades in the illiquid stock options segment on BSE. In five separate orders, the watchdog levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Natraj Dealtrade, Queen Tie-Up Pvt Ltd, Octagon Merchants, Noble Tradelink and Nirmal Kumar Chopra HUF. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had observed large scale reversal of trades in the illiquid stock options segment of BSE, leading to creation of artificial volumes on the bourse. It had conducted an investigation into the trading activities of certain entities engaged in the segment on BSE from April 2014 to September 2015. According to Sebi, the five entities were among those who indulged in the execution of reversal trades. The reversal trades are alleged to be non-genuine in nature as they are executed in the normal course of trading, which leads to a false or misleading appearance of trading in terms of generating artificial volumes, Se

Zerodha forms joint venture with Amazon-backed Smallcase for AMC operations

Brokerage house Zerodha on Wednesday said it has formed a joint venture with Amazon-backed wealth management firm smallcase to build an asset management company. The capital markets regulator Sebi's approval has already been received for setting up the joint venture. "While awaiting the final approval of our AMC (mutual fund), we asked if we should build it ourselves or collaborate. Given the 6+ years of experience that @smallcaseHQ has in building investment products, it made perfect sense to create a joint venture (JV) to build the AMC," Nithin Kamath founder and CEO of Zerodha tweeted. He, further, announced that smallcase will help Zerodha in building simple low-cost passive mutual fund products for investors. In September 2021, Zerodha received in-principle approval from Sebi to set up an asset management company. This came after the company applied for a licence to start mutual fund operations in February 2020. The brokerage house is now awaiting final approval from the Se

Sebi unveils new logo with a modern design on 35th Foundation Day

Set up on April 12, 1988, Sebi was granted statutory powers in 1992. Today it is said to have more statutory powers than other market regulators like US SEC

Sebi codifies 'excuse-exclude' norms used by AIFs for managing portfolios

Move to help curb cherry-picking of deals by LPs, manage conflict of interest

Sebi tweaks listing day price discovery process to ensure uniformity

While exchanges will continue to conduct call auctions separately, Sebi has mandated a series of measures to ensure equilibrium prices at both the exchanges are close to each other

Sebi imposes fine of Rs 15 lakh on 3 individuals for non-genuine trades

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday imposed penalties totalling Rs 15 lakh on three individuals for indulging in non-genuine trades in the illiquid stock options segment on BSE. In three separate orders, the watchdog slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Radha Devi Goenka, Radhey Shyam Manchanda and Sanchit Arora. Sebi had observed large scale reversal of trades in the illiquid stock options segment of BSE, leading to creation of artificial volumes on the bourse. It had conducted an investigation into the trading activities of certain entities engaged in the segment on BSE from April 2014 to September 2015. According to Sebi, the three individuals were among those who indulged in the execution of reversal trades. The reversal trades are alleged to be non-genuine in nature as they are executed in the normal course of trading, which leads to a false or misleading appearance of trading in terms of generating artificial volumes, Sebi said. The individuals had violated the provisi

Sebi to AIFs: Offer direct plans; introduces trail model for commissions

New norms to curb mis-selling, bring parity on upfront commissions that are already barred in MFs, PMS

NSE's IPO plan unapproved by Sebi until pending cases are resolved: Report

A delayed NSE IPO will test the patience of its core shareholders - banks, insurance companies and foreign funds - who have been waiting for an exit opportunity in rising markets

Sebi resolves 2,838 complaints against firms via SCORES platform in March

A total of 2,838 complaints against companies and market intermediaries were disposed of through Sebi's SCORES platform in March. At the beginning of March, as many as 2,241 complaints were pending and 2,643 fresh complaints were received during the month, the data released by Sebi on Monday showed. The regulator also noted that as of March 2023, 13 complaints were pending for more than three months. These complaints were related to investment adviser, research analyst and takeover/ restructuring. The average resolution time for a complaint was 29 days, it added. In a separate public notice, Sebi mentioned eight entities against whom complaints have been pending for more than three months on SCORES as of March 2023. These entities are Research Guru, Rajiv Kumar Singh (proprietor Elite Investment Advisory Services), Grovalue Financial Services, Ankur Jain, Wealth Factor, Kaushal Mehta, Nestra Capital and Brightcom Group Ltd. SCORES is a grievance redressal system that was launche

L&T MF ceases to exist as mutual fund after it gave up registration: Sebi

L&T Mutual Fund ceases to exist as a mutual fund, capital markets regulator Sebi said on Monday. This comes after L&T Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd had informed Sebi that it wanted to surrender the registration granted to L&T Mutual Fund (L&T MF) by the markets regulator pursuant to the approval of change in control of L&T Investment Management Ltd and merger of schemes of L&T MF with HSBC Mutual Fund. Following this, Sebi has accepted the request for surrender of L&T MF's certificate of registration. "Consequently, L&T MF ceases to exist as a mutual fund with effect from April 6, 2023," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a statement. Further, it said L&T MF will continue to be liable for all liabilities/ obligations, (including monetary penalties) for violations of the provisions of the Sebi Act and (Mutual Fund) regulations that have taken place before its surrender of certificate of registration.

Best of BS Opinion: Fine-tuning needed, technology transformation, & more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Street Signs: PSU Bank exchange-traded funds, Yum! Brands stocks, and more

Analysts say Yum!'s - which operates Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut food chains - performance has improved, driven by aggressive store expansion vis-a-vis other players

Fine-tuning needed

Guidelines for investment advisers should be clear

Unauthorised investment advisory services: Sebi bans 4 for six months

Sebi has barred four entities from the securities markets for six months for providing unauthorised investment advisory services and directed them to refund investors' money collected through such services within three months. Those restrained by Sebi are -- Course Work Focus, its proprietor Shashank Hirwani; Capital Research, its proprietor Gopal Gupta; and Rahul Patel who is the proprietor of Capres. In two separate orders, Sebi found that these entities were engaged in the business of providing investment advice to their clients, for consideration, without obtaining Sebi's registration. According to Sebi, Course Work Focus and Hirwani collectively received over Rs 96 lakh from investors during March 2018 to July 2020 and Capital Research, Gupta and Patel together collected Rs 60.84 lakh between June 2014 and November 2019 by providing such unregistered investment advisory services. Through such acts, they violated the provisions of investment adviser (IA) norms, the Securities

Sebi clarifies on shareholders' approval for directors appointment on board

Listed public sector companies, including banks, will be required to take shareholders' approval for any appointment or reappointment to the board of directors in the immediate next general meeting, capital markets regulator Sebi has clarified. In case shareholders do not clear resolution for the appointment, such a person would cease to be a director, it added. Providing informal guidance to state-owned Bank of Baroda, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) indicated that its views might differ on a case-to-case basis. The clarification came after Bank of Baroda sought informal guidance in relation to amendments made in LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) rules pertaining to shareholders' requirement for appointment on the board. The bank has sought clarification on the status of government-appointed directors in a scenario where resolutions put for appointment are rejected by shareholders and whether the government can participate in such a ...

Sebi asks investment advisers to display info prominently in advertisements

To bring more transparency, Sebi on Thursday asked investment advisers and research analysts to prominently display information, including their name registered with the regulator, logo, registration number and complete address with telephone numbers, in their advertisements. In addition, they have been asked to give the disclaimer that "registration granted by Sebi, membership of BSE Administration and Supervision Ltd (BASL) in case of IAs and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors" in their advertisements. This information should also be there in publications, Know Your Client (KYC) forms, client agreements, statements and in any other form of correspondence with the client. In addition, the regulator has prohibited them from using Sebi logo in their advertisements. The latest move comes after the regulator observed that few Investment Advisers (IAs) and Research Analysts (RAs) are using the bra

Go Digit General Insurance re-files preliminary IPO papers with Sebi

Go Digit General Insurance Ltd, a firm backed by Canada-based Fairfax Group, has refiled preliminary IPO papers with Sebi after making certain changes to its employee stock appreciation rights scheme, an update with the markets regulator showed on Thursday. This came after Sebi returned Go Digit's draft IPO (Initial Public Offering) papers on January 30 and asked the company to refile the documents with certain updates. The size of the company's IPO remain unchanged in the revised documents. Go Digit's proposed IPO comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 10.94 crore equity shares by a promoter Go Digit Infoworks Services and existing shareholders. Proceeds from the fresh issuance have been proposed to be utilised for the augmentation of the company's capital base and maintenance of solvency levels and general corporate purposes. The company had first filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange

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