Page 160 - Sebi

Sebi proposes norm to prevent brokers from retaining clients' funds

To curb possible misuse of investors' money by brokers, Sebi has proposed to stop trading members and clearing members from retaining any part of client funds at the end of day and move the entire funds to the clearing corporation on the same day. At present, when an investor places funds with a broker a portion of such money is retained by the broker, and a part by the clearing member, before passing the remaining amount to the clearing corporation. In its consultation paper, the regulator has proposed mandating daily upstreaming of all investor funds from stock brokers and clearing members (CMs) to Clearing Corporations (CCs). Investor funds in surplus of exchange margin requirements may in turn be placed by CCs in very low-risk and liquid overnight money market instruments. The proposal also considers independent daily confirmation to investors around their daily funds position in the securities market ecosystem. While the proposal could reduce the float income implicitly enjoye

Proposed fee structure for the AIF Industry to level playing field

Direct plans, trail model for distribution of commission in Sebi's line of sight

Sebi, RBI should keep mkt stable, Adani rout company specific issue: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that regulators Sebi and RBI should always be on their toes to keep the equity market stable and indicated that the Adani stock rout following a Hindenburg report was a company specific issue. She said banks and insurance companies are "not overexposed" to any one company and assured that Indian markets are very well managed by its regulators. "Yes, there have been occasional blips in the market, maybe small or big, but they do address issues like that. And I strongly believe that our regulators are seized of this matter," Sitharaman said in an interview to Times Now. Adani Group stocks are witnessing a meltdown on the bourses after the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations in a report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements. Hindenburg ...

Measures in place to address excessive market volatility, says Sebi

Sebi has begun examining the crash in Adani group stocks and is said to have increased the scrutiny of the Adani group and its investors

Committed to ensuring market integrity, says Sebi amid Adani crisis

Amid a raging controversy over a meltdown in Adani group stocks, regulator Sebi on Saturday said it is committed to ensuring the stock market's integrity and all necessary surveillance measures are in place to address any excessive volatility in individual shares. Without naming the Adani group specifically, the capital markets watchdog said in a statement that unusual price movement in the stocks of a business conglomerate has been observed in the past week. Officials confirmed that the statement has been issued in the wake of the Adani matter only. "As part of its mandate, Sebi seeks to maintain orderly and efficient functioning of the market and has put in place a set of well-defined, publicly available surveillance measures (including the ASM framework) to address excessive volatility in specific stocks. "This mechanism gets automatically triggered under certain conditions of price volatility in any stock," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said. Stock exchange

Sebi proposes measures to curb mis-selling in alternate investment funds

Under the recommendations, commission to be charged on trail basis

Sebi mulls tenure extension for AIFs to continue unliquidated investments

Pooled investment vehicles may be allowed to carry forward unliquidated investments to a fresh scheme at the end of tenure

Lawyer seeks probe in Hindenburg report in SC, calls it criminal conspiracy

A PIL has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and the SEBI to inquire into alleged "criminal conspiracy" behind the Hindenburg report into Adani Group of companies

Sebi allows two more avenues to hike public float at listed companies

The new methods include transfer of shares held by promoters to an ETF run by a Sebi-registered MF, exercising options and allotment of shares under ESOP programmes

Sebi tweaks framework on credit rating agencies, asks for detailed policy

Sebi on Friday tweaked its operational circular on credit rating agencies (CRAs), asking them to have a detailed policy by March-end in respect of non-submission of crucial information, including quarterly financial numbers, by the issuers. Also, the detailed policy should contain methodology in respect of assessing the risk of non-availability of information from the issuers, including non-cooperative issuers and the steps to be taken under various scenarios in order to ascertain the status of non-cooperation by the issuer company. Further, CRAs will have to follow a uniform practice of three consecutive months of non-submission of no-default statement (NDS) as a ground for considering migrating the ratings to INC (issuers not cooperating) and need to tag such ratings within 7 days of three consecutive months of non-submission of NDS. The CRA in its judgement may migrate a rating to the INC category before the expiry of three consecutive months of non-receipt of NDS. In its fresh

Sebi bans FFSPL, its directors from securities markets for 3 years

Sebi on Thursday barred Finassure Financial Services Pvt Ltd (FFSPL) and its directors from the securities market for up to three years for providing unauthorised investment advisory services. The directors of FFSPL are Amit Sharma and Saket Sharma. In addition, they have been asked to refund Rs 61.39 lakh collected from their clients as fees in respect of their unregistered investment advisory services "jointly and severally". In its order, Sebi found that noticees (FFSPL, Amit and Saket) were providing investment advisory services without obtaining a registration certificate from the regulator, which was in violation of the provisions of Investment Advisers (IA) rules. The order revealed that Rs 61.39 lakh were credited in the accounts of FFSPL between February 2014-2017. "I find that FFSPL through its website was carrying out investment advisory activities without having a valid certificate of registration from Sebi. Therefore, FFSPL has violated the IA regulations," Sebi's ...

Focus on finance

Budget measures will strengthen financial markets

Sebi mulls framework for REITs, InvITs to issue depository receipts

Sebi on Thursday proposed to allow REITs and InvITs to issue depository receipts to provide foreign investors an opportunity to participate in the units of Indian emerging investment instruments. This will be beneficial for foreign investors as depository receipts (DR) avoids the need to trade directly with the Indian stock exchange, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a consultation paper. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are set up as Business Trusts and hold and operate revenue-generating real estate or infrastructure assets, respectively. REITs and InvITs raise funds by issuing units to the public at large. REITs and InvITs do not have multiple schemes or classes of units. The units are denominated in Indian rupees and the units are also required to be listed on a recognised stock exchange in India. "Permitting issuance of Depository Receipts against units of REITs and InvITs which are listed on a foreign

Sebi clarifies on transaction in corp bonds via request for quote platform

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Thursday provided clarity on transaction made by Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in corporate bonds through Request For Quote (RFQ) platform. In its circular, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) clarified that all transactions in corporate bonds, wherein AIF is on both sides of the trade would be executed through RFQ platform in 'one-to-one' mode. However, any transaction entered by an AIF in corporate bonds in 'one-to-many' mode which gets executed with another AIF, would be counted in 'one-to-many' mode and not in 'one-to-one' mode. This would come into force from April 1, 2023. Quotes or bids on RFQ platform can be placed to an identified counterparty in one-to-one mode or to all the participants in one-to-many mode. Under the norms, AIFs will have to undertake at least 10 per cent of their total secondary market trades in corporate bonds by value in a month by placing quotes on the RFQ platform. RFQ is an electronic platform

Govt in touch with Sebi on Adani Group-Hindenburg row, says report

Adani Group has denied allegations on the use of tax havens and concerns on high debt levels made by short seller Hindenburg Research

OFCD case: Sebi orders attachment of Subrata Roy's bank, demat accounts

Sebi on Wednesday ordered the attachment of bank and demat accounts of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and three others to recover Rs 6.48 crore for violating regulatory norms by two group companies. The recovery proceedings have been initiated against these four persons for violating regulatory norms in the issuance of optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) by two group companies. Apart from Sahara, others whose bank and demat accounts were attached are Ashok Roy Choudhary, Ravi Shanker Dubey and Vandana Bharrgava. The recovery proceedings have been initiated against these four persons to recover Rs 6.48 crore, which includes all costs, interests, charges and expenses etc, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in the attachment order. In its notice, Sebi has directed all banks to attach all accounts, including lockers, of these four persons. All banks, depositories and mutual funds have been directed not to allow any debit from accounts of these four pers

Sebi penalises PVR Murthy in GDR manipulation of Birla Cotsyn, Zenith Birla

Sebi on Tuesday levied fines totalling Rs 20 lakh on PVR Murthy in the manipulation of global depository receipts (GDR) of Birla Cotsyn (India) Ltd and Zenith Birla (India) Ltd (now known as Zenith Steel Pipes & Industries). In two separate orders, the regulator slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh each on PVR Murthy. The order came after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in its ruling on November 2022, set aside two different Sebi orders passed on May 2022 and June 2022, in the matter of Birla Cotsyn and Zenith Birla and remanded the matter back to the markets watchdog and pass a fresh one. The regulator conducted its investigations into the alleged irregularities in the GDR of Birla Cotsyn (India) Ltd (BCIL) and Zenith Birla (India) Ltd (ZBIL) during the period February-April 2010 and May-June 2010, respectively. The regulator found in its investigations that the GDR issue would not have been subscribed had ZBIL and BCIL not given any such security towards the loan taken by ...

Hindenburg report: Sebi discusses Adani firms with ratings agencies

SEBI asked about the maturity profile of Adani Group debts, its liquidity, the founder's leverage and the overall rating process

Sebi penalises 15 entities for manipulating BFL Asset Finvest stock prices

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday levied fines totalling Rs 89 lakh on 15 entities for manipulating the share prices of BFL Asset Finvest Ltd (BAFL). The entities have to pay the said penalty jointly and severally. The regulator slapped a fine of Rs 54 lakh on Babulal Hansraj Lakhani, Ramanlal Ravchand Shah, Vinod Solanki, Bhagavatiben Vishnubhai Patel, Dhirajbhai Baladevji Thakor, Bharti Sharma, Pinesh Nareshkumar Shah, Jasmin Indu Shah and Mahendrabhai Naranbhai Patel. It also imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Nishant Jain, Pradeep Kumar Jain, Dharmendra Kumar Jain, Dharmendra Jain HUF, Jaipur Infragold and Rs 5 lakh on Rajiv Maheshwari. The order came after Sebi conducted an investigation into the trading activity in the scrip of BAFL during the period from February 2016 to June 2017. The shares of the BAFL are listed on the BSE. During the investigation, the regulator observed certain violations of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms.

Sebi bans 14 entities from securities market for 4 years period

Regulator Sebi on Monday barred 14 entities from the securities market for four years and imposed a penalty totalling Rs 70 lakh on them in a case pertaining to front-running by some former dealers of Reliance Securities Ltd and their connected entities. They have been directed to pay the fine within 45 days, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its order. In addition, they have been asked to disgorge Rs 4.23 crore of unlawful gains made by them, along with an interest of 12 per cent. In its order, Sebi found that entities with the help and cooperation of each other/ by being in nexus with each other, in a pre-determined manner were successful in front-running the impending orders of Tata Absolute Return Fund, a scheme of Tata AIF (Big Client). Tata AIF is a Sebi-registered alternative investment fund. Pursuant to the nexus, they have front-run the orders of the Big Client on multiple occasions during the investigation period and have made considerable wrongful