Latest news with #Noticees
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Sebi announces market ban on LS Industries and others over alleged stock manipulation, fraud; probe extended till Nov 15
India's market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday confirmed the suspension of LS Industries, its promoter, and four other individuals from participating in the securities markets until the results of an investigation into allegations of fraudulent practices and stock price manipulation. The promoter of LS Industries Profound Finance, Jahangir Panikkaveettil Perumbarambathu, and Suresh Goyal, Alka Sahni, and Shashi Kant Sahni HUF, a Dubai-based NRI public shareholder of LS Industries, have also been prohibited from the markets. The timeline to complete the probe regarding this matter has been extended to November 15, and these entities are directed to cooperate for the same, Sebi said. In February 2025, the market regulator passed an interim order barring LS Industries, Profound Finance and four others from the securities markets over allegations of fraudulent activities and stock price manipulation. Sebi had also instructed Perumbarambathu to impound unlawful gains of ₹ 1.14 crore from the sale of shares as part of the fraudulent scheme. The matter concerns LS Industries and its key associates, who were involved in artificially inflating the company's share price despite negligible revenue and financial instability. Sebi, in its interim order, noted that LS Industries reported negligible revenue in the last three financial years (FY22-FY24) and the first three quarters of FY25, indicating that the company had not conducted any business during this period. The share price of LSIL rose more than 10 times from ₹ 22.50 to a high of ₹ 267.50 between July 23, 2024 and September 27, 2024, with the company reaching a peak market capitalisation of about ₹ 22,700 crore despite poor financial performance. The sudden price movement in the shares without any substantial changes in fundamentals, the transfer of shares to Perumbarambathu, and the suspicious trading patterns have come under scrutiny. 'In view of the sudden price movement in the scrip without any meaningful change in fundamentals, the dubious transfer of shares to JPP and the suspicious trading patterns of certain entities, it prima facie appeared that the Noticees were part of a manipulative scheme designed to defraud investors,' Sebi said.
India Gazette
5 days ago
- Business
- India Gazette
SEBI bars five IndusInd Bank executives in insider trading case involving Rs 19.78 Crore
New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has passed an interim order barring five former and current senior executives of IndusInd Bank from participating in the securities market, alleging their involvement in insider trading that helped them collectively avoid losses worth nearly Rs 19.78 crore. SEBI's ex-parte interim order, issued on May 28, names the bank officials including Arun Khurana (Executive Director and Deputy CEO), Sumant Kathpalia (Managing Director & CEO), Sushant Sourav (Head of Treasury Operations), Rohan Jathanna (Head of GMG Operations), and Anil Marco Rao (Chief Administrative Officer, Consumer Banking). Some of these officials have already resigned from their roles at the bank. SEBI said 'The bank accounts of Noticees are impounded to the extent of amount as mentioned in last column of Table 10 above, and Noticees are directed to open fixed deposit account(s) in their names so as to credit or deposit the aforesaid impounding amount with a lien marked in favour of SEBI and the amount kept therein shall not be released without permission from SEBI'. SEBI launched a suo motu investigation after observing a sharp fall in IndusInd Bank's stock price following a disclosure made by the bank on March 10, 2025. The bank revealed a discrepancy in its derivative portfolio accounting, stemming from changes mandated by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Master Direction issued in September 2023. SEBI, in an order, said 'Vide emails dated December 16, 2023, March 06, 2024 and May 05, 2024, figures of discrepancies Rs 1,572 crores, Rs 1,776.49 crores and Rs 2,361.69 crores for the period ending September 2023, December 2023 and March 2024, respectively, were circulated amongst the employees of IBL' The regulator found that the bank's internal team had discovered the discrepancies as early as September 2023 and had internally communicated the financial impact to top executives, including those now under investigation, by December 2023. Despite knowing the extent of the issue, the bank delayed public disclosure until March 2025. During the period classified by SEBI as containing unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI), from December 4, 2023, to March 10, 2025, the accused officials sold large volumes of IndusInd Bank shares. SEBI's order shows that none of them bought shares during this time, indicating deliberate attempts to offload shares before the negative news became public and the stock price crashed. On March 11, the day after the disclosure, IndusInd Bank shares dropped 27.17 per cent from Rs 900.60 to Rs 655.95. Arun Khurana alone sold 3.48 lakh shares, avoiding losses of over Rs 14.39 crore. Kathpalia sold 1.25 lakh shares, evading losses of more than Rs 5.2 crore. The remaining three officials together avoided additional losses of nearly Rs 19 lakh. In its interim order, SEBI has now frozen the officials' bank accounts to the extent of the avoided loss amounts. The market regulator also directed them to park these amounts in fixed deposit accounts with a lien in favour of SEBI. It also prohibited them from buying or selling any securities until further orders. SEBI also asked them to disclose details of their assets and financial holdings within 15 days. The regulator also clarified that its investigation is ongoing and further actions, including penalties, may follow. (ANI)
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
SEBI bans former IndusInd Bank CEO Sumant Kathpalia, four others from markets
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday has restrained IndusInd Bank's former managing director and CEO Sumant Kathpalia; ex ED and Deputy CEO Arun Khurana; and three other senior officials from accessing markets for insider trading in the bank's scrip. The other three bank officials who are barred from accessing the markets are Sushant Sourav, Head- Treasury Operations; Rohan Jathanna, Head- GMG Operations; and Anil Marco Rao, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)- Consumer Banking Operations. All the three officials are currently employed with the bank. The regulator, in an ex-parte interim order, has also ordered to impound bank accounts of all the five individuals to the extent of Rs 19.78 crore earned through alleged trading in the scrip of IndusInd Bank Ltd (IBL) while in possession of unpublished price sensitive information. The matter relates to the disclosure made by the IndusInd Bank on March 10, 2025 in which it informed stock exchanges about discrepancies in its derivative portfolio. The internal review by the bank had estimated an adverse impact of approximately 2.35 per cent of the bank's net worth as of December 2024. The regulator said that it conducted a suo-motu preliminary examination in the matter, after taking cognizance of the significant fall in price of shares of IndusInd Bank Ltd following the bank's disclosure on March 10, 2025 on the platforms of Exchanges. All the five officials of the bank traded in the scrip of IBL while being insider. 'During the preliminary examination conducted by SEBI, on the basis of the evidence collected so far, it is prima facie seen that all Noticees traded in the scrip being aware of the UPSI (unpublished price sensitive information) related to the discrepancies and averted/avoided huge losses,' the regulator said in the order. For the purpose of examination, SEBI considered the period from December 4, 2023 to March 10, 2025 (the date of actual reporting through exchange filing) as the UPSI period. Khurana sold 3,48,500 shares and Kathpalia sold a total quantity of 1,25,500 shares of IndusInd Bank's while being in possession of the UPSI and no shares were bought during the UPSI period. In the same period, Sourav, Jathanna and Rao sold a total quantity of 2,065, 2,000 and 1,000 shares respectively. The UPSI means any information which relates directly or indirectly to a company and which is not generally available but which, upon becoming generally available, is likely to materially affect the price of securities of a company. 'It would be naive to assume that Noticees traded in the scrip of IBL while being in possession of UPSI in a routine manner, when discussions were being carried out related to huge impact of discrepancies on financials of IBL and Noticees were aware of the same,' the order said. The trading done by insiders, while being in possession of UPSI caused notional monetary loss to the innocent investors who did not have free and equal access to the crucial or material information owing to it not being disclosed to them as and when it became available to the company. The order said that Kathpalia was aware about the probable huge impact of the discrepancy in the account balances of the derivative portfolio but the bank failed to classify it as UPSI till March 4, 2025. The order said that through emails dated December 16, 2023, March 6, 2024 and May 5, 2024, figures of discrepancies were Rs 1,572 crore, Rs 1,776.49 crore and Rs 2,361.69 crore for period ending September 2023, December 2023 and March 2024 respectively were circulated amongst the employees of the bank. The bank also appointed an external agency, KPMG, to review the discrepancies. In the review, KPMG gave a figure of Rs 2,093 crore to IBL as the negative impact due to discrepancies till December 31, 2023. However, these figures were neither reported through the exchange platform till March 10, 2025, nor were being classified to be UPSI by IBL till March 4, 2025, the order said. 'UPSI was already in existence on or before December 4, 2023, and discrepancies were being proposed to be submitted to RBI regularly, but UPSI was published/disclosed to the Exchanges only on March 10, 2025, i.e. after a delay of approximately 15 months from the date when the members of the senior management of IBL first came in the knowhow of events, surrounding the discrepancies and the huge impact it was bound to have on financial accounts/balance sheet of IBL,' the order said. Kathpalia and Khurana resigned in April following the disclosure of discrepancies in the bank's derivative portfolio. Hit by losses in the derivative portfolio and weak asset quality, IndusInd Bank Ltd reported a net loss of Rs 2,329 crore for the quarter (Q4) ended March 2025 as against a net profit of Rs 2,349 crore a year ago. It was the first quarterly loss for the bank in 19 years.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Sebi slams spoofing scam in 173 stocks, orders Rs 3.22 crore seizure from Patel Wealth Advisors, directors
Sebi order spoofing: Patel Wealth Advisors and its directors face Sebi action for spoofing trades, leading to Rs 3.22 crore in unlawful gains and a ban from market access. Sebi order spoofing: Sebi ordered the impounding of Rs 3.22 crore from Patel Wealth Advisors and its directors for order spoofing across 173 scrips, also barring them from securities markets. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday ordered impounding of Rs 3.22 crore from a stock broking company and its four directors after finding them to have indulged in "order spoofing" and making unlawful gains. In the interim order, the market watchdog also barred the company and its directors from accessing the securities alleged order spoofing was followed by the company over 292 scrip contract days spread over 173 different spoofing is a type of manipulative trading activity which involves placing bid or ask orders, with the intent of cancelling the said orders before execution while simultaneously executing trades on the opposite side of the book. The side (i.e. buy or sell) on which such large orders are placed and cancelled is known as 'Spoof' side and the suspect trader involved in such kind of activity is known as spoofer."An amount of INR 3,22,62,367.05, being the total unlawful gain earned from the alleged violations, shall be impounded, jointly and severally from the Noticees and the Noticees are directed to open fixed deposit account(s) in any Noticees' name so as to credit or deposit the aforesaid amount of unlawful gains with a lien marked in favour of SEBI and the amount kept therein shall not be released without permission from SEBI," a 41-page order company in question is Patel Wealth Advisors Private Limited (PWAPL) and its directors are Denish Maheshbhai Patel, Mitul Umedlal Vora, Kaushal Vasantrai Patel and Minish Maheshbhai Patel. Barring Minish, all others are promoters as interim order came following a probe into the trading activities of Patel Wealth Advisors for the period between January 1, 2022 and January 31, 2025 to ascertain as to whether its trading activities were in contravention of its order noted that the alleged illegal activities persisted despite repeated letters and communication from NSE even as the exchange initiated proceedings against PWAPL by issuing an SCN dated May 16, 2023."PWAPL was well aware of its alleged spoofing activities but despite the issuance of SCN by NSE, PWAPL has brazenly continued to indulge in unfair trade practices as far as till January 2025," the order noted."The order spoofing is a manipulative, fraudulent and unfair trade practice employed by PWAPL to deceive other market participants and profit from price fluctuation they induced unwary investors in the market. This practice distorted market prices and undermined market efficiency," the order said further.
