If those who received the notices had open positions in exchange-traded derivatives contracts, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered those who received the notices to liquidate or settle those positions within three months from Thursday.
Fifteen companies — Nirmal Kumar Soni, Partha Sarathi Dhar, Nitin Charani, Rupesh Kumar Matria, Ajaykumar Ramakant Sharma, Ramawatar Lalchand Chotia, Kiran Jadhav, Ashish Kelkar, Himanshu Gupta, Mudit Goyal, Simi Bhowmik, SAAR Commodities, SAAR Securities, Manan Sharecom and Kanya Trading — are among those against whom SEBI has initiated regulatory action.
The fines were imposed because some people had engaged in illegal transactions based on recommendations made by experts during their appearances on the programme. G Business News channel from February to December 2022.
Some of them were directly involved in such illegal transactions and some aided and abetted it, SEBI said in its interim order.
“I am of the opinion that it is appropriate to issue interim directions to protect the securities market and investors from the unscrupulous activities of these entities and also to restrain these entities from continuing their prima facie fraudulent activities while trading in the securities market,” Securities and Exchange Board standing member Kamlesh Varshney said in the interim order.
He added that it was “urgent” to prevent unfair profits from being diverted to unregulated areas.
Sebi was conducting a study to examine the correlation between the trading activity of 15 experts appearing on news channels and their stock recommendations.
The regulator has divided these 15 organisations into three categories: commercial companies, supporting companies and guest experts.
Nirmal Kumar Soni, Partha Sarathi Dhar, SAAR Commodities, Manan Sharecom and Kanhya Trading were categorised as profit making companies as they executed trades based on advance information of stock recommendations by guest experts and made profits.
Nitin Charani, Rupesh Kumar Matriya, Ajaykumar Ramakant Sharma, SAAR Securities and Ramawatar Lalchand Chotia have been categorised as aiders as they allegedly helped profiteers make profits on the basis of advance information on stock recommendations of guest experts.
Kiran Jadhav, Ashish Kelkar, Himanshu Gupta, Mudit Goyal and Simi Bhowmik have been termed as “guest experts” who allegedly provided non-public information to commercial companies before airing their recommendations.
Sebi noted how these particular entities indulged in fraudulent and unfair practices and used their positions to influence innocent investors to illegally enrich themselves.
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