More Stories

Informist, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025

 

Please click here to read all liners published on this story

--SEBI Pandey: Foreign investors demonstrate strong appetite for Indian mkts 
--CONTEXT: Comments by SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey at ICAI event 
--SEBI Pandey: Negative impact of fincl frauds on securities mkt tremendous 
--SEBI Pandey: Effort is to increase investor awareness about fincl frauds 
--SEBI Pandey: Developed tech to identify red flags from disclosures by cos 
--SEBI Pandey: Developing system within UPI for safe transactions 
--SEBI Pandey: UPI sub-system for safe transactions to go live Oct 1 
--SEBI Pandey: New app SEBI 'Check' to ensure validity of transactions 
--SEBI Pandey:To take strict action against auditors involved in fincl fraud 
--SEBI Pandey: IndusInd Bank investigation ongoing, can't say much now

 

MUMBAI – The Securities and Exchange Board of India will take strict action against auditors involved in financial frauds, Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said Friday at an event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India. "So where egregious behaviour involving siphoning of shareholder funds, assets, misrepresentation in financials and breakdown of internal control systems is observed, SEBI does not hesitate to take necessary enforcement action. If any statutory auditor is found to be involved in such frauds, we refer the cases to National Financial Reporting Authority to fix accountability on part of the auditors," Pandey said. 

 

Pandey also said that certain cases have highlighted that "...perhaps only a tick-box approach is being followed by some KMPs (key managerial personnel), statutory auditors and members of the audit committee and directors of the board of listed entities towards compliance." He said that the negative impact of such financial frauds on the securities market is tremendous. "Beyond loss to the shareholder wealth, they erode investor confidence, discourage genuine investment and directly undermine market integrity," Pandey said. 

 

Financial frauds have a tremendous negative impact on the market. The regulator has adopted a mix of measures such as regulatory and enforcement actions against financial frauds and said it will continue to focus on increasing the investors' understanding about frauds, the SEBI chairperson said. SEBI has consistently demonstrated its commitment to enhance companies' disclosure standards and enabled technology to uncover complex financial frauds. 

 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is working on developing frameworks to prevent financial frauds in the securities market, Pandey said. "We welcome this initiative and look forward to the outcome." 

 

Foreign investors continue to demonstrate a strong appetite for the Indian market. "I firmly believe that this is a reflection of the confidence that investors place in the transparency, regulatory robustness, and governance standards of our markets." Pandey's comments come amid the near-term selling pressure in global equity markets, including India, due to the risks associated with US tariffs such as possible spike in inflation and slowdown in economic growth.

 

However, India is expected to be among the least-hit emerging markets due to the US tariffs. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded shares worth $10.30 billion so far in 2025. In 2024, they had sold $754.52 million worth of shares after buying $24.07-billion equities in the previous year. Both benchmark indices Nifty 50 and Sensex have declined around 4% so far this calendar year. 

 

Pandy also said that SEBI is creating a new subsystem under the Unified Payment Interfac esystem with the help of the National Payments Council of India, which will have a specialised and exclusive "@valid" handle. "Valid is being brought in for every bank account or every channel that you use in UPI if you are transacting with securities market. So going forward, this will be available from Oct. 1," Pandey said. "It means that if anyone asks to transfer certain funds and gives a UPI handle, you can actually check whether the UPI handle has a 'valid' in it or if 

'valid' word is not there." 

 

SEBI is also developing a new app called SEBI Check, Pandey said. "...you would be able to check through a new app which is SEBI Check, a new dispensation where you can put in any bank account IFSC code and it will give you a message whether it is valid or not valid for the purpose of securities market," he said. 

 

Speaking on the IndusInd Bank issue, the SEBI chairman said the investigation into the lender is ongoing and he won't be able to divulge details on that. Asked about the Jane Street matter and whether SEBI has communicated with the Singapore authorities, Pandey said those things are not to be disclosed to media.  End

 

Reported by Kabir Sharma and Anjana Therese Antony

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.