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Informist, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a non-government organisation Infrastructure Watchdog's plea challenging Smartworks Coworking Spaces Ltd.'s initial public offering, which was listed on the National Stock Exchange and the BSE on Jul. 17. Last month, a Securities Appellate Tribunal had dismissed the non-government organisation's plea seeking a stay on the initial public offering of Smartworks Coworking, whose stock was listed at INR 435 on the NSE, a premium of nearly 7% to the issue price of INR 407. 

 

On Monday, the top court cautioned the non-government organisation against filing false documents regarding a letter from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The petitioner had said the letter stated that some investigations were pending against the Sarda family, the promoters of Smartworks. The top court noted that a Right to Information query said that no such letter was issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and it was fake. 

 

The bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and A.S. Chandurkar decided not to take any action against the non-government organisation but issued a stern warning to them. Infrastructure Watchdog may be let off with a warning in the instance, however, any future attempts to mislead the apex court could attract serious consequences, said the bench. "Lawyers should be the first barrier in such cases. How can you let this happen? How did you let them file such a document?" remarked the top court.

 

The case has its genesis from the non-government organisation moving the appellate tribunal to block the initial public offering of Smartworks Coworking. Infrastructure Watchdog alleged that the company's draft red herring prospectus contained incomplete and misleading disclosures. The petitioner alleged that "benami funds" were used as capital in Smartworks Coworking. It said that various disclosures related to ongoing proceedings with the income tax department and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs along with a default against Punjab National Bank were not disclosed by Smartworks Coworking in its IPO documents.  

 

Smartworks Coworking Spaces is a managed workspace platform that offers superior office experiences compared to traditional workspaces, providing access to enhanced services and amenities. For 2023-24 (Apr-Mar), the company reported a consolidated net loss of INR 499.57 million on a revenue of INR 10.39 billion.

 

At 1407 IST, shares of Smartworks Coworking Spaces were up 2.1% at INR 501.15 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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