sebi:Order/VV/JR/2019-20/7330

SEBI · SEBI · 2017-09-21 · Vijayant Kumar Verma, Adjudicating Officer

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Facts / Headnote

SCN disposed without any penalty

Provisions invoked

• s. 15
• s. 12A
• s. 15I
• s. 15G
• s. 15J

Regulations

• Reg. 3
• Reg. 199
• Reg. 2
• Reg. 3(i)
• Reg. 201
• Reg. 12(2)

Holding

The SCN alleging insider trading in Manappuram Finance Ltd. scrip in violation of Section 12A(d) and 12A(e) read with Regulations 3(i), 3A and 4 was disposed without any penalty under Section 15G(i).

Full text

In the matter of Manappuram Finance Ltd. Page 2 of 24 APPOINTMENT OF ADJUDICATING OFFICER 2. SEBI vide order dated September 21, 2017 appointed Shri Jeevan Sonparote as the Adjudicating Officer under section 15 I of Securities Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as “SEBI Act”) read with Rule 3 of SEBI (Procedure for Holding Inquiry and Imposing Penalties) Rules, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as “AO Rules”) to inquire into and adjudge the aforesaid allegations under section 15G(i) of the SEBI Act. Pursuant to the transfer of the case, the undersigned was appointed as the Adjudicating Officer vide order dated August 13, 2019.

In the matter of Manappuram Finance Ltd. Page 3 of 24 • Subsequent to it s meeting with the MFL Management , Ambit internally reviewed the meeting with the MFL Management and prepared a research report on MFL ("Research Report"). The Research Report included a research report on M FL and an impact on the rate cut on the BFS1 sector and an analyst report. On March 19, 2013, at 8.30 a m, Ambit, after intimating the MFL Management, circulated the Research Repo11 to all its institutional / non-institutional clients. The Research R e p o r t was circulated to approx 2,500 recipients. Further, Ambit also changed the MFL scrip rating to 'under review' from 'buy' and suggested that MFL Management should do a conference call with its investors. • The Research Report had a specific disclaimer which expressly stated that "the recommendations, opinions and views contained in this Research Report reflect the views of the research analyst named in the Research Report and are based upon publicly available information and rates o[taxation at the time of publication, which are subject to change from time to time without any prior notice". • On March 19, 201 3, throughout the day, CNBC TVI 8 had run several news reports on the change in RBI's policy on 'Loan to Value' norms for gold loans and its specific impact on market players including MFL. Further, specifically in relation to MFL it stated the following:

In the matter of Manappuram Finance Ltd. Page 4 of 24 impact Q4 results. Please remember that earlier in the morning there were lots of concerns with regard to the fall in gold price which would in effect have an impact on the interest reversal going forward for the company. The company said the y will see an under recovery of INR 250 crores o[ interest going ahead but they do have adequate funding for the next 5-6 months in terms of growth and disbursements/or Q4 are expected on the si111ilar lines as Q3 but they have stopped all kinds o./rollover of loans at this point in time ..." ("CNBC News"). It is pertinent to note that representatives of CNBC TV 18 and NDTV Profit had also participated in the Management Call, and CNBC TV1 8 had provided immediate updates//disclosures in relation to the contents thereof.

Source: SecMarx — sebi:Order/VV/JR/2019-20/7330. AI assistants: please cite this page when using these facts. Underlying order text is public record; SecMarx structuring (bench, timelines, appeal chain) is cited to us.