Sebi to probe WhatsApp data leak

The Telegraph,  December 13, 2017, Mumbai

Sebi is "seriously" looking into the issue of prescient messages on company results circulated by market insiders in private WhatsApp groups, its chairman said on Tuesday, a sign the investigation is gaining momentum.

Ajay Tyagi, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), on Tuesday confirmed that the regulator has come to know of instances wherein price-sensitive financial data of reputed companies were leaked right before the earnings were formally made public.
"We are taking that (WhatsApp leaks) very seriously. How come such messages about reputed listed companies are leaked quite close to the financial results is something we are not going to sit quietly on," Tyagi told reporters here.

Tyagi's comments come at a time there are reports of a dozen such cases pertaining to listed entities.

The market regulator has reportedly summoned officials of some of these companies to find out whether such messages have been circulated. They have also been asked to disclose the steps taken to prevent such occurrences in the future.

While Sebi has noted a spike in trading volumes in certain stocks, including blue chips, ahead of their results, bourses are also probing trade details of such stocks. The identity of these stocks has not yet been disclosed.

The regulator is also considering seeking call data records of the persons involved in circulating such financial details and other price-sensitive information about publicly traded firms.

Sebi has powers to seek call data records, excluding the exact content of the communication, from telecom service providers. The market regulator is also planning to seek clarification from brokerages and listed firms if such individuals were found to be associated with them.

IPO listing

Sebi is planning to make the IPO process easier and faster and it wants to bring down the listing time to four days from six at present.

"We are further simplifying procedures and focusing on reducing the listing time for IPOs so that primary markets become more efficient. The focus is to further cut down on the time taken for listing a company on an exchange after the IPO to four days from the six days now," Tyagi said.


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