- By Vaamanaa Sethi
- Tue, 11 Jul 2023 03:35 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) informed the Supreme Court that the challenges faced by it for getting the details about the economic interest holders in the Adani Group companies were not because of its 2019 rule changes.
It further said that its 2019 rule change doesn’t make it tougher to identify beneficiaries of offshore funds, and action will be taken if any violation is found.
“Instead, the issue primarily arose from the existence of thresholds for determination of BOs(beneficial owners). In fact, the thresholds were only lowered (i.e., made tighter) between 2014 and 2019,” SEBIi said in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.
The markets regulator further added, “In addition, there never was any requirement to disclose the last natural person above every person owning any economic interest in the FPI.”
However, SEBI’s 2018 FPI circular and 2019 regulations had tightened the beneficial owner (BO) identification and disclosure requirements.
A Supreme Court-appointed expert committee had in an interim report in May said it saw "no evident pattern of manipulation" in Gautam Adani-led companies and there was no regulatory failure.
As per reports, SEBI further differed with the panel observation that stocks will re-price if the markets feel actions taken in the past by the company were not desirable. It also says that even if the market may re-price the stocks of the company based on the past transactions, "there is no bar on SEBI to examine any securities laws violations because re-pricing of the stock has happened”.”
The expert committee was to work in parallel with the probe by SEBI into offshore entities investing in the Adani Group. The regulator was first asked to complete the probe in two months and then given another three months till August 14.
