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SEBI Employees Protest: The employees of the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Thursday gathered outside the SEBI office in Mumbai after the regulatory body allegedly attempted to downplay the complaints of a 'toxic work culture'. SEBI on Wednesday said that its employees were being misguided by external elements to undermine the credibility of the institution and its leadership.

SEBI released the statement amid reports that SEBI employees have written a letter to the finance ministry complaining of a 'toxic work culture' in the organisation. As per reports, SEBI employees raised a complaint with the finance ministry last month, accusing the regulator's leadership of fostering an unhealthy work culture and setting unrealistic targets for employees.

Protesting on Thursday, the SEBI employees also sought the resignation of the market regulator's chief, Madhabi Puri Buch, The Economic Times reported.

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The market regulator on Wednesday categorically denied the charges and issued a release which asserted that the employees are misguided by external elements to target the credibility of the regulatory body and its leadership.

"We would not like to speculate on who those external elements may be or what their motives might be," SEBI said in a 5-page statement. SEBI added it is committed to enhancing the capacity of all its employees and allowing them to actualize their full potential.

SEBI's release of Wednesday said that its junior officers, who were allegedly aggrieved in respect of HRA allowances, have been misguided. In the recent past, amongst numerous other benefits, employees were demanding 55 per cent increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA), over the allowance set in 2023.

Also, employees raised an issue on the updation of SEBI's automated Management Information System for Key Result Areas (KRAs), which had been designed to bring more transparency, fairness, and accountability within SEBI.

SEBI statement said "It is understood that when media reported on this protest as being "only about their working conditions and allowances and perks..." and "nothing about the issues faced by the vast majority of investors and stakeholders ...", a group of employees consciously designed a strategy to change the narrative to frame the issue as relating to the work environment, with an objective to have bargaining power to seek more benefits. Accordingly, a letter focused on "work culture" was crafted and sent to HRD on August 06, 2024," said the market regulator.

Thereafter, after 7 days, reportedly a second letter was submitted with a long list of 16 demands, for numerous monetary and non-monetary benefits including an increase in HRA. Further, automatic promotions at lower performance ratings without interviews have also been "demanded", the SEBI statement said.

SEBI said the organisation is committed to ensure that it is responsive to the market ecosystem and all its participants, both in terms of speed of approval and facilitating ease of doing business as well as in carrying out timely investigation and enforcement against wrongdoing in the market.

"It is unfortunate that some elements have attempted to diminish the significant capabilities of SEBI employees by instigating employees to believe that, as "employees of a Regulator" they should not be required to have such high standards of performance and accountability," SEBI said in its statement on Wednesday.

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(With ANI's Inputs)