Sebi imposes Rs 25 lakh fine on 5 entities for non-genuine trades

Sebi on Wednesday imposed fines totalling Rs 25 lakh on five entities for indulging in non-genuine trades in the illiquid stock options segment on BSE.

In five separate orders, the watchdog levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Natraj Dealtrade, Queen Tie-Up Pvt Ltd, Octagon Merchants, Noble Tradelink and Nirmal Kumar Chopra HUF.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had observed large scale reversal of trades in the illiquid stock options segment of BSE, leading to creation of artificial volumes on the bourse.

It had conducted an investigation into the trading activities of certain entities engaged in the segment on BSE from April 2014 to September 2015.

According to Sebi, the five entities were among those who indulged in the execution of reversal trades.

The reversal trades are alleged to be non-genuine in nature as they are executed in the normal course of trading, which leads to a false or misleading appearance of trading in terms of generating artificial volumes, Sebi said.

The entities had violated the provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices).