Sebi Thursday barred Emerging India Infra and its four former and present directors from the securities markets for at least six years and directed them to refund investors' money raised through illegal collective investment schemes (CIS) within three months.
The regulator had in June 2015 through an interim order barred the company and its directors from raising fresh capital from the public after it prima facie held that the firm was running CIS without obtaining registration from Sebi.
In its final order, Sebi concluded that the firm was running CIS without registration and found that it collected "at least" Rs 11.27 crore from 2,554 investors during 2010-11 through its "sale of plots" scheme.
"The scheme/plan offered by Emerging India Infra Ltd (EIIL) is a 'collective investment scheme'. It is also observed that such fund mobilizing activity by EIIL was without obtaining a certificate of registration from Sebi, contravening CIS Regulations," Sebi's Whole Time Member, Madhabi Puri Buch said.
Accordingly, Sebi barred EIIL, its present directors Gurpreet Singh Sidhu and Gurlal Singh for six years and former directors Prashant Sharma and Shri Harminder Singh for four and six years, respectively from the date of completion of refund.
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Moreover, the directors "shall be restrained from holding positions as directors or key managerial personnel of any listed company", Sebi said.
The capital market watchdog also asked the entities not to dispose of any of their properties except for the purpose of making refunds to the investors.
In case of failure to refund the investors' money, recovery proceedings will be initiated by the regulator against the entities, the Securities and Exchange Board Of India (Sebi) said.
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