 "sebi")
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday imposed a penalty of Rs 35 lakh on PTC India Financial Services’ (PFS) chairman Rajib Kumar Mishra and its former managing director and chief executive officer Pawan Singh for alleged lapses in corporate governance.
PTC India Financial Services is a subsidiary of PTC, which holds around 65 per cent in the non-banking financial firm.
The market regulator has also barred Singh from holding any director position or a key managerial role in any listed company, intermediaries, or any company planning an IPO for the next two years.
Mishra has been restrained for the next six months from holding key positions. Sebi’s probe followed after three independent directors of PFS resigned in January 2021, alleging violations of corporate governance norms.
“The MD & CEO in a company, though sitting at a high position within the management hierarchy, is duty-bound to follow the decisions of the Board of his company and cannot exercise his power unilaterally in an unfettered manner,” said Sebi in a 111-page order.
The market regulator added he was running the company as a ‘private concern’ and was only interested in asserting his authority within the company and having his way in crucial matters, at the cost of the company's interests.
“Such tendencies, when adopted by the persons occupying highest positions within a company, are bound to have negative repercussions, which is evident from the fact that two sets of IDs resigned in quick succession from the company,” added Sebi whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia in the order.
Sebi noted that the irregularities had an impact on the performance of PFS as the assets fell from Rs 13,193 crore in FY19 to Rs 7,634 crore in FY23. Four public sector enterprises — NTPC, NHPC, Power Grid Corporation of India, and Power Finance Corporation — together hold a 16.2 per cent stake in PFS’ holding company PTC.
