BSE, NSE seek data from companies for results leak
MUMBAI: India’s top two stock exchanges — National Stock Exchange of India Ltd and BSE Ltd -- have written to over a dozen companies whose earnings and other key financial information were leaked ahead of their earnings announcement, said three people aware of the matter, including an exchange official.
This comes after the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asked them to examine trade data of 24 companies whose earnings were circulated on messaging app WhatsApp and social media.
Sebi and exchanges are trying to find out if such information appearing on social networking sites violates insider trading regulations and listing regulations.
“The exchanges have observed discrepancies in trade data, prompting bourses to seek clarification from the companies on the data leaks. We are examining the trade data of these companies for the past 12 months,” an official at a stock exchange said on condition of anonymity.
Emails sent to Sebi, NSE and BSE on Friday were not answered till press time.
“In a communication sent to the exchanges last week, the regulator has also asked BSE and NSE to beef up their surveillance of other social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and whether these platforms are being used to leak price-sensitive informa- tion,” said the second of the three people cited earlier.
The issue surfaced on November 17 when a Reuters report identified 12 companies whose second quarter earnings were being circulated in private WhatsApp groups. Nearly half of these companies were part of Nifty 50. Soon, Sebi charmain Ajay Tyagi, on the sidelines of an industry event, said the regulator is “investigating the matter and it is work in progress’.
Under Sebi’s Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirement (LODR) and Prevention of Insider Trading (PIT) regulations, pricesensitive information needs to be uniformly disclosed through stock exchange platforms. Possession and circulation of unpublished price-sensitive information violates PIT regulations.
According to a PTI report published on November 21, the regulator is also considering seeking call data records (CDRs) of all the persons involved in the alleged circulation of the financial details on social media groups before they are made public.