The capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has cancelled the registration of 72 research analysts after they failed to pay the mandatory renewal fees. With the fee unpaid, their registration certificates have effectively expired — and now officially stand cancelled.
Sebi said the move is meant to prevent any confusion or misuse of the expired registration by unsuspecting investors, who may not realise these entities are no longer in the game.
Under Sebi’s 2014 regulations for research analysts, anyone registered has to pay a renewal fee every five years to keep their licence valid. In this case, Sebi noted that the 72 entities simply didn’t pay up.
This triggered summary proceedings under the Sebi (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008, and the regulator followed up with show cause notices in February. Despite the notices, the situation remained unchanged.
While these analysts can no longer operate under Sebi’s watch, the regulator has directed them to keep records and documents related to investor grievances, as well as any transfers of funds or securities. Essentially, they need to tie up loose ends.
In a separate set of actions on the same day, Sebi also fined seven entities ₹5 lakh each for taking part in what it calls non-genuine trades in the illiquid stock options segment on the BSE.
These fines follow an earlier probe by Sebi, which had noticed a suspicious pattern of trade reversals in the non-liquid stock options space between April 2014 and September 2015. According to the regulator, the trades may have created artificial volumes — possibly giving a misleading sense of activity in the market.
While Sebi hasn’t made any explosive claims, the actions suggest concerns about market manipulation – especially in thinly traded segments where just a few trades can paint a skewed picture.
