SEBI fines Rs 7 crore on NSE, Rs 5 crore each on Ramakrishna, Varanasi in ‘dark fiber’ case
Highlight
- Capital markets regulator SEBI penalizes 18 entities in ‘dark fiber’ case
- They have been asked to pay the total fine amount within 45 days.
- The matter pertains to alleged differential access granted to certain broking firms
Capital markets regulator SEBI has penalized 18 entities, including the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former chiefs Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Varanasi, in the ‘dark fibre’ case. The regulator has imposed a fine of Rs 7 crore on NSE and Rs 5 crore each on Ramakrishna and Varanasi. Along with this, a fine of Rs 5 crore has also been imposed on Subramaniam Anand. In addition, SEBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 6 crore on Way2Wealth Brokers, Rs 5 crore on GKN Securities and Rs 3 crore on Sampark Infotainment.
According to a Sebi order passed on Tuesday, they have been asked to pay the total amount of the fine within 45 days. The case pertains to alleged differential access to some broking firms as ‘dark fiber’ in NSE to connect with collocation facilities in front of other members. A dark fiber or unlimited fiber, in relation to network connectivity, refers to a previously laid but unused or passive optical fiber, which is not connected to active electronics/equipment and does not have other data flowing through them and into the fiber. Available for use – optic communication.
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SEBI has initiated investigation in respect of transactions of several entities for the period 2009 to 2016 to look into the matter of providing connectivity to certain stockbrokers by NSE in a manner which is detrimental to investors or securities market. It is possible “W2W (Way2Wealth) and GKN in connivance with the employees of NSE and Sampark made significant profits on account of undue latency advantage available to them,” SEBI said in its 186-page order.
Others penalised by Sebi are Nagendra Kumar SRVS, Deviprasad Singh, and MR Shashibhushan, Prashanth D’souza, Om Prakash Gupta, Sonali Gupta, Rahul Gupta, Netaji Patil, Rima Srivastava, Parshant Mittal, Mohit Mutreja.
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