Sebi imposes Rs 27-crore fine on NDTV promoters for 'violating regulatory norms'
New Delhi (PTI) : Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday imposed a total penalty of Rs 27 crore on NDTV promoters, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, as well as on RRPR Holding for violating various securities norms by concealing information from shareholders regarding certain loan agreements.
RRPR Holding is a promoter entity of New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV).
According to Sebi, certain loan agreements had clauses that have adversarial effect on the NDTV shareholders.
The regulator said its probe began after receipt of complaints, in 2017 from Quantum Securities Pvt Ltd-- a shareholder of NDTV-- about an alleged violation of rules by non-disclosure of material information to the shareholders about loan agreements with VCPL.
One loan agreement was with ICICI Bank, and two were with Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Ltd (VCPL).
As per Sebi, an agreement was signed in 2009 with VCPL for a loan of Rs 350 crore to repay the ICICI Bank loan and a second loan agreement with VCPL was signed for Rs 53.85 crore, a year later.
These loan agreements included clauses and conditions that substantially affected the functioning of NDTV, Sebi said in its 52-page order.
Further, one of the terms of loan agreements allowed VCPL to indirectly acquire 30 per cent shareholding of NDTV through conversion of warrants into equity shares of RRPR Holding.
The loan agreements were structured in such a manner that clauses on various matters pertaining to NDTV, which were material and price sensitive information, were concealed from the minority shareholders.
The Roys have contended that NDTV was not a party hence there was no requirement for them to make disclosure of the agreement to the stock exchanges.
" I admit this position that NDTV was not a party to these loan agreement, however, contents and clauses of loan agreement clearly demonstrates that the scheme was devised by the noticees in such a way that though NDTV would not be a party to the said loan agreements, yet the loan agreements would contain certain crucial, onerous and hostile stipulations pertaining to NDTV," Sebi Adjudicating Officer Amit Pradhan said.
Such stipulations included NDTV''s capital restructuring, which were agreed to be undertaken by Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, only with the prior consent of ICICI Bank/ VCPL, he added.
Through such acts, the two propmoters and RRPR Holding have violated provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms, according to Sebi.
In addition, the Roys have entered into loan agreements which created conflict of their personal interest with the interest of NDTV, without making disclosure as required under the company''s code of conduct.
By doing so, they violated code of conduct of NDTV and provisions of equity listing agreement.
Accordingly, a fine of Rs 25 crore has been imposed on Roys and RRPR Holding, which needs to be paid jointly and severally. Besides, a penalty of Rs 1 crore each has been levied on Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.
In June 2019, the regulator had barred the three promoters from the capital markets for two years and also restrained the two individuals from holding any board or top management role at the company in this period in the same case.
However, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) stayed the Sebi''s decision.
Last month, Sebi restrained the couple from the securities market for two years and also directed them to disgorge illegal gains of over Rs 16.97 crore for indulging in insider trading more than 12 years ago, while the company denied the charges.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
