Insider trading: SEBI bans Infosys, Wipro employee from trading in stock exchanges

The case was related to a strategic partnership between Infosys and Vanguard, a US investment firm in July last year.
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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued an order related to alleged insider trading by a high-level employee of Infosys Limited and another former employee of Wipro Limited, in the shares of Infosys Limited. In an order dated September 27, the accused were identified as Rami Chaudhri of Infosys and Wipro's former employee Keyur Manair, and SEBI said that the case was related to a strategic partnership between Infosys and Vanguard, a US investment firm, in July last year. The two of them have been banned from trading in stock exchanges. 

Pending conclusion of detailed investigation, the order states that Ramit and Keyur are restrained from buying, selling or dealing in securities, either directly or indirectly, till further orders. “If Ramit Chaudhri and Keyur Maniar have any open position in any exchange derivative contracts, as on the date of the order, they can close out/square off such open positions within three months of the date of the order or at the expiry of such contracts, whichever is earlier,” it adds.

SEBI said that Rami was the Solution Design head of Infosys and was associated with the Vanguard deal and “was reasonably expected to have access or be privy to the Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI),” which prima facie made him an insider. He is accused of sharing this sensitive information with Keyur, who “traded in the scrip of Infosys in the F&O segment just prior to the announcement of the Vanguard deal and soon after the announcement, subsequently offloaded/squared off his positions such that net positions were zero.”

SEBI said that Keyur had generated proceeds of Rs 261.30 lakh in the trading. It also stated that the two accused had been in touch through frequent telephonic communication and also knew each other well as they had worked together in Wipro business process services (BPS) from March 2012 to December 2014. Stating that the behaviour of Keyur was not his normal trading behaviour, the SEBI said that the two accused had prima facie violated the provisions of the SEBI Act and Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations, 2015.

The SEBI order also said that, “Ramit had used both his mobile numbers to communicate with Keyur. During the period from January 1, 2020 to September 18, 2020, Ramit and Keyur have made several calls between themselves.”

Meanwhile, Wipro has issued a statement saying that Keyur Maniar is no longer an employee of the company. “We are in receipt of the interim ex parte order issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in the matter of insider trading relating to shares of Infosys Ltd. Effective September 28, 2021, Keyur Maniar is not an employee of Wipro Ltd,” the statement reads. 

The full order by SEBI can be found here.

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