Sebi levies Rs 10 lakh fine on entity for manipulating stock prices of Nutraplus India

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday levied a fine of Rs 10 lakh on ARG Management Solutions Pvt Ltd for indulging in the manipulation of the share prices of Nutraplus India Ltd.

The order came after Sebi conducted an investigation in the scrip of Nutraplus India Ltd (NIL) to ascertain any violations of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms by certain entities for the period January 2015 to July 2017.

Pursuant to its probe, the regulator found that certain entities, including the ARG Management Solutions (Noticee), had allegedly indulged in manipulation in the price and creation of a misleading appearance of trading in the scrip.

In addition, the noticee had significantly contributed to a rise in the scrip price of NIL and created a misleading appearance of trading in the scrip by placing buy orders for minuscule quantity (single share) on 4,000 instances and had contributed to positive Last Traded Price (LTP) by Rs 4,228.90 through those trades to the positive LTP during the period from January 2015 to February 2016, thereby violated the PFUTP rules.

Thereafter, a common show cause notice dated February 14, 2020, was issued by Sebi to noticee and the other entities for the violations.

Subsequently, an order was passed by Sebi's Adjudicating officer (AO) dated March 31, 2020, wherein the regulator concluded that the charges against the noticee in the show cause notice were not established.

Consequently, Sebi's AO disposed of the show cause notice against the noticee without any penalty.

However, Sebi observed that the AO order in not holding the noticee was erroneous and not in the interest of the securities markets and thereafter, issued another show cause notice to ARG Management Solutions on April 29, 2020.

"I find that by executing 4,000 buy trades of single share each at incremental prices, which had positively contributed to the total rise in the LTP by Rs 4,228.90, the noticee manipulated the price of the scrip and created a misleading appearance of trading in the stock prices of NIL," Sebi's Whole Time Member (WTM) Ashwani Bhatia said.

By executing such trades, the noticee has violated the provisions of PFUTP rules.

In a separate order, the regulator barred promoters of Vikash Metal & Power Ltd from the securities markets for 4 years in a GDR manipulation case related to Vikash Metal & Power.