Infosys CEO and MD Salil Parekh has settled insider trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In a case of alleged insider trading violation and the company’s failure to comply with the market regulator’s provisions, the executive has agreed to pay ₹25 lakh as settlement, according to reports.
CEO Parekh was found guilty of violating Regulations 9A(1) — failure to put in place an adequate and effective system of internal controls to prevent insider trading, 9A(2) of the PIT Regulations stating that all the UPSI shall be identified, and its confidentiality shall be maintained.
The order was issued in a case related to a 2020 contract for Infosys to equip US financial firm Vanguard with a cloud-based record-keeping platform. Despite the company disclosing details regarding the deal, SEBI accused Infosys of not considering certain information regarding the partnership as unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI).
In 2021, SEBI issued an interim ex parte order against both companies involved. The market regulator had banned Ramit Chaudhri, former solutions design head of Infosys, and Keyur Maniar in an insider trading case where the latter had generated proceeds of ₹261.30 lakh.
Following this, in 2023, the market regulator issued a show-cause notice to the IT firm. Infosys filed for a consent settlement plea — under which an alleged wrongdoer can settle the case by simply agreeing to pay a penalty fee. This settlement application was approved by the High Powered Advisory Committee (HPAC).