The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has stepped its vigil over the stock market following the recent developments in the Jane Street case and Sebi’s interim order into the same. The market regulator is seeking to put in place multiple measures to curb such instances of market manipulation, and enhance investor education to protect retail participants in the market, including the futures and options (F&O) space.
Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has said that while new regulations might not be brought to curb such practices, the regulator is likely to increase enforcement and surveillance, according to a report by Moneycontrol. Pandey added that different market manipulators can deploy different tactics and there’s no single way of assessing such practices. This would require stronger surveillance and enforcement, he said, adding that Sebi already has regulatory authority to stop such manipulative and fraudulent practices under Sebi’s Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) Regulations.
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He further said that surveillance will continue at the level of the exchanges and also at Sebi’s level and surveillance measures will also be upgraded.
Earlier on July 5, 2025, Pandey told reporters at the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Bombay Society of Chartered Accountants (BCAS) that Sebi will also start an investor awareness campaign.
He said the campaign will educate investors about the risks involved in the F&O space and discourage unskilled retail investors from participating in it. He said Sebi is also trying to cultivate a culture of responsible investing amid rising retail participation in the stock market. He also highlighted the need to curb the increasing cases of cyber fraud in the stock market.
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“We are going to do a massive campaign on various issues plaguing the investor ecosystem, whether it is cyber fraud or responsible investing. We are discouraging individuals without enough skills from entering the F&O market,” Pandey said at the event.
A day prior, on July 4, Sebi released an interim order against Jane Street Capital, an American proprietary trading firm and banned Jane Street and its related entities from accessing the Indian securities market. The entities have also been ordered to return the unlawful gains made by them through alleged market manipulation. Notably the trading firm has been asked to return unlawful gains to the tune of Rs 4,846 crore. After Sebi’s interim order, Jane Street Group expressed their disagreement with the findings of the order. However, the group added that it will cooperate fully with the market watchdog and reaffirmed its commitment to regulatory compliance.
