Cracking The Co-location Controversy

As expected, one of the much-awaited and most high profile order passed by the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has landed in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). We are talking about the five separate Sebi orders passed by it against the National Stock Exchange (NSE), certain stock brokers and some of the past and present employees of the Exchange. On April 30, Sebi cracked the whip on NSE and asked the country’s largest bourse to disgorge its profits to the tune of Rs624.89 crore from its co-location service it provided to the stockbrokers. Sebi also charged interest on the disgorged amount at the rate of 12 per cent per annum since 2014. The amount disgorged and interest there on will exceed Rs1,000 crore, which will have to be deposited in the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF). In addition, Sebi also asked the NSE not to access...