Hindenburg questions SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s ‘complete silence’ on Congress’s claims

US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research has now questioned the silence of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s on Congress’s allegations about her consulting firm’s financial dealings during her tenure as a regulator. 

The shortseller in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “Buch has maintained her complete silence for weeks on all of the emerging issues.” 

“New allegations have emerged that the private consulting entity, 99% owned by SEBI Chair Madhabi Buch, accepted payments from multiple listed companies regulated by SEBI during her time as SEBI Whole-Time Member. The companies include: Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy’s and Pidilite. These allegations apply to Buch’s Indian consulting entity with no details thus far on Buch’s Singapore-based consulting entity,” Hindenburg Research added in the post. 

In its latest salvo at the SEBI chief, Congress alleged that Buch and her consulting firm Agora Private Limited received nearly Rs 2.95 crore between 2016 and 2024 from six companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy’s, and Pidilite. 

Mahindra Group and Dr Reddy’s rejected allegations raised by the party in statements filed to the stock exchanges. 

Earlier, Congress leader Pawan Khera on September 6 alleged that Buch and her husband received rental income from a company affiliated Wockhardt Ltd, a firm that SEBI has been involved with in multiple cases. 

Before that, Khera had accused Buch of holding an office of profit at ICICI Bank and receiving an income of Rs 16.80 crore between 2017 and 2024 after she became a full-time member of the market regulator.  

ICICI Bank had refuted the claims and said that it did not pay any salary or granted ESOPs to Buch after her retirement on October 31, 2013, as alleged by Congress. 

After its hit job on the Adani Group in January last year, Hindenburg has launched a direct attack on SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and the regulatory body, alleging that SEBI has shown a lack of interest in probing the Adani Group’s alleged undisclosed network of shell entities. SEBI, Buch, and the Adani Group have all refuted the latest allegations. The US shortseller connected the alleged links of the SEBI chief’s family with the Adani Group as reason for the delay in the investigation. 

In January 2023, US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research came out with a report alleging the Adani Group of indulging in billions of dollars’ worth of undisclosed related party transactions, investment and stock manipulation.