Sebi sells shares in bulk deal to recover money

In an interesting trade, capital markets regulator Sebi has garnered Rs 30,250 through sale of shares of a little-known company Shyama Infosys through open market.

The share sale was part of Sebi's efforts to recover funds totalling nearly Rs 7 lakh from an entity named Ahilya Commercial, which had defaulted on payment of a penalty imposed by the regulator over four years ago.

The shares were sold in a bulk deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday, wherein Sebi offloaded 55,000 shares of Shyam Infosys held in Ahilya's depository accounts that were attached by the regulator as part of its recovery proceedings.

The trading volumes are very low in Shyama Infosys' shares and they breached their lower circuit limit and a 52-week low on Wednesday at 55 paise, the price at which Sebi sold the shares from the depository account of Ahilya.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has garnered a total of Rs 30,250 from the sale of shares.

In July last year, Sebi had ordered attachment of all bank and depository accounts of Ahilya to recover the penalty amount of Rs five lakh, an outstanding interest amount of about Rs 1.98 lakh and other 'costs' of Rs 1,000 - totalling to Rs 6,99,082.

As per the company information filed with BSE, Shyama Infosys is into pharmaceuticals business.

Way back in 2009 as well, Sebi had passed an order against Ahilya and slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the stock broker for allegedly indulging in fraudulent trading as well as violating brokers' norm.