ORDER
T.M. Nagarajan, Member
1. BACKGROUND
2. Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd (RSFL) was incorporated in 1933. The company belongs to one Gulabchand Doshi Group. It manufactures sugar and allied products. Its products include sugar confectionery, sugar candy, sugarcane wax, sugar machinery, etc. The company has one manufacturing plant located in Maharashtra.
The scrip is listed on NSE and The Stock Exchange, Mumbai.
1.2 The price of the scrip on NSE rose from Rs. 3220/- on May 23, 2001 to Rs. 4565/- on June 19, 2001, and touched a high of Rs. 5550/- on June 04, 2001. On June 11, 2001 and June 15, 2001 the volume in the scrip was 314 shares and 1240 shares respectively.
2. INVESTIGATION
1. Observing large volumes in the scrip during the above mentioned period, investigation was conducted and the brokers and the clients were called for ascertaining the reason of trading in comparatively large quantities.
2. The trades in the scrip were investigated for the period May 04, 2001 to June 29, 2001. The price of the scrip at The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) opened at Rs. 3650 on May 04, 2001 and touched a high of Rs. 5564.15 and a low of Rs. 3180 on May 15, 2001 and closed at Rs. 3975 on June 29, 2001. High volumes of 1012 shares and 1001 shares were observed on May 8, 2001 and May 21, 2001 respectively.
3. On BSE the brokers Tropical Securities & Investments Pvt. Ltd., M/s Lallubhai Ranchodas, SPS Share Brokers Pvt. Ltd. and Rosy Blue Securities Pvt. Ltd. were found having executed structured deals.
4. Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘HTCL’) have traded in the scrip through the broker Lallubhai Ranchhoddas Share Brokers Pvt. Ltd. (LRSB) and Tropical Securities & Investments Pvt. Ltd. (TSIL).
5. HTCL bought 600 shares through the broker TSIL and sold 379 shares through the broker LRSB during the period. On May 31, 2001 HTCL have traded 10 shares without any change in the beneficial ownership through the above brokers.
6. One of the directors, Shri Milan Dalal was asked about artificial volume HTCL have created in the market he replied that the purpose was to raise temporary funds for settlement of their pay-in obligation in BSE and NSE as the case may be. Majority of the trades executed by HTCL through the brokers LRSB and TSIL are as under:
Date
Buying Broker
Ultimate Buying client
Selling Broker
Ultimate Selling client
No. of Shares executed
Total shares traded during the day.
% of synchronized shares traded to the total shares
traded.
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
300
338
31/05/2001
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
10
1/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
300
345
86.96
5/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own, Globex Fin., Harbinger Tr.
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
89
147
60.54
13/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
30
33
90.91
15/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
260
270
96.30
1. The broker TSIL and Shriya Capital Services are HTCL’s associate company and also had traded in the scrip. Following are the trades executed by HTCL and above associate companies of HTCL:
2. Mr. Milan Dalal, Director of TSIL stated that as it does appear to have had the transactions duly matched and that same has repeated in a number of settlements, the sole purpose was to raise temporary funds for their group stock broking exchange related commitments, i.e. for settlement of their pay-in obligation in BSE and NSE as the case may be. Further he mentioned that both the terminals were deactivated sometime end of November 2001 and in fact NSE actually sold of RSFL to square of their account.
3. Following are synchronised deals executed by HTCL on May 31, 2001, June 05, 2001, June 13, 2001 and June 15, 2001 for 390 shares.
Date
Buying Broker
Ultimate Buying client
Selling Broker
Ultimate Selling client
No. of Shares executed
Total shares traded during the
day.
% of synchronized shares
traded to the total shares traded.
8/5/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
SPS Shares Brokers
Aditi Asim Dalal
1000
1012
98.8
21/05/2001
Tropical Sec.
Shriya Capital Ser.
Rosy Blue Sec.
Tropical Sec. Inv.
1000
1001
L
99.9
31/05/2001
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
300
338
.
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
10
91.72
1/6/2001
Tropical Sec.
Harbinger Trading Co.
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
300
345
86.96
4/6/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own, Globes Fin.,
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
700
760
Harbinger Tr.
92.11
5/6/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own, Globex Fin.,
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
89
147
Harbinger Tr.
60.54
13/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
30
33
90.91
15/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
Lallubhai Ranc.
Harbinger Trading Co.
260
270
96.3
18/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dlal
450
471
95.54
22/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
TSIL Own Trading A/c
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
104
111
93.69
28/06/2001
Tropical Sec.
Globex Fin. Ser. Ltd.
SPS Shares
Aditi Asim Dalal
550
950
100
Date of
Traded
Trade
Traded
Buy
Sell
Buy
Sell
Buy
Sell
Trade
Time
d Qty.
Rate
Qty.
Qty.
Rate
Rate
Time
Time
31-May-01
02:02:02 PM
10
5140
10
10
5140
5140
14:02:01 hrs
14:01:49 hrs
05-Jun-
11:54:4
20
5450
20
10
5549
5549
11:54:4
11:54:01
01
1AM
10
5545
0AM
AM
11:54:31
AM
05-Jun-01
12:22:5 1PM
40
5495
40
40
5495
5495
12:22:5 1PM
12:22:49 PM
05-Jun-01
12:53:1 6PM
29
5530
30
30
5530
5530
12:53:1 4PM
12:53:16 PM
13-Jun-01
11:47:4 2AM
5
5090
5
5
5090
5090
11:47:4 1AM
11:42:39 AM
13-Jun-01
01:51:2 3PM
5
4975
10
5
4975
4975
01:51:1 2PM
01:51:23 PM
13-Jun-01
03:26:1 0PM
20
4890
20
20
4890
4890
03:26:0 9PM
03:26:00 PM
15-Jun-01
10:39:1 7AM
60
4690
60
60
4690
4690
10:38:5 9AM
10:39:16 AM
15-Jun-01
11:04:2 0AM
200
4685
100
100
4685
4685
11:04:2 0AM
11:04:20 AM
About these synchronised deals Mr. Sanjiv R Choksy, Whole Time Director of LRSB stated that as TSIL was in financial difficulties, they had entered into these transactions to enable them to meet their pay-in obligations.
1. The following were the date wise volume of shares created by HTCL while trading as counter party to HTCL’s associate company TSIL:
2. From the above it is observed that HTCL created volume of 390 shares, which was 81% of the total volume traded during three days on BSE. Mr. Sanjiv R Choksy stated that they had undertaken these trades for financial accommodation to TSIL.
—————————————————————————–
Date No. of shares Total Volume % of HTCL's volumes
traded by HTCL traded on BSE with Tropical
with Tropical Securities Pvt. Ltd.
Securities Pvt. Ltd. out of total shares
traded on BSE.
—————————————————————————–
05-Jun-01 90 147 61% 13-Jun-01 30 50 60% 15-Jun-01 260 270 96%
—————————————————————————–
It is further found that the broker executed structured deals for 390 shares on behalf of HTCL and enabled the broker TSIL (which is an associate company of HTCL) and its client to execute financial transactions among HTCL and its broker.
1. HTCL’s authorized representative Mr. Deepak Sheth stated that HTCL have traded through Tropical Securities & Investments Pvt. Ltd., not only in this scrip as HTCL were associated with the group and that the trading with LRSB was to raise temporary finance for TSIL and CFL Securities Ltd. to meet their pay-in their obligations on BSE & NSE respectively.
2. HTCL traded simultaneously through two brokers TSIL and LRSB. It is found during the investigation that the broker LRSB had matched orders for HTCL’s trades with those of the broker TSIL a client of which was Ms. Aditi A Dalal, who is wife of Shri Asim B Dalal, a director in TSIL which is an associate of HTCL.
—————————————————————————–
2.14 I find that HTCL executed matched transactions in the shares
and created artificial volume in the scrip and executed financial
transactions through different brokers and undertaken these
transactions to meet the financial obligations of the broker
Tropical Securities & Investments Pvt. Ltd. (Broker – BSE) with
which HTCL are connected and violated regulations 4(b) and
4(c) of SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade
Practices Relating To Securities Market) Regulations, 1995.
3.0 SHOW CAUSE NOTICE AND HEARING 3.1 In light of the findings of investigation, show cause notice dated
18.03.04 was issued to HTCL, directing it to show cause as to
why appropriate directions including directions under section 11
read with section 11 B of the SEBI Act, 1992 and Regulation 11
of the FUTP Regulations, 2003, restraining it from the securities
market for a particular period should not be issued against it
3.2 Harbinger vide its letter dated 07.04.2004 made following
submissions to the above show cause notice:
* That they have entered into series of transactions in the scrip of
Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd. with their group associate Tropical
Sec & Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Lallubhai Ranchoddas.
* That their sole intention of doing these transactions was to
create a temporary funding arrangement to meet with BSE/NSE
obligations of their group associates, Tropical Sec. & Inv. Pvt.
Ltd. and CFL Securities Ltd. respectively. The intention at
anytime behind doing these transactions were definitely not to
create false and artificial volume or price rigging or structured
deals, thereby misleading the trading pattern in the market.
They had to resort to this methodology of funding as part of
—————————————————————————–
survival of their whole group as they along with their group associates were passing through severe financial hardships during this period and as suggested by our associates. They further submitted that inspite of their efforts to survive NSE (CFL Securities Ltd.) and BSE (Tropical Securities & Inv. Pvt. Ltd.) terminals had been deactivated in the month of October / November 2001 and they were out of business since that time.
A hearing was given to HTCL on 11.06.04.
1. CONSIDERATION OF ISSUES
2. I have gone through the show cause notice, the reply filed by HTCL and submissions made by its representative during the course of hearing.
The only issue that arises out for consideration is whether Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. indulged in any fraudulent and unfair trade practice.
1. I observe that HTCL created volume of 390 shares, which was 81% of the total volume traded during three days on BSE. Mr. Sanjiv R Choksy stated that they had undertaken these trades for financial accommodation to TSIL.
2. From the replies of Shri Milan Dalal, it is clear that TSIL executed structured deals for 390 shares on behalf of HTCL and enabled the broker TSIL (which is an associate company of HTCL) and its client to execute financial transactions among HTCL and its broker, TSIL.
3. I note that HTCL’s authorised representative Mr. Deepak Sheth stated that HTCL traded through Tropical Securities &
Investments Pvt. Ltd., not only in this scrip as they were associated with the group and the trading with LRSB was to raise temporary finance for TSIL and CFL Securities Ltd. to meet their pay-in obligations on BSE & NSE respectively.
1. I observe that HTCL traded simultaneously through two brokers TSIL and LRSB. It is found during the investigation that the broker LRSB had matched orders for HTCL’s trades with those of the broker TSIL of which client was Ms. Aditi A Dalal, who is wife of Shri Asim B Dalal, a director in TSIL which is an associate of HTCL.
2. I further find that HTCL executed matched transactions in the shares of RSFL and created artificial volume in the scrip of RSFL and executed financial transactions through different brokers and undertaken these transactions to meet the financial obligations of the broker Tropical Securities & Investments Pvt. Ltd. (Broker – BSE) with which HTCL are connected and violated regulations 4(b) and 4(c) of SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating To Securities Market) Regulations, 1995.
3. Regulation 4 under Chapter II of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 1995 inter-alia provides as follows:
Prohibition against Market Manipulation
4. No person shall –
(a) effect, take part in, or enter into, either directly or indirectly, transactions in securities, with the intention of artificially raising or depressing the prices of securities and thereby inducing the sale or purchase of securities by any person;
(b) indulge in any act, which is calculated to create a false or misleading appearance of trading on the securities market;
(c) indulge in any act which results in reflection of prices of securities based on transactions that are not genuine trade transactions;
(d) enter into a purchase or sale of any securities, not intended to effect transfer of beneficial ownership but intended to operate only as a device to inflate, depress, or cause fluctuations in the market price of securities;
(e) pay, offer or agree to pay or offer, directly or indirectly, to any person any money or money’s worth for inducing another person to purchase or sell any security with the sole object of inflating, depressing, or causing fluctuations in the market price of securities.”
1. In view of the above, I find that the Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. has acted in violation of Regulation 4 (a), (c) and (d) of the SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 1995 and has created an artificial market for the scrip of Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd. and also manipulated the price of the scrip during the period May 04, 2001 to June 29, 2001
2. I am therefore of the view that Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. has acted in such a manner that has placed the interest of investors at risk and also jeopardized the trust of investors in the safety and integrity of the securities market. I find that in the interest of investors in the securities market, it is necessary to restrain entities/persons such as Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. from being associated with the securities market.
1. I further note that similar violations have been committed by Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. in the scrip of Shrenuj & Co. Ltd. also and appropriate orders are being passed for the same.
2. Order
3. Therefore, I, in exercise of powers conferred on me vide Sections 11(4) and 11B read with Section 19 of the SEBI Act and Regulation 11 of the SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003, do hereby direct Harbinger Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd. to disassociate itself from the securities market and not to deal in securities for a period of six months.
This Order shall come into effect immediately.