Dark fibre: NSE, ex-chief, 16 others fined

New Delhi, June 29

SEBI has imposed a penalty totalling Rs 44 crore on 18 entities, including the National Stock Exchange (NSE), its business development officer Ravi Varanasi, former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and her adviser Subramanian Anand along with certain stock brokers in the ‘dark fibre’ case.

Rs 44-cr penalty

• The case relates to the alleged differential access given to certain broking firms in the form of ‘dark fibre’ at the NSE, to connect across the co-location facilities before other members. A fine of Rs 44 has been imposed.

Apart from the NSE and its former officials, others penalised by SEBI are stock brokers — Way2Wealth Brokers and GKN Securities — Sampark Infotainment and their respective employees.

The regulator has imposed a penalty of Rs 7 crore on the NSE, Rs 5 crore each on Ramkrishna, Varanasi and Subramanian Anand, who was Group Operating Officer and adviser to then MD Ramkrishna.

Also, SEBI levied a fine of Rs 1 crore each on Nagendra Kumar SRVS and Deviprasad Singh. Further, SEBI has slapped a fine of Rs 6 crore on Way2Wealth Brokers, Rs 5 crore on GKN Securities and Rs 3 crore on Sampark Infotainment. They have been asked to pay the penalty within 45 days, according to a SEBI order.