Taking a veiled jibe at Sahara group, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) Chairman U. K. Sinha on Tuesday said a large company collected $4-5 billion from more than 30 million investors and claimed it was a ‘private placement’
Mr. Sinha also said that the first regulatory agency that came to people’s mind was SEBI, whenever the issue came to fore about investor protection in cases of deposit-taking by unathourised schemes.
Without naming Sahara group, Mr. Sinha gave example of “a large company”, which raised more than $4-5 billion from more than 30 million investors.
“And the company claims it was a private placement. Now, how a private placement can reach out to 30 million people is another question?” Mr. Sinha wondered.
Private placement
As per SEBI rules and the Companies Act, a private placement is defined as issuance of shares or other securities to a maximum of 49 persons and anything involving 50 or more investors is considered a public offer.
SEBI has been engaged in a long-running case with Sahara group over refund of more than Rs.24,000 crore (about $5 billion) collected by two Sahara companies from more than three crore investors through the issue of certain bonds.
Speaking at a venture capital conference here, the SEBI chief said that the regulator’s aim was to protect the interests of investors and focus on corporate governance.
“When some company, which was not even registered with SEBI, raised money from ordinary investors in the country, for example in West Bengal, people started blaming SEBI.
“It is not one company and there are multiple companies that raised money from large number of investors. The perception was that money is lost,” Mr. Sinha said, while adding that SEBI always stepped in to safeguard investors’ interest.
“So, we are accountable, as the first agency which comes to anybody’s mind is, if there is any issue about investor protection, that’s SEBI. We have to be careful about that,” Mr. Sinha said.
