Sebi categorises dues worth Rs 73,287 crore as 'difficult to recover'

New Delhi: Capital markets regulator Sebi has segregated dues to the tune of Rs 73,287 crore under "difficult to recover" category at the end of March 2023.

Overall, the markets watchdog has dues worth Rs 1.02 lakh crore that needs to be recovered from entities, including those that failed to pay the fine imposed on them, or were unable to pay fees due to it and did not comply with its direction to refund investors' money, according to Sebi's annual report for 2022-23, which was released on Monday.

Of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, Rs 63,206 crore, which is 62 per cent of the total amount, pertains to collective investment scheme and deemed public issues of PACL Ltd and Sahara Group company Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd.

Further, the regulator said parallel proceedings are pending before various courts and court-appointed committees in 77 cases involving Rs 70,482.62 crore, or 69 per cent of the total amount.

"In these cases, Sebi's recovery proceedings are subject to directions/approvals of respective court/committee. Matters where Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is invoked, Sebi's recovery proceedings are affected by the moratorium under the said code," the regulator said.

Going by the annual report, the capital markets watchdog has categorised dues worth Rs 73,287 crore as Difficult to Recover (DTR) as on March 31, 2023.

DTR dues are those that could not be recovered even after exhausting all modes of recovery.

It clarified that segregation of such DTR dues is purely an administrative act and this will not preclude recovery officers from recovering the amount so segregated as DTR as and when there is a change in any of its parameters.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is empowered to recover penalties imposed by the adjudicating officer.

The markets watchdog took up 144 new cases, pertaining to flouting securities law, for investigation during 2022-23, which is way higher than 59 cases taken up in the preceding financial year.

The cases were related to alleged violation of securities law, including market manipulation, price rigging and insider trading.

"During 2022-23, 144 cases pertaining to various violations of securities laws were taken up for investigation and 152 cases were completed," Sebi said.

Of these, 85 cases taken up for investigation were related to market insider trading, 54 for market manipulation and price rigging and the remaining five for violations of securities law.

Sebi initiates investigation based on reference received from sources such as its integrated surveillance department, other operational departments and external government agencies.

During 2022-23, the regulator initiated enforcement action in 67 cases, while it has disposed of 333 cases.