Sebi chair Madhabi Buch owns majority in consultancy named in Hindenburg report

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Also read | At Sebi, Madhabi Buch doesn't look at ICICI Securities, Blackstone matters Both Madhabi Buch and Dhaval Buch in a joint statement strongly denied the allegations, stating that they have made all necessary disclosures. “Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to Sebi over the years," they said.

In another statement issued later, they said the two consulting companies had become immediately dormant on her appointment with Sebi. “These companies (and her shareholding in them) were explicitly part of her disclosures to Sebi." Adani Group has denied the January 2023 allegations, although a Sebi enquiry into the matter continues. Madhabi Buch owns 99% of the stake in Mumbai-based Agora Advisory Pvt.

Ltd, regulatory filings show, although she stepped down as a director before she was appointed as a whole time member of Sebi in April 2017. “I would no longer be able to hold the position of director in any company. I therefore hereby tender my resignation from the position of independent director on the board with effect from 3 April 2017," Buch said in her resignation letter dated 31 March 2017.

Three days later, the board of directors in a meeting accepted her resignation. In 2022, she transferred ownership of Singapore-headquartered Agora Partners to her husband, two weeks after she took charge as the first woman chief of India’s capital markets regulator. Dhaval Buch remains a director at both the consulting firms.