This may point to the beginning of a rising role of whistleblowers in aiding stock-market policing amid the rapid expansion in capital markets in recent years.

IMAGE: The Securities and Exchange Board of India headquarters in Mumbai. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

A regulatory mechanism to provide tipoffs on violations in insider trading in return for monetary rewards as high as Rs 10 crore may finally be showing signs of taking off.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in December 2019 had established the Office of Informant Protection (OIP) to process tipoffs on insider trading. However, the response was that informants provided just five tipoffs in the first six years of the programme -- from 2019-2020 (FY20) to FY25.

But FY26 was different. The number of tipoffs in a single financial year increased to 25, shows the latest Annual Report, released on August 6. Fourteen of these have been concluded (including one from the previous year) while 12 were still under examination, according to the report.

Key Points

• Sebi received 25 insider trading tipoffs in FY26, compared with just five during the previous six financial years combined.
• The regulator's Office of Informant Protection was established in December 2019.
• Fourteen tipoffs were concluded, including one from the previous year, while 12 remained under examination.
• Informants can receive monetary rewards of up to Rs 10 crore for qualifying information.
• Experts have called for stronger...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimgFBVV95cUxOUkxnakNSQ2NOZFFQQUx0ZmU4...