India’s NSE pays markets regulator $4.6 million to settle data sharing case

The National Stock Exchange of India has paid 403.5 million rupees ($4.6 million) to the markets regulator to settle a case involving the indirect sharing of confidential information on listed companies with a third-party vendor.

India’s largest bourse operator shared the information with its unit NSE Data and Analytics Limited (NDAL) “for onward distribution to a 3rd party vendor, without having any legally binding agreement in place,” the Securities and Exchange Board of India said in its settlement order on Friday.

NSE’s system architecture enabled it to send price-sensitive corporate announcements to NDAL’s clients prior to being published on its website, violating disclosure norms, SEBI added.

A slew of legal matters pending with SEBI have delayed NSE’s long-awaited initial public offering.

NSE, the world’s most active derivatives exchange, has been embroiled in litigation with SEBI since 2019 when it was fined 11 billion rupees for failing to provide uniform access to all its trading members.

To settle the case of unfair access, NSE has offered to pay SEBI 13.88 billion rupees, Reuters reported last month.

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said earlier this year that the regulator was working to resolve issues that were preventing NSE’s public offer.