SEBI Slaps ₹25 Lakh Fine on BSE for Early Data Leak

SEBI slaps ₹25 lakh fine on BSE The regulator penalised BSE ₹25 lakh for two key lapses: granting its paid clients and internal Listing Compliance Monitoring (LCM) team early access to corporate announcements, and failing to take action against brokers with frequent client-code modifications. Inspection uncovered unequal data access An audit covering Feb 2021–Sep 2022 found that in 98 out of 100 cases the LCM received corporate updates before they were made public, and in 6 out of 100 instances paid subscribers got the news early. BSE also lacked an RSS-feed mechanism to ensure simultaneous disclosure—violating Regulation 39(3) of the SECC Regulations, 2018. Weak oversight of code changes SEBI flagged BSE’s inadequate monitoring of trading code modifications: no clear policy for frequent modifiers, only triennial reviews of “error accounts,” and no penalties for institutional-to-institutional code swaps. These breaches attracted a split penalty—₹15 lakh under Section 23H of the SCRA and ₹10 lakh under Section 15HB of the SEBI Act. What’s next • Watch BSE’s roll-out of corrective fixes (public-first data feeds, tighter CCM controls). • Monitor whether SEBI ramps up scrutiny on other exchanges’ disclosure systems. • Track BSE stock for volatility as investor confidence balances the fine against BSE’s swift remedial steps.