SEBI Cracks Down on Insider Trading at IndusInd Bank

Here’s a simple breakdown of what happened. What’s the issue? IndusInd Bank had losses from derivatives (complex financial contracts), which they officially disclosed on March 10, 2025. The losses were big — about ₹1,530 crore, or 2.35% of the bank’s net worth. The next day, IndusInd’s stock crashed 27.2% from ₹901 to ₹656. What did SEBI find? Before the losses were made public, 5 top bank officials (including former CEO & deputy CEO) sold shares of the bank. SEBI found that they knew about the losses (unpublished price-sensitive information or UPSI) and sold shares to avoid losses. Who sold and how much? • Arun Khurana sold 3.48 lakh shares for ₹53 crore • Sumant Kathpalia sold 1.25 lakh shares for ₹19.2 crore • 3 others sold smaller amounts How was penalty calculated? SEBI calculated how much loss they avoided by selling before the news came out. Since the stock later fell 27.165%, SEBI used this percentage to compute gains: • Khurana avoided a loss of ₹14.4 crore • Kathpalia avoided ₹5.21 crore • Others: ₹4–7 lakh each What is disgorgement? It means giving up illegal or unethical profits. SEBI has asked all 5 to return ₹20 crore total. Lesson: Trading stocks with secret company info is illegal. SEBI is watching and will act strictly.