With the IndiGo indictment, has SEBI changed the rules of the game?

The Morning

Context

Jayshree P. Upadhyay

Mumbai

11 February 2021

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Back in July 2019, newspapers were awash in headlines carrying every juicy titbit of the very public spat between Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, promoters of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates IndiGo, India’s largest airline.

Cut to February 2021 and Gangwal is a man vindicated. Despite taking on the IndiGo management, his allegations of questionable related-party transactions and lapses in governance regulations at the airline have found a ringing endorsement in the settlement order issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday.

While the settlement itself is a measly Rs 2 crore and change, the order is unique in many respects: 1) A promoter shareholder whose grievances could not be redressed by the company board and other shareholders has found a sympathetic ear in the markets regulator; 2) SEBI has pretty much taken Gangwal’s side as the order finds no mention of the defence put up by the IndiGo management; 3) In a first, it details

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