Overview

• Whole-time member Kamlesh Varshney disclosed the operation at a FICCI conference, saying SEBI conducted the search in Mumbai on Wednesday and declined to name the individual.
• Varshney said the goal is to create market-wide deterrence and signal that the regulator is watching, not to collect revenue.
• SEBI reiterated that promising guaranteed returns, giving investment calls, or using live market data constitutes advisory activity that requires registration.
• The watchdog is enhancing analytical capacity by hiring PhD-level experts to probe complex manipulation, including gamma trades and high-frequency strategies.
• SEBI is examining a framework for regulating grey-market trading in pre-IPO shares and will use consultation to consider changes to derivatives contract tenures.