Former Axis MF Fund Manager pays a fine to arrange Sebi Rules violation

Sebi said on Monday that it established a procedure against Deepak Agrawal, a former fund manager at AXIS MF, after he had paid RS 85.8 Lakh and had surrendered more than 43,000 investment funds for the alleged violation of market standards.

“… It is ordered that the procedure against the applicant (Deepak Agrawal Vide SCN (Show Cause Association) of January 20, 2025 is thrown away in terms of settlement conditions,” said Sebi’s quasi Judicial Santosh Shukla in the order.

The order came after Agrawal proposed to regulate the direct procedure against him, “without admitting or refusing the findings of facts and conclusions of the law.”

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had carried out a detailed investigation/ inspection with regard to governance-related aspects of Axis Mutual Fund via a forensic audit for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2022.

The inspection and subsequent tones of the cause of January of this year claimed that Agrawal brought share tips, revealed specific information about scrips in which schemes of Axis MF took and/or squares of positions.

He was also concerned with unethical practices, including a director’s unqualification in a private company and professional misconduct. According to Sebi, Agrawal had passed on the research reports / information intended for the investment fund with outsiders and information passed on to the employees of the aforementioned stock alternatives that encourage them to buy / sell securities that were purchased and / or sold by the investment fund. Based on the submission of a settlement application in March of this year, Agrawal submitted revised settlement conditions that was approved by Sebi.

According to the conditions, Agrawal RS 85.8 Lakh paid and returned 43,310.73 units held in Axis Quant Fund and Axis Value Fund, which were exchanged and returned to the respective regulations.

Sebi confirmed receipt of the settlement amount and the repayment of units on 12 September according to the order.

In her order, the supervisor said that the case against Deepak Agrawal will be removed in terms of the settlement, while the right is reserved to reopen the action as a representation that is done during the procedure does not later not find where or if the conditions are violated.