Jane Street moves SAT against Sebi after paying ₹4,844-cr market manipulation penalty

Days after paying ₹4,844 crore in penalties for market manipulation, US investment firm Jane Street has filed a case against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), Reuters reported citing accessed documents. Neither Sebi not Jane Street has not officially commented on the matter yet.

Jane Street's application before the SAT reportedly states the appellate tribunal should direct the market regulator to provide the document it considers essential to challenge Sebi's order, which the company claims has not been provided to it.

The case highlights Sebi's heightened the regulatory measures in India's financial markets space, specifically derivatives market, where many individual traders have suffered massive losses, while few large firms, such as Jane Street, have recorded immense gains.

The capital markets regulator on July 3 had barred US-based investment firm Jane Street's group entities from accessing the securities market in India, while directing them to disgorge ₹4,843.57 crore in alleged unlawful gains.

The Jane Street Group entities operating in India—JSI Investments, JSI2 Investments, Jane Street Singapore, and Jane Street Asia Trading—allegedly manipulated Bank Nifty, the 12-stock banking index, and benefited from unlawful gains worth ₹4,843.6 crore. Following this, Sebi barred them from accessing the securities market and buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in securities.

On July 14, Sebi confirmed that Jane Street has deposited ₹4,843.58 crore into an escrow account, as directed under the interim order issued earlier this month. Following the deposit, the firm has requested that Sebi lift the trading restrictions imposed on its participation in the Indian equity markets.

Later, Sebi also confirmed that the New York-based trading firm Jane Street has deposited ₹4,843.58 crore into an escrow account. Soon after market regulator barred Jane Street group, Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey hinted the regulator was increasing its surveillance to deeply analyse manipulation in derivatives trading.

According to a recent Sebi report, which came after action against Jane Street Group, individual traders collectively lost over ₹2.87 lakh crore through futures and options (F&O) trading over a four-year period. Alarmingly, the net losses of individual traders widened to ₹1.05 lakh crore in FY25 alone, flagging the growing financial risk borne by retail participants in the derivatives segment.