Pump and Delay: SEBI’s hollow talk on manipulation

Until SEBI cultivates a culture of timely and consistent enforcement, every strong statement from its leadership will remain just a statement

- DEEPAK SANCHETY

In recent weeks, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has made emphatic statements about cracking down on “pump-and-dump" operations in the market. He spoke of a new era of “predictive supervision” through data analytics, promising that market manipulation will soon be spotted before it happens.

It sounded reassuring. But SEBI’s actual handling of such cases tells a different story—one that exposes the gap between rhetoric and reality.

The case that tells a different story: In mid-2023, SEBI issued an interim order-cum-show cause notice in connection with penny stocks that had witnessed sharp price manipulation around 2018-19. The order found evidence of a coordinated pump-and-dump scheme—where operators artificially drove up stock prices through circular trading and misleading information, only to dump them on unsuspecting investors.

Under SEBI’s own procedures, such interim directions should be swiftly followed by final orders. Yet, in this case, the matter entered a long and unexplained silence.

The Whole-Time Member (WTM) responsible for adjudicating the case went into hibernation. Months passed without hearings or progress, even though the case was under the watch of the hon’ble High Court, monitoring SEBI's pace through a writ petition filed by aggrieved investors.

Judicial disappointment: When the matter returned to court in mid-2025, the High Court expressed clear disappointment with SEBI's conduct. The court indicated that a regulator entrusted with protecting investors and ensuring market integrity should not require repeated judicial nudges to complete its own proceedings.