File picture of Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The chief of India’s markets regulator, Madhabi Puri Buch, who is under attack from Hindenburg Research following its accusations against the Adani Group, is renowned as a no-nonsense leader who is used to difficult situations.

The first woman at the helm of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Ms. Buch has a tough, businesslike approach to her work, people who know her say.

On Saturday, Hindenburg alleged she had a conflict of interest in the Adani matter because of a previous investment in an offshore fund used by the Adani Group.

Ms. Buch countered saying the investments pre-date her term at SEBI and that all necessary disclosures were made.

She termed Hindenburg’s allegations as an attempt at “character assassination” following the regulator’s enforcement action and “show cause” notice to the U.S. based shortseller for violating Indian rules. A show cause notice signals an intention to take disciplinary action if satisfactory explanations are not provided.

If Ms. Buch made the requisite disclosures and met the compliance requirements, nothing more should be expected of her, said Hetal Dalal, chief operating officer at Institutional Investor Advisory Services, a proxy advisory firm in India.

“Nevertheless, the allegations made by Hindenburg have made her and SEBI vulnerable,” Ms. Dalal said. “A regulator must ring fence itself from the public onslaught.”

Demanding leader

Ms. Buch was appointed to the top post at SEBI in March 2022 after spending five years as a whole-time member, the second highest position at the regulator. She completes her three-year term in March next year.

A career banker, Ms. Buch spent her early working years at India’s second largest private lender, ICICI Bank, later heading its broking arm ICICI Securities. She also dabbled in private equity as part of the Singapore office of Greater Pacific Capital.

She is known by SEBI insiders as a demanding leader whose decisions are led by data. Ms. Buch is a frequent speaker at industry forums, armed with data-packed presentations.

She has faced pushback on a number of issues partly due to her style of operating but also because she has attempted to shake the status quo, according to industry insiders.

She has enforced stricter disclosures on corporations for related party transactions and on foreign investors for concentrated holdings in India stocks, public documents show.

She planned to lower fees for India’s $770.77 billion mutual fund industry, but the proposal was put on hold because of opposition by asset management firms, Reuters reported.

Ms. Buch was also forced to stagger the implementation of optional same day settlement for India’s stocks after opposition from foreign investors.

Most recently, she has proposed tighter rules to cool the frenzy in India’s options markets.

“Ever since Ms. Buch has taken charge as chairperson, the pace of regulatory changes has increased,” said Shriram Subramanian, founder of Ingovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm in India.

Mr. Subramanian, however, said the changes had been done in a “consultative manner”.

Ms. Buch has faced opposition within SEBI too in her attempts to professionalise the organisation, including by raising performance targets, said five SEBI officials declining to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

A few junior employees staged a ‘silent protest’ earlier this month against some of these HR policies. “There is a general sense of mistrust and discontent,” said one of the five officials.

An email sent to the SEBI spokesperson was not answered immediately. Messages and calls to Ms. Buch since Saturday were not answered. A message to her official email address went unanswered too.

Hindenburg’s allegations may prove to be Ms. Buch’s toughest challenge yet with the matter taking a political turn and opposition political parties calling for a parliamentary probe and asking her to resign.

“The integrity of SEBI, entrusted with safeguarding the wealth of small retail investors, has been gravely compromised by the allegations against its chairperson,” Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said on social media platform X.

The government has been silent on the matter so far.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, spokesperson of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said: “Instead of giving a response to the SEBI show cause notice, Hindenburg has issued this report, which is a baseless attack. SEBI and the family (of Buch) have responded, we don’t have anything to add to that.”

All the ten Adani group stocks slumped in early trade on Monday (August 12, 2024), with Adani Energy tumbling 17 per cent, after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Stocks of Adani Green Energy declined 6.96 per cent, Adani Wilmar slumped 6.49 per cent, Adani Enterprises tumbled 5.43 per cent, Adani Ports dived 4.95 per cent, Ambuja Cements skidded 2.53 per cent and ACC dipped 2.42 per cent.

Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani – the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani – to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg’s latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted “character assassination”.

In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 479.78 points to 79,226.13. The NSE Nifty dropped 155.4 points to 24,212.10.

Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement on Sunday said the investments were made in 2015, well before her appointment as a whole-time member of SEBI in 2017 and the subsequent elevation as chairperson in March 2022, and in capacity as “private citizens living in Singapore”. These funds became “dormant” on her appointment in SEBI.

“SEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter, which would include funds Ms Buch was personally invested in and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report. This is obviously a massive conflict of interest,” Hindenburg said.