Jane Street row: Congress says ₹44,000 crore of ordinary investors siphoned off to U.S. under government's nose

The Hindu

2 days ago

The Congress on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) alleged that the New York-based hedge fund Jane Street has siphoned off ₹44,000 crore of 'unsuspecting small investors' by manipulating the Futures and Options (F&O) market, and questioned how the Modi government allowed this scam to go on for so long.
Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Supriya Shrinate, party spokesperson and chairperson of the social and digital media department, claimed that Jane Street, an American algorithm trading firm, looted unsuspecting small investors of Indian markets for five continuous years, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and all other regulatory institutions 'remained in deep slumber'.
Ms. Shrinate said that SEBI's own findings on Jane Street show that the firm made a humongous profit of ₹44,000 crore between January 2023 and March 2025 and repatriated all that money to the U.S.
'Were the agencies sleeping?'
'The total profits must be much more than this amount as these were the profits for just two-year period while Jane Street has been doing business in India for almost five years,' she said, adding, 'Were the investigation agencies such as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax sleeping?'
Ms. Shrinate noted that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly and regularly cautioned the government about protecting the interests of the small investors in the F&O market, and still institutions such as SEBI and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which are supposed to protect their interests, were caught napping as the 'looting' continued.
Alleging gross negligence by SEBI, Ms. Shrinate said, 'Five months ago, it had issued a mild warning to Jane Street but did not take any action and allowed it to trade till July.'
'What were PM, other Ministers doing?'
Claiming that details about Jane Street's working were in public domain, the Congress leader said that the hedge fund, during a court hearing in the U.S., had openly admitted that it had been making huge profits in India because of the 'inefficiencies here and still SEBI failed to take note'.
'Interestingly, this was the same Madhabi Puri Buch era of the SEBI that saw many other such scandals,' she said.
Ms. Shrinate asked what were the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Finance Minister and the SEBI doing while Jane Street 'was robbing the Indian investors'.
'Who allowed Jane Street to repatriate such a huge amount of money to the U.S. and how does the government of India plan to get this money back,' she asked.