15-07-2025
Jane Street urges Sebi to lift curbs
New Delhi US-basedhedge fund Jane Street, which allegedly made handsome gains through market manipulation, has deposited the mandated Rs4,843.57 crore in an escrow account in favour of Sebi and requested it to lift certain watchdog is examining the request, Sebi said in a statement on Monday. Indian capital market lost Rs1.4 lakh crore market capitalisation(Mcap) since Jane Street's index manipulation came to light seven days ago.
In an interim order on July 3, the regulator found Jane Street (JS) guilty of manipulating indices by taking bets in cash and futures & options markets simultaneously for making massive gains.
Sebi barred the hedge fund from accessing the market and impounded over Rs4,843 crore in gains. The probe found that JS made a profit of Rs36,671 crore on a net basis during the probe period from January 2023-May 2025.
In compliance with the interim order, a sum of Rs4,843.57 crore has been credited to an escrow account with a lien marked in favour of Sebi, the regulator said.
'Jane Street has further requested Sebi that, following the creation of this escrow account in compliance with Sebi directions, certain conditional restrictions imposed under the interim order be lifted and that Sebi issue appropriate directions in this regard,' the statement noted.
'This request is currently under examination by Sebi in accordance with the directions of the interim order,' it added.
The regulator said it remains committed to following due process and ensuring the integrity of the securities market.
Sebi called it a case of 'intra-day index manipulation,' flagging what it described as aggressive, unhedged positions in Nifty Bank options and other Sebi investigation is expected to take another 6-9 months before a final report and show cause notice will be issued to Jane Street. The markets regulator described it as 'non-neutral trading behaviour', a strategic attempt to influence prices rather than simply engage with the market. And the tactic wasn't random; it followed a well-known play in the trading world, which is termed marking the close.
Jane Street is a proprietary trading firm, which means it trades with its own capital rather than managing client funds. The firm allegedly made a staggering Rs32,681 crore in profits by manipulating the Indian stock market and repatriating the amount overseas. Jane Street disputed the findings of Sebi's interim order. In its response, Jane Street said:'We reject the premise and the substance of the order in the strongest possible terms'.
