The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on Sunday, August 11, said that the recent external comments made about the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch are not just an attempt to undermine her contribution to the Indian capital market but also to creates a lack of trust environment in the market ecosystem.
“Recent external comments on the Regulator Chairperson not only attempt to undermine the Chairperson Mrs Madhabi Buch’s contribution to the Indian capital market, but it also undermines our country’s economic progress and creating a trust deficit in the market ecosystem must be seen for what they truly are - attempts to create sensation by connecting random events done in the past,” said the Association of Mutual Funds in India in a statement.
The mutual fund regulator also stated that if this situation is left unchecked, it may cause “hurdles in the path of the world’s fastest-growing economy.”
Hindenburg Research is an American investment research firm which got global attention when the company released a report on the Adani Group of companies on January 24, 2023. The report was titled “Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History”.
On August 10, Hindenburg alleged another big claim against the Indian capital markets regulatory system when it released a report titled “Whistleblower Documents Reveal SEBI’s Chairperson Had Stake In Obscure Offshore Entities Used In Adani Money Siphoning Scandal”.
This report claimed through whistleblower documents that the current SEBI chairperson, Madhabi Puri Buch, and her husband, Dhaval Buch, “had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani," according to the Hindenburg blog report released August 10.
The mutual fund body said that the claims lack context and understanding of India's regulatory environment and intend to harm the achievements of the country.
“These statements, lacking in context and understanding of our regulatory environment, seek to malign the hard-earned achievements of our nation. Such advances must be viewed as creating a hurdle in India's endeavour to become a developed economy,” said AMFI in the statement.
AMFI assured domestic and foreign investors to remain confident of the Indian capital markets and that the “financial system is secure, transparent, and designed to foster growth and innovation with high integrity,” according to the statement.
