A group of disappointed employees of capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday, September 5, held a protest outside the Mumbai headquarters demanding the removal of the watchdog's Wednesday statement and the resignation of their boss Madhabi Puri Buch. According to a report by The Economic Times, SEBI's assertion that its staff are being misguided by ‘external forces’ angered the resentful employees further, causing them to stage a silent protest outside the office under the media glare.
On Wednesday, SEBI refuted claims of toxic and unprofessional work culture at its offices, citing high employee standards and condemning few ‘external elements’ behind employee protests. The market watchdog said in its statement that complaints of ‘public humiliation’ at its offices were “misplaced” and undermined the institution's and its leadership's credibility.
In a letter to the finance ministry last month, SEBI employees said "immense work pressure" at the market regulator resulted in a "stressful and toxic work environment." According to the letter dated August 6, accessed by some media houses, SEBI officials were quoted saying, “Shouting, scolding and public humiliation have become a norm in meetings.”
According to The Economic Times, there are fears that if SEBI's management takes disciplinary action against the protesting employees, it could affect the regulator's ability to function efficiently to fulfil regulatory responsibilities.
The protests come as SEBI chairperson Buch is mired in several allegations. Zee Media's Subhash Chandra has called her “corrupt,” while the opposition Congress has questioned her integrity over drawing hefty salary benefits at her previous stints in ICICI Bank and ICICI Securities. Buch has denied all allegations.
SEBI has said that employees demanding a 55 per cent hike in house rent allowance (HRA), reportedly twisted the narrative to make it a "work culture" issue after their earlier protest yielded no result. Pointing out that entry-level officers at Grade A are paid an annual salary of ₹36 lakh, SEBI said the grievances of junior officers have been misguided, perhaps by external elements.
"Sebi apprehends that the junior officers have been receiving messages from external elements outside their group, effectively instigating them to 'go to media, go to the Ministry, go to Board', perhaps to serve their own purpose. In fact, the letter of August 06, 2024, was not sent by the SEBI employee associations to the Government (and a section of the media)," said SEBI.
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SEBI has around 1,000 officers of Grade A and above (assistant manager and above), and half of them have signed a letter sent to the finance ministry in August. The employees have reportedly said Buch's leadership uses "harsh and unprofessional language" toward team members, monitors their "minute-by-minute movement," and has imposed "unrealistic work targets with changing goalposts."
According to The Economic Times, the letter read, “In the name of increasing the efficiency of an organization already working as a well-oiled machinery, the management started to overhaul all the systems and replaced them with regressive policies and frameworks. Sometimes, it is the point-wise KRA systems with unrealistic targets and changing goalposts; the other time, it's the monitoring of minute-by-minute movement of SEBI employees.”
Employees said they were called names and shouted at by the leadership with no defence from top management. "Unprofessional language is casually used by people at the highest level. The situation is such that, let alone grade A-C officers, even officers in higher grades are afraid to attend meetings, fearing the unquestionably bad behaviour of people at the highest level," the letter said.
Earlier this week, the opposition Congress had questioned Buch's compensation from ICICI Bank, where she had worked before joining SEBI in 2017. The Congress alleged that the SEBI chief held an office of profit at the private lender and received ₹16.8 crore in substantial benefits from the bank and its subsidiaries. On Tuesday, Congress leader Pawan Khera urged the SEBI chief to “come out clean, give a clarification and respond to” the party's charges.
Last month, US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch of owning stakes in offshore funds used to allegedly inflate Adani Group stocks, which was under investigation for allegedly rigging stock prices. The SEBI chief and her husband denied the allegations, terming them ‘baseless’ and an attempted ‘character assassination.’
