MUMBAI: Senior employees of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) staged a protest at the market regulator’s headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday, demanding the resignation of Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and the withdrawal of a public statement issued by SEBI.
Pressure on Buch has intensified since allegations against her surfaced, beginning with US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, which accused her of conflicts of interest in handling the probe into the Adani Group.
Earlier this week, the opposition Congress alleged that Buch had received significant salary and benefits from her former employer, ICICI Bank, amounting to Rs 16.8 crore. The Congress alleged that these payments continued after Buch retired in 2014 and persisted even after she joined SEBI as a whole-time director in 2017. The ICICI has denied the allegations.
Thursday's protest, involving around 200 employees, reportedly lasted around two hours at SEBI’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) headquarters, with calls for Buch’s immediate resignation.
Employees reportedly expressed anger over SEBI’s Wednesday statement, which dismissed their earlier letters as the work of disgruntled elements or those influenced by external forces.
Some media outlets cited internal SEBI messages, stating that the protest aimed to "show dissent and unity against the top management's arm twisting" and demanding the withdrawal of the press release and Buch’s resignation.
Thursday's demonstration followed reports that around 500 of SEBI’s 1,000 employees had sent letters to the Finance Ministry seeking action against the chairperson. Employees have accused Buch and senior officers of creating a toxic work culture.
Meanwhile, SEBI denied these allegations in a statement on Wednesday, describing the claims of a toxic work culture as "misplaced" and stating that no employee associations had endorsed them.
"It is our belief that SEBI’s junior officers, originally aggrieved over the house rent allowance (HRA) of 55 percent, have been misguided, perhaps by external elements, to believe that as employees of a regulator, they should not be held to high standards of performance and accountability," the statement said.
On the charges of employees being underpaid, SEBI said its "officers are well-paid, and for entry-level officers at Grade A, the cost to company (CTC) is Rs 34 lakh per annum, which compares favourably even with the corporate sector. The new demands placed by them would amount to an additional CTC of Rs 6 lakh per annum."
The market regulator also claimed that believing they are being underpaid would be in their interest to use issues of work culture to bargain for monetary benefits and automatic promotions.
Last month, SEBI officials in grades A-C held a 15-minute silent protest at the head office, citing multiple grievances, including the recently launched digital management information system (MIS) for key result areas (KRAs).
