Rama Bijapurkar’s ICICI Bank Trades Under Sebi Lens

According to reports, two persons are familiar with the situation of this case. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking into an earlier independent director named Rama Bijapurkar’s trades to see if she broke any insider trading rules.

SEBI’s markets regulator is investigating the history of Bijapurkar’s trading to see if she broke any insider trading rules.

The independent director bought 4,900 shares of ICICI Bank, which accounts for Rs 38.6 lakh. This was traded post the trading window for insiders ended on January 5. According to the regulator, this is while still serving on the bank’s board of directors.

ICICI Bank notified stock exchanges on January 21. It was stated Bijapurkar had resigned from the director’s board effective January 1 23.

Who is Bijapurkar?

On January 14, 2019, Bijapurkar, a management consultant, joined the ICICI board of directors. She was given a five-year term that would finish on January 13, 2024. As per the bank’s FY21 yearly report, she made a total of 28.5 lakh as a member of the board governance, income, and nominating committee. In addition, she had 2,600 shares in the bank.

Bijapurkar also serves on the boards of Nestle India, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, VST Industries, and Cummins India as an independent director.

Resignation of Bijapurkar

Rama Bijapurkar has resigned from the board of directors belonging to the bank, effective January 23, 2022.

Bijapurkar stated a possible conflict of interest as the cause for her departure, citing her involvement with other financial organizations and her research and teaching activity at an academic institution; however, the bank revealed a distinct development following her resignation on January 22.

According to ICICI Bank’s filings with stock exchanges, the independent director purchased 4,900 equity shares in the bank on January 5, after the trading window for insiders had ended, ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings.

Bijapurkar notified the bank’s management of the situation immediately soon as she discovered that her private financial adviser had purchased the shares within her account without advance notification, according to the bank.

The bank’s audit committee fined Bijapurkar Rs 2 lakh for violating the bank’s code and SEBI’s insider trading laws.