Mumbai: Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on Ripu Sudan (Raj) Kundra, Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Viaan Inds (formerly Hindustan Safety Glass Inds) for insider trading in the stock of the company between 2013 and 2015. Kundra and Shetty are promoters of the company.

In October 2015, the company had made a preferential allotment of 5 lakh shares to four people, of which more than 51% were to the Kundra couple for Rs 2.6 crore. Under Sebi’s insider trading rules, anyone getting preferential allotment of shares worth more than Rs 10 lakh should have been disclosed. Along with the Kundra couple, the company was also required to make a disclosure about the same. Neither the company nor the two promoters made those disclosures on the exchanges within two days. Instead, the company made the disclosures after three years from the date of allotment.

In reply to Sebi’s show-cause notices to the three entities, all of them admitted that as stated by the regulator, the preferential allotments were done in October 2015. The two promoters also agreed that there was a delay in disclosing the allotment but requested Sebi to condone the delay and drop the proceedings.

The company said that since the disclosures from the promoters to the company came in after a delay, there was a lag in reporting to the exchanges. Therefore, it requested the regulator to drop the charges.

Sebi admitted that the nondisclosure neither resulted into any monetary gains for the promoters nor any unfair advantage. However, since there was a violation, the three entities together were asked to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh.