SEBI penalises Reliance Home Finance for violating LODR regulations and concealing forensic report findings

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has slapped a penalty of ₹15 lakh on Reliance Home Finance for violation of LODR regulations and failure to disclose the adverse findings of a forensic report.

Chief executive Ravindra Sharad Sudhalkar, company secretary and compliance officer Parul Jain and CFO Pinkesh Shah have been levied a penalty of ₹2 lakh, ₹2.5 lakh and ₹2 lakh, respectively.

In a press release dated January 12, 2020, Reliance Home Finance indicated that there were no adverse findings in the forensic audit report carried out by Grant Thornton with respect to any fraud, embezzlement, siphoning of funds or falsification of accounts by the company its promoters or associates. The release said the company had disclosed details of lending to the tune of ₹7,984 crore to auditors, regulators, and lenders in the annual financial statements approved by the shareholders at the AGM in September 2019.

However, a subsequent media report, citing GT, said the company had granted loans worth about ₹12,000 crore to a set of “potential indirectly linked” borrowers with weak financials and shared common features. The company did not provide adequate clarifications on the media report to the exchanges and was evasive in its replies.