Shaw fined Rs 9.5 lakh for selling Infosys stock inadvertently

BENGALURU: Infosys notified the stock exchanges on Thursday that its lead independent director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had inadvertently sold 1,600 shares of the company in violation of its insider trading policy. The company’s audit committee imposed a penalty of Rs 9.5 lakh on Mazumdar-Shaw and said the amount was payable to a charitable organisation of her choice.

According to rules, Mazumdar-Shaw was expected to obtain a pre-clearance of the trade. Infosys’s statement said the trade was carried out by Mazumdar-Shaw’s portfolio manager without her knowledge. It said she had not instructed the manager to conduct the trade and she had no knowledge of the trade having occurred.

The audit committee, which is responsible for review of compliances, was notified about the trade. The statement said, based on Mazumdar-Shaw’s submission, the committee believes this was an inadvertent trade made without intent to violate the company’s insider trading policy or the Sebi (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015.

Two years ago, former Infosys independent director Ravi Venkatesan inadvertently bought 50 shares of Infosys and the trade had occurred when the trading window was closed. The shares were purchased by his fund manager and he was unaware of the trade. Venkatesan then sold the shares without profit. Infosys’s audit committee had imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh to be made to a charitable organisation of his choice.