Vivro Financial Services settles case with Sebi; pays Rs 20.11 lakh

Vivro Financial Services Ltd on Tuesday settled with markets regulator Sebi a case about an alleged violation of regulatory norms in the matter of Muthoottu Mini Financiers Ltd (MMFL) after paying Rs 20.11 lakh towards settlement charges.

The order came after Vivro Financial Services Pvt Ltd (VFSPL) approached Sebi proposing to settle the case ''without admitting or denying the findings of fact and conclusions of law,'' through a settlement order.

''Pending enforcement proceedings for the alleged defaults... are settled by the applicant,'' Sebi said in its settlement order.

The regulator further said it will not initiate other enforcement actions against the applicant for the defaults.

Sebi had initiated proceedings through a show-cause notice issued to the company in August 2021 for the alleged violations of MB rules.

Further, Sebi began looking into the matter after it was informed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that a misleading advertisement was published by MMFL.

It was observed, that MMFL came out with a public issue of non-convertible debentures (NCD) which was opened for subscription in August-September 2019 and VFSPL was the lead manager for the issue.

It is alleged that MMFL in the advertisement on its website, misled the investors and claimed... ''Rated as 'Stable' investment by RBI and SEBI'' concerning the public issue.

In addition, it was observed that a total of 242 people saw the advertisement, and out of these eight people have invested Rs 30.90 lakh in the NCDs.

An engagement letter between MMFL and Vibro made Vivro responsible for finalizing all issue-related advertisements whether statutory or otherwise, Sebi noted.

Meanwhile, in another order, an individual -- Jud Terrence D'Souza settled proceedings with the regulator in the matter of Sparc Systems Ltd for alleged violation of disclosure norms after paying Rs 3 lakh as settlement charges.

(With PTI inputs)