The Supreme Court on Tuesday maintained the 30 lakh fine that was imposed on the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and two of its senior compliance officers by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on not disclosing essential information in a timely manner concerning Facebook investing in Jio Platforms in 2020. The court emphasized that large corporate organizations should be transparent to ensure integrity in the market and the confidence of investors.
RIL lost its appeal to the May 2, 2025 decision of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which had already affirmed the findings of SEBI of delayed and inadequate disclosure. The bench strongly emphasized that when companies of the size of RIL need to convey material information it is more important that they do so promptly, particularly where the news is capable of having a substantial impact on the price of stock.
The court looked at the sequence of events that started with the report of the Financial Times on March 24, 2020, that Facebook was in the process of taking a 10 percent stake in Jio Platforms. In hours, the report got the extensive coverage of Indian media, and the stock of RIL increased dramatically by 15%. Although the market was shaken by the effect, RIL did not release a statement confirming or denying the report until April 22, 2020, the actual signing and announcement of the final agreement, which resulted in another increase of the share prices.
Since RIL remained silent over this critical period, the bench questioned how the firm could not have told investors at the time when the news leaked to the market and had already started influencing the behaviour in the market. The court did not agree when senior advocate Ritin Rai, who appeared on behalf of RIL, urged the court that talks were still being made and as such they did not need to be disclosed. It noted that the mere fact that they were discussing or that they had not made a final decision would have been responsible communication.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News