From ICICI shares to Adani-Hindenburg fiasco—5 major allegations against SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch as her term ends

The Finance Ministry has put out ads inviting applications for the post of Chairperson for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), putting an end to speculations about whether current Chair Madhabi Puri Buch’s term would be extended. The talks began after Hindenburg Research, in its newest hit on the Adani Group, accused Buch of a “conflict of interest” while investigating the Gautam Adani-led group of companies for alleged stock manipulation.

Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch denied the accusations and rebutted the various issues raised in the Hindenburg report, but calls for her resignation continued. While she avoided being chopped early, Buch seems to have no renewal of term amid her many controversies.

Top 5 Allegations Against SEBI’s Madhabi Puri Buch

As Buch’s term nears its end, we look at some of the major allegations against the capital market watchdog’s first woman chairperson — from her ICICI stock options to accusations from Hindenburg Research over conflict of interest amid the Adani Group probe.

Conflict of Interest in Adani Investigation by SEBI

In August 2024, US-based short seller Hindenburg Research released a report against Adani companies and implied that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch held a stake in offshore entities linked to the Group, raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest and regulatory misconduct.

The report alleged that SEBI was unwilling to act on its January 2023 report on the Adani Group because Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had investments in offshore funds that had links with the Gautam Adani-led enterprise. These claims were fiercely refuted by Buch and her husband, who provided a detailed rebuttal to the accusations and termed the allegations as ‘baseless’ and an attempted ‘character assassination’.

Investments in Offshore Accounts

The Hindenburg report also cited whistleblower documents that it claimed showed Buch and her husband had stakes in two obscure offshore funds allegedly used by the Adani Group to siphon money: the EM Resurgent Fund and Emerging India Focus Funds.

Stake in Singaporean Offshore Consulting Firm

Hindenburg further alleged that from April 2017 till March 2022, while Madhabi Buch was a full-time member of SEBI, she held a 100 per cent interest in Agora Partners, an offshore Singaporean consulting firm. It added that she transferred the shares to her husband in March 2022, two weeks after being appointed as SEBI Chairperson.

It further accused her of allegedly owning 99 per cent of Indian consulting company Agora Advisory, of which her husband is a director. “In 2022, this entity reported $261,000 revenue from consulting, 4.4 times her disclosed salary at Sebi,” Hindenburg Research said. 

Further, the Congress party alleged that Agora Advisory earned nearly ₹3 crore in consultancy fees from listed companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Pidilite and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, while Buch was SEBI chair. 

Connection to Blackstone, Reits

The Hindenburg report also alleged that Buch’s husband, Dhaval, was appointed as a senior adviser to Blackstone in 2019 while she was a full-time member of SEBI. It added that Dhaval Buch’s LinkedIn profile did not show he worked for a fund in the real estate or capital markets.

Hindenburg added that during Dhaval Buch’s time as a senior adviser to Blackstone, while his wife was a SEBI official, Blackstone sponsored Mindspace and Nexus Select Trust. These were India’s second and fourth real estate investment trusts (Reits) to receive SEBI approval for an IPO.

Further, it alleged that SEBI approved significant changes to India’s Reit regulations while Dhaval Buch served as an adviser to Blackstone.

Buch’s Payouts from ICICI Bank

In September 2024, Congress’ Pawan Khera alleged that Buch received ₹16.8 crore in benefits from her ex-employer ICICI Group — an allegation that both ICICI Bank and Buch denied. But Khera has intensified his charges, alleging that Buch’s post-retiral benefits from ICICI Group were higher than the salary she drew from the private lender.

Khera has alleged that Buch, who joined SEBI as a full-time director in 2017, received over ₹12 crore from ICICI Bank between 2017-18 and 2023-24. In that period, Buch earned an additional ₹22 lakh from ICICI Prudential and ₹2.8 crore from exercising employee stock ownership plans for 2021-22 and 2022-23, according to Khera. Tax amounting to over ₹1 crore was deducted at source on those Esops. However, ICICI Group did not directly pay Buch during that period. The ₹16.8 crore mentioned in Khera’s allegations is classified as perquisite income, which refers to benefits received beyond a monthly salary, including income from Esops.

Ritika Nayyar, partner at law firm Singhania & Co. told Mint at the time that disclosures of benefits are a generally accepted practice to avoid any conflict of interest.