Amid reports of "toxic work culture" at Sebi, the capital markets regulator on Wednesday termed the claims of unprofessional work culture "misplaced".

It further said that HRA issues of staff are misguided by external elements.

The statement came in the backdrop of media reports suggesting that employees of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had written a letter to the government on August 6, raising concerns over toxic work culture.

"The claims of unprofessional work culture in the letter dated August 6, 2024, are misplaced," Sebi said in a statement.

The regulator suspects that junior officers have been receiving messages from outside parties encouraging them to "go to the media, the Ministry, or the Board," possibly for the outsiders' own agendas.

"Sebi apprehends that the junior officers have been receiving messages from external elements outside their group, effectively instigating them to 'go to media, go to the Ministry, go to Board', perhaps to serve their own purpose. In fact, the letter of August 06, 2024, was not sent by the Sebi employee associations to the Government (and a section of the media)," the statement noted.

It was an anonymous email that was sent, and officers and associations have themselves condemned it and communicated the same to HRD through emails, the regulator said.

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