The National Stock Exchange (NSE), its former chief Vikram Limaye and eight others have settled with Sebi a case pertaining to its alleged failure to address the bourse’s TAP (trading access point) system deficiencies by paying ₹643 crore.

This is one of the highest settlement amounts ever paid and will pave the way for NSE’s much-awaited initial public offering (IPO), which was delayed following the co-location issue.

The matter was settled “without admitting or denying the findings of facts and conclusions of law, through a settlement order”.

Apart from the NSE and Limaye, those who settled the case are Umesh Jain, G.M. Shenoy, Narayan Neelakantan, V.R. Narasimhan, Kamala K, Nilesh Tinaikar, R. Nandakumar and Mayur Sindhwad.

TAP was introduced in 2008 to manage communication between trading members and NSE’s trading system, but it had several issues, including security lapses, delays in improvements, and inadequate action on complaints. Despite introducing alternative systems, TAP continued to be used until 2019 for equities and till 2020 for other segments.

In its settlement order, Sebi said that NSE, on behalf of itself and other applicants, has remitted the settlement amount of ₹643 crore on September 25, the receipt of which is confirmed.

Accordingly, “the proceedings initiated against the applicants vide the SCN (show cause notice) dated February 28, 2023, are hereby disposed of,” the regulator said.

Sebi conducted an investigation into the NSE’s TAP system and network connectivity, focusing on potential bypasses by trading members, how a 2013 complaint was handled, and whether the bourse violated securities laws.

PTI