Shares of Ola Electric Mobility Ltd were trading in the red and 5% lower on Wednesday, 8 January, after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued an administrative warning to the EV player for violating disclosure laws.
On social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter, Ola Electric’s Chairman and Managing Director, Bhavish Aggarwal, had shared information about the company’s plans to grow fourfold before the declaration was made with the exchanges.
Bhavish Aggarwal wrote, “Taking the Electric revolution to the next level this month. Going from 800 stores right now to 4000 stores this month itself. Goal to be as close to our customers as possible.”
The post was published on X at 9:58 am on 2 December 2024. However, SEBI observed that the firm disclosed the information on the stock exchanges later in the day at 1:36 pm on BSE and 1:41 pm on NSE.
The regulator’s rules state that “the listed entity shall first disclose to the stock exchange(s) all events or information which are material in terms of the provisions of this regulation as soon as reasonably possible and in any case not later than… twelve hours from the occurrence of the event or information, in case the event or information is emanating from within the listed
entity.”
However, SEBI reports that it was observed that the stock exchanges were neither initially notified of the previously indicated information nor were they made aware of it as soon as it was technically feasible.
The regulator added, “By making the aforesaid announcement first on a social media platform instead of disseminating it on the stock exchanges, [Ola Electric has] failed to take into consideration the interest of all [its] stakeholders and follow [its] obligations in letter and spirit.”
“The above violations have been viewed very seriously. You are hereby warned and advised to be careful in the future and to improve your compliance standards to avoid recurrence of such
instances, failing which appropriate enforcement action may be initiated,” the letter further stated.
“You are also advised to take corrective steps, place this communication and the corrective steps taken before your Board of Directors and disseminate a copy of this communication on the stock exchanges that you are listed on,” SEBI said.
Ola Electric said in an exchange filing that there are no financial consequences to this warning.
At 12:49 pm, the shares of Ola Electric were trading 2.31% lower at Rs 77.33 on NSE.
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