The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has barred merchant banker Corporate Capital Ventures Private Limited from taking new assignments for one month due to multiple compliance lapses. According to reports from The Economic Times, the restriction was imposed by Sebi Whole Time Member Amarjeet Singh in the matter of Corporate Capital Ventures Private Limited, which is registered with the regulator as a merchant banker. The restriction will run for one month from the date of the order. The proceedings followed an inspection-based enquiry in which a designated authority had recommended that CCVPL be prohibited from taking new assignments for one month, with the final order being kept in abeyance while the settlement application was pending. The final order was issued after CCVPL's settlement application was rejected on 18 August 2026, following which the regulatory proceedings were taken forward.
Sebi's inspection revealed several significant violations during the period from April 1, 2021 to January 31, 2023. As reported by The Economic Times, the regulator found non-updation of IPO track records, failure to maintain due diligence records, and misleading disclosure on office locations. The violations included failure to update the track record of initial public offerings (IPOs) on its website, non-compliance with NISM certification requirements, failure to provide true and correct information about a previous SEBI inspection, and failure to upload the investor charter and disclose complaint-related data on its website. The inspection covered compliance with merchant banking rules, ICDR regulations, PFUTP norms, intermediaries regulations, certification rules, insider trading regulations and related circulars. In its final order, SEBI concluded that CCVPL had committed six violations, including non-updation of IPO track records, NISM certification failures, submission of incorrect information relating to an earlier inspection, website and investor grievance-related lapses, misleading disclosure of office locations and inadequate due diligence and record maintenance. According to NDTV, SEBI found the noticee guilty of six violations, including disclosure of misleading information/misrepresentation of facts on the website regarding presence at multiple locations, and failure to exercise due diligence and lapses in maintaining records and documents.
According to The Economic Times, Sebi initially alleged several specific violations including submission of forged or fake certificates during inspection, non-updation of track record on the website, non-compliance with NISM certification requirements, failure to submit true and correct information on a previous Sebi inspection, failure to upload investor charter and complaints data, non-use of designated email ID, failure to develop an internal code of conduct, failure to maintain a structured digital database and misleading information on office locations. A designated authority later found the firm guilty of six violations including non-updation of track records, non-compliance with NISM certification requirements, failure to submit true and correct information about previous inspections, and misleading disclosure on office locations. The firm also failed to respond to test emails sent by SEBI on March 1 and March 3, 2023 to the investor email address. In another significant lapse, CCVPL had told SEBI during the pre-inspection process that there had been no adverse finding in its earlier inspection and that no observation letter had been issued. However, SEBI found that a deficiency letter dated 11 February 2020 had in fact been issued, and the firm's explanation that the document could not be located due to office shift and replacement of operational team was rejected by the regulator.
Sebi found that key management personnel of Corporate Capital Ventures did not hold the required certifications during the relevant period. As reported by The Economic Times, Kulbhushan Parashar's earlier certificate had expired on December 13, 2019, and he obtained the required Merchant Banking certification only on April 27, 2023. Harpreet Parashar, who became whole-time director on March 31, 2021, was required to obtain certifications within one year but obtained them only in 2023. SEBI rejected the firm's argument that other certified employees could satisfy the requirement, noting that the regulations specifically required at least two associated persons designated as KMP to obtain the relevant NISM certification. Since the two employees cited by CCVPL were not KMPs, the regulatory requirement remained unmet. The regulator also found that CCVPL had displayed multiple addresses on its website without clearly distinguishing them as marketing offices, which could mislead investors about the scale of CCVPL's operations and the locations from which it operated.
Corporate Capital Ventures denied intentional wrongdoing and said several lapses were technical or caused by operational difficulties after the Covid period. According to The Economic Times, the company told Sebi that it had faced business disruption, replaced its old team and later corrected the deficiencies. However, SEBI noted that the firm had not updated details of IPOs handled by it, including Rudrabhishek Enterprises and Rajnandani Metal, on its website during the inspection period, with similar observations made in an earlier inspection in February 2020. The most significant due-diligence lapse related to the IPO of Uma Exports Ltd, where SEBI found that the firm could not conclusively establish the site visit and failed to produce a final site-visit report. A photograph submitted as evidence was found inconclusive and could not be reliably linked to Uma Exports' warehouse. SEBI also found that the investor charter was not uploaded on the firm's website and that details of investor complaints were not disclosed. The regulator emphasized that corrective measures taken after the inspection could not absolve CCVPL of violations that had already occurred, as the firm had sufficient time to put its records in order during the 2023 inspection period.
