SEBI had imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 50 lakh on Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (Kotak AMC) under Sections 15D(b) and 15HB of the SEBI Act, besides directing it to refund a portion of the investment management and advisory fees collected from unit holders with 15% simple interest and restraining it from launching any new Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP) scheme for six months. Separately, the regulator imposed a Rs 40 lakh penalty on Kotak Mahindra Trustee Company. Individual penalties were also levied on six senior executives: Rs 30 lakh on Nilesh Shah, Rs 25 lakh on Lakshmi Iyer, Rs 20 lakh on Deepak Agarwal, Rs 10 lakh on Jolly Bhatt, Rs 15 lakh on Abhishek Bisen and Rs 20 lakh on Gaurang Shah. The court upheld the monetary penalties imposed on Kotak AMC, Kotak Trustee and the individual executives, holding that experienced market professionals could not plead good faith after consciously departing from the regulatory framework.
