US-based high-frequency trading firm Jane Street Group has filed an appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in an ongoing market manipulation case, according to documents reviewed by businessline.
The appeal, filed on Wednesday, said SEBI had refused access to “crucial and relevant documents” for the firm’s defence. Jane Street has sought directions for full inspection of records, including the complete report of SEBI’s Integrated Surveillance Department (ISD) and all correspondence between the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and SEBI in relation to its trades.
Stance shift
Jane Street said that SEBI abandoned earlier findings by its own investigation team and NSE, which had found no price manipulation. Despite ISD’s conclusion not to pursue the matter further, the regulator reversed its stance without explanation, the firm said.
“In more than 90 per cent of the patches, it could not be established that the trading activity of Jane Street Group has been attributed to the price movement of the constituents/index in a way that has benefited the open positions of other Group members in the derivatives segment,” Jane Street said in its appeal, quoting the ISD’s December 2024 findings.
Further, in the five instances where index prices moved in their favour, the gains were negligible, it said. The matter has been listed for hearing at the SAT on September 8
The appeal sought full communications between SEBI–NSE in May 2025, where the regulator had sought fresh analyses, including delta exposure files and trade data for specific days in January 2024, re-examination, and replication of analysis for the top 20 profit days between July 2023 and August 2024.
Jane Street said that SEBI’s July 3 interim order had been “issued in gross derogation of the provisions of the SEBI Act and of the ratio of numerous judgments of various courts, including the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, and this Hon’ble Tribunal.” It said the impugned orders were “in complete contravention of the well-settled principles of equity, justice, and good conscience.”
In the interim order, SEBI had accused Jane Street of index manipulation and directed the group to deposit over ₹4,843 crore in an escrow account. Jane Street has complied with the escrow directive. Jane Street and SEBI did not reply to a request for clarification on the matter.