SEBI v. Samrat Dasgupta (insider trading settlement, HDFC Bank WhatsApp leak, 2022)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 8, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, in a single reading of the order; an independent second reading of 60 SEBI records agreed on every field for 56, the four misses being penalty amounts; a later sample of 50 of the SEBI records added on 9 October agreed on every field for 46. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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Samrat Dasgupta settled SEBI's allegation that, as a member of a WhatsApp trading group, he saw unpublished quarterly results of HDFC Bank circulated on 21 July 2017 and traded HDFC Bank shares before they were announced, without admitting or denying it. The February 2022 settlement order records a payment of Rs 23,90,625.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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Penalty as published

2.4m INR

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars. This regulator states penalties in INR. The figure is recorded as published and is not converted, so it does not appear in the USD totals or medians used elsewhere on this site.

What is alleged to have happened

The settlement order of 28 February 2022 was signed by two SEBI whole-time members under the SEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018. It concerns Samrat Dasgupta, in the matter of circulation of unpublished price-sensitive information about HDFC Bank Limited.

SEBI's show-cause notice of 3 February 2021 alleged that Mr Dasgupta was a member of a WhatsApp group called "Only Trades, No Bakwaas", that a message containing the bank's June 2017 quarter results was circulated on the group on 21 July 2017, three days before the bank declared them to the exchanges on 24 July 2017, and that by that access he became an insider and traded in HDFC Bank securities while holding the information, in breach of Sections 12A(d) and 12A(e) of the SEBI Act and Regulation 4(1) of the Insider Trading Regulations, 2015. The order does not give the size of the trades.

Mr Dasgupta applied to settle without admitting or denying the findings of fact or conclusions of law. After a meeting with SEBI's internal committee on 16 November 2021 and revised terms on 26 November, the high powered advisory committee recommended settlement on 29 December 2021 on payment of Rs 23,90,625, which he paid on 16 February 2022.

On that payment SEBI agreed not to start enforcement action for the alleged default, and the order disposes of any proceedings over it, while keeping the right to act if his representations prove untrue or the terms are breached. No market restraint was ordered.

Because this is a settlement, the order makes no finding of violation. The record does not show his profit, how he came to be in the group, or what action was taken against the person who first circulated the results. It describes no criminal case.

This library tags the matter as insider trading. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the order.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 2 techniques in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Insider trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Chat group pumps — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2022-02-28 SEBI settlement order

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEBI order
• Order (PDF)

The linked release is published by the issuing regulator under its own terms. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added October 8, 2026. submit a correction.