India’s Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has barred a JPMorgan-linked entity and a domestic brokerage firm over alleged manipulation of a new feature in India’s equity markets.

 

In an ex-parte interim order issued by the Indian regulator on Wednesday, Copthall Mauritius Investment Ltd., a Mauritius based company linked to JPMorgan, and Mansi Share and Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd. were found to have distorted prices by placing large, aggressive buy orders during the closing auction session (CAS) on Aug. 13, the same day the BSE Sensex weekly derivatives contract expired.

 

By placing large buy orders in Sensex stocks, the companies were able to push up Sensex prices, benefiting their existing stock holdings. SEBI deemed the actions to constitute market manipulation and fined Copthall Mauritius Investment ₹2.96 crore, or $310,000, and Mansi Share and Stock ₹71.65 lakh, or $75,000, over the alleged gains.

 

“Any manipulation or unfair practices employed to disturb the fair discovery of prices in CAS has to be dealt with sternly by the regulator,” SEBI said, adding that such conduct could “undermine the integrity of the CAS mechanism” and disrupt the orderly functioning of securities markets.

 

CAS: A New Feature in India’s Equity Markets

 

Closing Auction Session, or CAS for short, is a relatively new feature of India’s equity markets that was introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Aug. 3.

 

It replaced the previous Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) method, improving price discovery so that the closing price of stocks better reflects genuine end of day supply and demand. However, the feature was reportedly manipulated by the two companies in a carefully coordinated scheme, leading to their being barred from participating in the Indian markets.

 

Global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched direct Indian Rupee (INR) rails for users in India following approval from one of the country's main financial regulators.

 

 

With the launch of the INR rails, Indian users can now directly deposit and withdraw Indian Rupees on Coinbase using the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) from their Indian bank accounts, without relying on peer to peer rails or intermediaries.

 

Using Indian Rupees, customers will be able to access spot trading across a range of assets, alongside perpetual futures contracts covering major crypto assets.

 

“We have built local INR order books that provide dedicated liquidity for Indian customers, while maintaining continued access to our global exchange,” John O'Loghlen, Coinbase's Regional Managing Director for APAC, wrote in a blog post.

 

Coinbase has also rolled out advanced features for users seeking additional functionality, including professional grade trading tools, built in institutional grade APIs, WebSocket order book streaming, and an integrated TradingView charting tool that allows traders to analyse price movements, trends, and technical indicators.

 

Coinbase Deepens Its Presence in India

With this expansion, Coinbase aims to continue contributing meaningfully to India’s growing crypto ecosystem. It is one of the leading investors in CoinDCX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which currently serves over 22 million users.

 

Through Base, its Ethereum layer two network, Coinbase has contributed over 1 million dollars to the Indian builder community through hackathons, direct grants, and fellowships, with more than 4,000 builders in India already building on Base and 150 of these projects growing into real startups.

 

To demonstrate its commitment to the growth of the Indian crypto ecosystem and reaffirm its long term presence in India, Coinbase says its latest rollout complies with the Financial Intelligence Unit India regulatory framework and other taxation laws.

 

As a result, Indian users can deposit Indian rupees directly from their bank accounts onto the exchange, trade in both spot and futures markets, and withdraw their funds back to their bank accounts whenever they choose, without any additional steps or workarounds.

 

Coinbase’s expansion in India comes shortly after the exchange received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, to offer offshore crypto perpetuals and options to users in the United States.

 

Coinbase also recently partnered with Flipcash, a digital payments app, to launch the app’s first stablecoin using its custom stablecoin platform.