Reliance Industries may face insider trading penalty: Report

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may impose penalty of up to Rs15 billion ($328 million) on Reliance Industries if it establishes the energy major was involved in insider trading, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing an unnamed source close to proceedings.

The penalty relates to a November 2007 sale of shares by Reliance in its then unit Reliance Petroleum, where it is alleged to have made a profit of Rs5 billion from insider trading, the newspaper said.

Reliance had offered to settle the case twice through consent orders, but these have been rejected by the SEBI as the money Reliance offered to pay was too low, the paper said.

Officials at Reliance Industries and SEBI were not immediately available for comment.

The markets regulator can impose a penalty of up to three times the profit a company made from insider trading.