Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused stock market regulator Sebi of “staying silent” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of “sitting with its eyes closed” in the case of the trading firm Jane Street.
The market regulator has found Jane Street (JS), a New York-based hedge fund, guilty of manipulating the indices by taking bets in the cash, futures and options markets simultaneously to make handsome gains. It has barred the hedge fund from accessing the market and impounded over Rs 4,843 crore in gains.
The probe has found that JS made a profit of Rs 36,671 crore on a net basis during the probe period from January 2023 - May 2025.
“I clearly stated in 2024 - the F&O market has become a playground for 'big players,' and small investors' pockets are continuously being drained,” Rahul wrote in Hindi on his X (previously Twitter) handle.
“Now SEBI itself is admitting that Jane Street manipulated thousands of crores. Why did SEBI remain silent for so long? At whose behest was the Modi government sitting with its eyes closed? And how many more big sharks are still shorting retail investors?
“In every case, it’s clear - the Modi government is making the rich richer and pushing ordinary investors to the brink of ruin,” he added.
The Opposition has repeatedly attacked Sebi’s former chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch over corruption charges.
Rahul pointed out how in September last year he had posted: “Uncontrolled F&O trading has grown 45x in 5 years. 90% of small investors have lost ₹1.8 lakh Cr in 3 years. SEBI must reveal the names of the so-called “Big Players“ making a killing at their expense”.
Jane Street was established in 2000 and its annual revenues last year were $20.5 billion.
It describes itself on its website as a firm that uses "sophisticated quantitative analysis and a deep understanding of market mechanics" to keep prices consistent and reliable."
It operates in India through four group entities, two of which are based in India, with the other two in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The firm started its first India unit in December 2020. The other two Asian entities operate as foreign investors registered with India.
Jane Street’s large-scale buying influenced retail investors to invest, leading to market manipulation, Sebi has said.
