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(b) of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003. Consequently, a penalty of Rs.1,08,00,000/- was imposed under Section 15HA of the SEBI Act, 1992. Appeal was filed under Section 15T before the SAT. An appeal was disposed of by order dated 11.10.2010 whereby SAT set aside the order of SEBI. The detailed consideration is available at paragraphs 5 to 8 of the SAT order in Rakhi Trading, which read as follows:

“5. Index in a capital market is a statistical indicator of how the market is functioning and acts as a barometer for market behaviour. It is not a product but a measure expressed in numbers and a benchmark against which financial or economic performance is evaluated. Unlike stocks in the cash segment, it is not traded as such though investors speculate on market behaviour using index as the underlying in the F & O segment. Nifty, the stock index of NSE, is computed using market capitalization weighted method (share price x number of outstanding shares) of fifty stocks being traded in the cash segment of NSE. It is a well diversified stock index covering 22 different sectors of the Indian economy. The eligibility of a particular stock for being selected for Nifty index depends on the liquidity of the stock as well as the floating stock of the company. Nifty, therefore, is a very dynamic index which is not constant but evolves continuously. Obviously, to manipulate such a diverse and changing portfolio of stocks in the cash segment is extremely difficult, if not impossible by trading in the F & O segment. It is also NSE’s stated position on its website that “stock index is difficult to manipulate as compared to stock prices, more so in India and the possibility of cornering is reduced. This is partly because an individual stock has a limited supply which can be cornered”. It is obvious that when Nifty is traded in options contracts, the movement of prices in that segment cannot have any impact on the price discovery system in the cash segment which is one of the allegations brought out in the ad-interim ex-parte order and the show cause notice. The charge against the appellant in the show cause notice is that by executing trades in Nifty options in the F & O segment “the original trades were closed out during the day at a price which was significantly above or below the price at which the first/original transaction was executed without significant variations in the traded price of the underlying security”. The insinuation is that by executing manipulative trades in the F & O segment, Nifty index was sought to be tampered with. This charge proceeds on the assumption that the movement of Nifty options in the F & O segment should be in harmony with the movement of Nifty index in the cash segment. This assumption is fallacious and we cannot agree. Movement of index in the cash segment does influence the index options in the F & O segment because the strike rate is directly linked with the index value in the cash segment. However, the converse is not always true. While transactions in the cash market are based on the current market price of the underlying derived by the principle of demand and supply and in the case of an index, the value depends on the performance of the stocks that constitute it, the pricing in the F & O segment is based on future expected events which may or may not happen. Anticipated future events may not have a discernible effect on the cash segment today where delivery of shares is given/taken immediately. Such events may have a great impact on perceptions in the F & O market where the investor holds an open position and a continuous liability during the currency of the contract which is generally for one to three months with anticipation of future events which are always pregnant with all sorts of possibilities. Again, volatility and potential for greater losses may trigger movements in the F & O market without any equivalent cash market movements. Further, the cash market may move up today but the prediction for the F & O market could be that at the end of a month, two months or three months the market may move down. Only short term investors like speculators trade in the F & O market whereas in the cash market long terms investors also trade. We are, therefore, satisfied that the movement in the two segments need not be in tandem. In the instant case the appellant executed Nifty option contracts and it must be remembered that Nifty index is determined by fifty highly liquid scrips which also vary from time to time and the index moves on the basis of their performance in the cash segment. These movements cannot be in tandem with the movement of the price of Nifty options in the F & O segment because Nifty as an index is not capable of being traded in the cash segment. What is traded in the cash segment are the fifty stocks which constitute Nifty. To say that some manipulative trades in Nifty options in the F & O segment could influence the Nifty index is too farfetched to be accepted. The only way Nifty index could be influenced is through manipulation of the prices of all or majority of the scrips in the cash segment that constitute Nifty. This is extremely difficult, if not impossible. It is common case of the parties that the appellant traded only 13 Nifty option contracts in the F & O segment. Assuming these trades were manipulative, could these ever influence the Nifty index. As already observed, Nifty index is a very large well diversified portfolio of stocks which is not capable of being influenced much less manipulated by the movement of prices in the F & O segment particularly by the handful of trades executed by the appellant. In this view of the matter, we have no hesitation to hold that the 13 trades in Nifty options executed by the appellant had no impact on the market or affected the investors in any way nor did these influence the Nifty index in any manner. The charge in this regard must fail.