In a major boost to India's social stock exchange (SSE) ecosystem, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has allowed companies to channel a portion of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending towards not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) listed on SSEs.

In a notification issued on Friday, the MCA recognised investments through 'zero coupon, zero principal' (ZCZP) instruments listed on SSEs as an eligible CSR activity.

The National Stock Exchange of India has paid ₹40.35 crore ($4.6 million) to the markets regulator to settle a case involving the indirect sharing of confidential information on listed companies with a third-party vendor.

India's largest bourse operator shared the information with its unit NSE Data and Analytics Limited (NDAL) "for onward distribution to a 3rd party vendor, without having any legally binding agreement in place," the Securities and Exchange Board of India said in its settlement order on Friday.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday said that the markets regulator is upgrading its surveillance to examine cases of derivatives manipulation. His remark comes days after Sebi found New York-based hedge fund Jane Street was manipulating stock indexes.

"There may not be many more such cases," said Pandey, as quoted by news agency Reuters.

The National Stock Exchange of India has offered to pay the country's markets regulator Rs 13.88 billion ($160 million) to settle a legal dispute so it can proceed with a long-delayed initial public offering, three sources said.

The sum is set to be largest settlement made with the markets regulator in India's history.

In a fresh shot to get listed, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has filed for a no-objection certificate (NOC) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the approval of its initial public offering (IPO).

In its annual general meeting held on Tuesday, the exchange informed shareholders about the development.

Several brokerages have discontinued their referral programmes after a circular issued by top bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) prohibited them from offering incentives to referrers unless they are registered authorised persons (APs).

“With a view to safeguard the interest of investors, it is hereby clarified that any person referring a client to the trading member (TM) shall be appointed as an AP of the TM after obtaining specific prior approval from the stock exchange for each such person,” NSE said in a circular on August 14.

Indian equities stood out in August as foreign investors sold stocks in almost every other Asian emerging market, thanks to the nation’s strong corporate earnings performance and its growing appeal as an alternative to China.

Global funds purchased $1.6 billion of Indian shares on a net basis last month through Aug. 30, according to the latest exchange data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s even as they withdrew a combined more than $6 billion from Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia. With a small $35 million inflow through Aug. 24, Malaysia was the only other exception.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought an explanation from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) over allegations of some traders misusing its trading access point (TAP) software, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Thursday.

Allegedly, some high-frequency traders manipulated the platform in 2013 to execute "thousands of orders" without being detected and crowding out other users.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which arrested the former Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna on Sunday night, is likely to seek two week custodial remand of her.

Sources in the CBI said that she would be produced along with NSE's former Group Operating Officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian. The agency will seek custodial remand of both of them.

The CBI has arrested former Group Operating Officer of National Stock Exchange Anand Subramanian after expanding its three-year probe into the co-location scam in the exchange in view of "fresh facts" that emerged in a damning Sebi report referring to a mysterious Yogi which was guiding actions of former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and other irregularities, officials said on Friday.

Subramanian was taken into custody late Thursday night in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, they said.

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