Jane Street, the US-based proprietary trader under investigation for index manipulation, has not been co-operating with the income tax department, said sources.
According to them, the firm’s servers are located abroad and officials of the I-T department are being denied access to it. Further, its books of accounts are also maintained overseas, despite the Companies’ Act mandating that they should be kept in the country.
Section 381 of the Companies Act 2013 mandates that every foreign company make a balance sheet and profit and loss account every calendar year along with the prescribed particulars and attached documents. “The company only has a skeletal staff present here, who are also not cooperating,” the sources added.
I-T officials face data access roadblocks
On Thursday, the department had conducted search operations at the Mumbai offices of US-based trading firm Jane Street and Nuvama Wealth Management to ascertain whether Nuvama’s custodial and broking services enabled or facilitated the group’s alleged manipulative activities and potential diversion of funds.
Nuvama informed the exchanges that the company is extending full co-operation with the authorities and sharing requisite information. “The survey is yet to be concluded,” it said in the notification.
Regulatory heat continues
The market regulator had previously given Jane Street 21 days to submit its arguments to the preliminary findings of an investigation into its controversial Indian options trades. Reports suggest the regulator is considering granting four more weeks, lower than the six weeks sought by the group.
In an order last month, SEBI had temporarily banned the group and said that between January 2023 and March 2025, it recorded a total profit of Rs 36, 671 crore, with Rs 44,358 crore earned from index options alone. It also noted that these gains were offset by cumulative losses amounting to Rs 7,687 crore across stock futures, index futures, and the cash segment.
However, on July 21, it had lifted the trading restrictions after the company deposited Rs 4,843.57 crore in an escrow account as mandated by the regulator.
After disputing the regulator’s findings, in a recent statement, the group on Monday said: “Jane Street is committed to conduct that upholds the integrity of India’s capital markets and contributes to their continued development. We are engaging constructively with Sebi and have sought an extension to respond to the interim order issued on July 3.”
Jane Street Group is a global proprietary trading firm with over 2,600 employees operating across offices in the US, Europe, and Asia, and conducts trading in 45 countries worldwide.