SEBI asserts that its staff being misguided by external elements as allegations of protests emerge

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 4 : Amidst allegations of SEBI employees protesting and complaining of 'toxic work culture', the market regulator on Wednesday categorically denied the issue, instead asserting that the employees are perhaps misguided by external elements to target the credibility of it and its leadership.
As per reports, SEBI officials made a complaint to the finance ministry last month, accusing the regulator's leadership of fostering a 'toxic work culture'.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) believes its junior officers, who were allegedly aggrieved in respect of HRA allowances, have been misguided, perhaps by external elements.
"We would not like to speculate on who those external elements may be or what their motives might be," SEBI said in a 5-page statement.
SEBI added it is committed to enhancing the capacity of all its employees and allowing them to actualize their full potential.
SEBI on Wednesday said that in the recent past, amongst numerous other benefits, employees were demanding 55 per cent increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA), over the allowance set in 2023.
Also, employees raised an issue on the updation of SEBI's automated Management Information System for Key Result Areas (KRAs), which had been designed to bring more transparency, fairness, and accountability within SEBI.
"It is understood that when media reported on this protest as being "only about their working conditions and allowances and perks..." and"nothing about the issues faced by the vast majority of investors and stakeholders ...", a group of employees consciously designed a strategy to change the narrative to frame the issue as relating to the work environment, with an objective to have bargaining power to seek more benefits. Accordingly, a letter focused on "work culture" was crafted and sent to HRD on August 06, 2024," said the market regulator.
Thereafter, after 7 days, reportedly a second letter was submitted with a long list of 16 demands, for numerous monetary and non-monetary benefits including an increase in HRA.
Further, automatic promotions at lower performance ratings without interviews have also been "demanded", the SEBI statement said.
"SEBI officers are already well paid, and for entry-level officers at Grade A, the cost to company is approximately Rs. 34 Lakhs per annum, which compares extremely favorably even with the corporate sector. The new demands placed by them would amount to an additional CTC of almost Rs. 6 Lakhs per annum," SEBI said.
In the statement, SEBI said it is committed to ensuring that it is responsive to the market ecosystem and all its participants, both in terms of speed of approval and facilitating ease of doing business as well as in carrying out timely investigation and enforcement against wrongdoing in the market.
"The claims of unprofessional work culture in the letter dated August 06, 2024 are misplaced and seem to stem from instances such as: Under-pitching of processing capability of officers by as low as 1/4th of actual capacity, Mis-reporting of status of achievement of KRAs, Shuttling of files between departments over a long period to avoid taking decisions, "Adjusting" appraisal marks of poorly performing officers to "somehow" make them eligible for promotion," the statement read.
"It is unfortunate that some elements have attempted to diminish the significant capabilities of SEBI employees by instigating employees to believe that, as "employees of a Regulator" they should not be required to have such high standards of performance and accountability," SEBI said in its statement today.