Market regulator SEBI has slashed a seven-year market ban on Viresh Joshi, the former chief dealer of Axis Mutual Fund. The regulator found him guilty of masterminding a massive scheme using confidential trade information.
7 years
Ban Duration
⏳ Time Machine
How today’s news fits into the bigger picture
May 2022
Axis MF suspends dealer
Axis Mutual Fund suspends its chief dealer Viresh Joshi after internal surveillance tools detect anomalies in institutional trade executions.
February 2023
SEBI impounds ₹30.5 crore
The regulator passes an interim order impounding illicit gains from entities connected to the operation.
July 2024
Regulatory norms tightened
SEBI tightens rules governing employee trades and mutual fund codes of conduct to prevent insider information leaks.
Today
SEBI officially bans Viresh Joshi for seven years and orders disgorgement of ill-gotten wealth.
What happens next?
Mutual funds will adopt real-time algorithmic surveillance to flag trade timing anomalies.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has delivered a landmark ruling in one of the country's biggest mutual fund scandals. On Saturday, July 25, 2026, the regulator barred Viresh Joshi, the former chief dealer of Axis Mutual Fund, from accessing the stock market for seven years. Joshi was found guilty of 'front-running' — a prohibited practice where a dealer uses advance knowledge of large institutional buy or sell orders to trade on their personal account first, profiting from the subsequent price movement. SEBI's exhaustive final order details how Joshi channeled confidential information to offshore and domestic front-runners, generating crores in illicit profits. The harsh penalty signals a zero-tolerance approach toward breach of trust in an industry managing public savings.
💭 If you're wondering…
Front-running is an illegal practice where a dealer uses confidential knowledge of large, upcoming institutional trades to buy or sell securities on their own account first, profiting from the subsequent price move.
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