The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday granted interim relief to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, allowing the company to move ahead with its proposed ₹3,143 crore fundraise. However, the relief is contingent on the company depositing the full penalty imposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) within one week.
While the tribunal maintained Sebi’s market-access restrictions, it gave Zee operational flexibility by permitting the media group to transact in its mutual fund investments to cover day-to-day business expenses. It clarified, however, that these mutual fund holdings cannot be used for other purposes, such as paying proposed dividends.
The tribunal also extended the deadline for issuing warrants by one week from Friday, pushing back the original 14 August deadline.
At a previous hearing on Wednesday, Zee’s counsel asked SAT to lift the market-access ban, saying it needed to sell about ₹1,200 crore of liquid mutual fund investments to cover routine operational costs, including film production, vendor payments, and paying creditors. Sebi opposed Zee’s plea, arguing that the matter involved serious violations by the company’s promoters, who allegedly used properties of the listed company as security for loans taken by privately held promoter entities.
The entertainment company moved SAT challenging Sebi’s 31 July order that barred it from accessing the securities market for two months, and promoter Subhash Chandra and CEO Punit Goenka for one year. Sebi had also imposed a ₹30 lakh penalty on Zee and ₹58 lakh on Goenka.
On 31 July, Zee’s shareholders approved a ₹3,143.5-crore fundraising plan that would increase the promoter’s stake from around 4% to 23.79%.
The case stems from Sebi’s findings in its 31 July final order that a property owned by Zee was allegedly used as security for loans taken by promoter-linked private companies. The transaction took place in December 2018 and, according to the regulator, was carried out without the required approvals and disclosures, while the company’s management failed to properly inform shareholders about the arrangement.
According to Sebi, Zee’s statutory auditor had reported that the original title deeds of certain properties were not available with the company. Sebi added in its order that Zee was required to disclose the “fraudulent and unauthorized pledging” of the Hyderabad land to the stock exchange and on its website. “Zee failed to make the said disclosure,” it said.
Yash Tiwari is a Mumbai-based journalist who reports on corporate and regulatory developments, with a focus on court-driven policy shifts and the intersection of law and public policy. He has been in the profession for two years. Before joining Mint, he worked at NDTV Profit as an assistant producer on the TV desk while also reporting, gaining experience across television and print journalism and combining reporting with production expertise.<br><br> Born in Kolkata, a city he remains deeply connected to, Yash has a keen interest in the technicalities of Indian law and aims to decode complex legal developments in a clear and accessible manner for readers. He is a graduate of the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, where he completed his postgraduate diploma in journalism.<br><br> He closely follows politics and government policies, and has covered several state elections as a freelance journalist. His work is driven by the idea of making law less intimidating and more understandable for the general public.<br><br> When not at work, Yash can be found playing cricket, revisiting classic matches, or engaging in conversations about the evolving landscape of law and policy in India.
Apoorva is a Mumbai-based journalist at Mint who covers the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), tracking the pulse of India’s capital markets, regulatory developments and the people who operate within them. She holds a postgraduate diploma in business and financial journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, where she developed a strong foundation in markets, companies, and economic policy. She began her journalism journey with an internship at Bloomberg, where she worked across beats such as real estate, infrastructure, capital markets, and deals, which helped her understanding of business and finance.<br><br>She is guided by the belief that everything in this world can be explained in simple and fewer words, and that idea shapes how she approaches her writing. She aims to cut through complexity and present nuanced regulatory and financial developments in a way that is both accessible and meaningful to readers.<br><br>When she is not tracking market chatter, Apoorva can usually be found deep into a fiction novel or out on a long run. She is also a trained classical dancer in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and Kathakali.
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