Jane Street barred from Indian markets as regulator freezes $566 million over Nifty 50 manipulation claims

• The regulator issued an interim order to impound over $566.3 million from Jane Street in alleged illegal gains.
• Banks have been directed to ensure that “no debits are made, without permission of SEBI.”
• The firm allegedly used various strategies to artificially influence India's benchmark Nifty 50 index.

The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred Jane Street Group from accessing India's securities market, according to an order posted on the regulator's website on Friday.

The order stated that the U.S. trading firm's “entities are restrained from accessing the securities market and are further prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly.”

The regulator also issued an interim order to impound over 48.4 billion Indian rupees ($566.3 million) from Jane Street in alleged illegal gains.

It further stated that banks have been directed to ensure that “no debits are made, without permission of SEBI,” for accounts held by Jane Street's entities either jointly or individually.

The firm allegedly used various strategies to artificially influence India's benchmark Nifty 50 index, which tracks the country's top 50 companies, to profit from significantly larger positions in index options.

SEBI said that repeated instances of manipulative trading continued even after an “explicit advisory” was issued to the firm in February 2025.

The Indian regulator had previously expressed concerns over practices such as algorithmic trading, which SEBI said in a September 2024 report allowed proprietary traders and foreign portfolio investors to make 610 billion Indian rupees in profits in FY 2024, while retail investors and other market participants lost the same amount during that period.

CNBC has reached out to SEBI and Jane Street for comment.