Jane Street not co-operating with India's taxman in ongoing probe

US-based Global trading firm Jane Street is reportedly not cooperating with the Income Tax Department in an ongoing investigation against it, according to sources.

Sources told ANI that the company's servers, which are crucial for the investigation, are located outside India, and officials are facing access restrictions.

"Access to the servers is being blocked," one of the sources said.

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Additionally, the firm's books of accounts are also maintained outside India, despite Indian company law requiring them to be kept within the country. This has created further hurdles in the probe.

The said sources also pointed out that the US-based proprietary trading firm, has only a minimal staff presence in India, and even those employees are not cooperating with the authorities. The lack of support from the company has reportedly slowed down the progress of the investigation.

Earlier on July 4, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), passed an interim order in the matter of index manipulation by the Jane Street Group, to recover one of the highest ever illegal gain made by the group of Rs 4,843.57 crore.

The order targets four key entities under the Jane Street Group umbrella: JSI Investments Pvt Ltd, JSI2 Investments Pvt Ltd, Jane Street Singapore Pte Ltd, and Jane Street Asia Trading Ltd.

SEBI in its order noted that the Group used a profit maximising scheme to manipulate the market and booked substantial profits in index options, while incurring smaller losses in the cash and futures segments.

Then on July 21, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed the trading firm Jane Street to resume trading in the Indian stock markets, after it deposited Rs Rs 4,843 crore in an escrow account as per regulators interim order.

However, SEBI added that the entities have been directed to cease and desist from directly or indirectly engaging in any fraudulent, manipulative or unfair trade practice or undertaking any activity, either directly or indirectly, that may be in breach of extant regulations, including by dealing in securities using any of the patterns identified or alluded to in the interim order. The entities have confirmed that they will comply with this.