Uday Kotak raises red flag after SEBI finds Jane Street made billions by gaming Indian stock market indices

Banking industry veteran Uday Kotak has expressed concern over how “money power” is playing a bigger role in today’s stock markets, overshadowing the real purpose of capital formation and fair price discovery.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Kotak, the billionaire founder and non-executive director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said that the recent behaviour of markets highlights troubling trends.

“Recent stock market actions signify three aspects, money power, low liquidity in single stocks vs index derivatives, and exchange/broker business models focused more on volume than fundamentals,” he posted.


He stressed that the main goal of the market should be “to promote capital formation and fair price discovery.”

Post follows SEBI’s action against Jane Street

Kotak’s post came just a day after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cracked down on Jane Street, a New York-based hedge fund, for manipulating Indian stock indices.

SEBI’s early morning order on Friday found Jane Street guilty of placing large bets both in the cash market and in the futures and options (F&O) segment. By doing this simultaneously, the hedge fund earned massive profits by taking advantage of price differences.

SEBI has now banned Jane Street from trading in Indian markets and has seized over Rs 4,843 crore in illegal gains. Investigators found that the hedge fund made a staggering Rs 36,671 crore in net profits between January 2023 and May 2025.

Kotak also appeared to question the business models of stock exchanges and brokerages. He pointed out that these businesses rely heavily on trading volume for revenue, rather than focusing on long-term fundamentals.

His remarks add to the growing concerns over whether the market is still serving its true purpose or being overtaken by high-volume trading and speculative practices.

Inputs from PTI