Who is Madhabi Buch? The SEBI chief named in Hindenburg's latest Adani report

Madhabi Puri Buch, the chairperson of the Indian market regulatorSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has come under heavy scrutiny after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research published a damning report, linking her to Adani Group's alleged financial misconduct.

The report stated that Madhabi and her husband,Dhaval Buch, held clandestine stakes in obscure offshore funds that were part of a complex financial structure used by the Adani Group. Their money was parked in a fund, linked to associates of Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani, who is chairman of the Adani Group.

"The current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani," Hindenburg said.

It added that weeks before Madhabi's appointment as the SEBI boss, Dhavalrequested to transfer their investments into his sole control to avoid any scrutiny that may come with the high-profile regulatory job.

Who isMadhabi Puri Buch?

Buch was born in Mumbai in 1966 and spent her formative years in the city. She graduated from St Stephen's College of Delhi University before earning her MBA from the renowned Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Afterwards, she joined the ICICI Group where she had a 17-year-long career - serving as the executive director for 12 years before donning the hat of MD and CEO for ICICI securities for two years between February 2009 and May 2011.

Having left ICICI, Madhabi joined Greater Pacific Capital LLP - a private equity firm,as head of the country in Singapore in 2011. She served as founder-director of Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd and also worked with Shanghai’s New Development Bank for the next three years.

After returning to India, she held non-executive positions on the boards of major companies, including Idea Cellular and NIIT Limited. She was appointed as a Whole Time Member (WTM) of SEBI in 2017, where she managed mutual fund portfolios.

In March 2022, she became the first woman to lead SEBI. Her initial contract is due to expire in 2025 and according to rules, can be extended for two years.

Notably, Madhabi got engaged to Dhaval at the age of 18 when the latter was a director at FMCG multinational, Unilever. They got married when she turned 21.

What next?

According to reliable sources, there might be a big fallout due to the report within the upper hierarchy of the Indian market regulator. Reports indicate that Adani Group has already begun lobbying for the next SEBI chairperson and the name of Dinesh Khara - the recently retired former State Bank of India chief is doing the rounds.

As for the confidence in the Indian markets and economy, especially with an eye onthe foreign investors -- the opposition has started pressuring the Indian government to act and remove the SEBI chief.

(With inputs from agencies)