The previous statement, now withdrawn, was issued on September 4, after around 200 of its officials had held a protest march to the organisation’s headquarters a day earlier.
The September 4 press release said that employees were being instigated by external elements to “go to the media, go to the Ministry and possibly go to the SEBI Board to achieve their objectives”.
The release also refers to a letter sent by “a group of SEBI employees” to the Human Resource Development Ministry on August 6, and a second letter sent seven days later.
The statement further claimed that these actions were part of a “strategy” to gain more bargaining power for benefits, including an increase in house rent allowance (HRA) and “automatic promotions on low performance ratings without interview”. It also mentioned that Sebi had implemented initiatives such as quantitative key resource areas (KRAs) and officer-level and team-level monthly targets to be responsive to the market ecosystem and its participants.
Regarding allegations of unprofessional or toxic work culture made by employees, the statement termed these claims as “false” and attributed them to instances such as underestimation of performance potential, inaccurate reporting of KRA achievement status, and “adjusting” appraisal marks of poor-performing officers to make them eligible for promotions.
SEBI on Monday confirmed that the September 4 press release has been withdrawn with the latest statement.