Leading bourse NSE has paid Rs 40.35 crore to market regulator Sebi to settle a case of multiple violations related to data handling, internal governance and regulatory compliance.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE), which has been preparing for an IPO, has settled the matter by neither "admitting nor denying the findings of facts and conclusions of law".

In a five-page order issued on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said that in terms of the settlement regulations, "it is hereby ordered that any proceedings that may be initiated for the violations... are settled in respect of the applicant". 

The case pertains to an inspection carried out by Sebi between February 2021 and March 2022.

As per the order, one of the key violations, involving NSE, was the outsourcing of storage of media tapes containing historical trade data to a third-party vendor without a legally binding agreement.

This lapse exposed sensitive proprietary and member-related information to potential unauthorised access.

Sebi also found that NSE was outsourcing and sharing confidential, price-sensitive information of listed companies with its subsidiary NSE Data and Analytics Ltd (NDAL), for onward distribution to a third-party vendor, without having any legally binding agreement in place.

The applicant's (NSE) 

system architecture enabled it to send unpublished price-sensitive corporate announcements to the clients of NDAL, prior 

to hosting the same on its website, raising concerns under Sebi's insider trading regulations.