Annual Secretarial Compliance Report FY 24-25
Awaiting price reaction for this filing.
Axis Bank submitted its Annual Secretarial Compliance Report for the financial year ended March 31, 2025 to NSE and BSE on May 30, 2025, prepared by Bhandari & Associates, Practicing Company Secretaries. The report flags a major pending SEBI Show Cause Notice dated October 24, 2024 alleging that Axis Bank, along with Max Financial Services and Max Life Insurance, ran a structured share transaction scheme from FY 2009-10 to FY 2021-22, allegedly benefiting Axis Bank by Rs. 3,911.95 crore and causing Rs. 771.13 crore in losses to MFSL and its unit; the matter is sub-judice and no adverse order has been passed yet. SEBI also issued an advisory letter in February 2025 for delayed filing of FPI/NRI/OCI reports on the SEBI portal — the bank has added a concurrent audit check — and a deficiency letter in December 2024 following an inspection of its Depository Participant operations. The bank's subsidiaries also faced regulatory action: Axis Securities received a Rs. 10 lakh SEBI penalty plus Rs. 22.42 lakh in exchange penalties and a settlement order; Axis Capital received an interim ex-parte order in September 2024 (confirmatory order in November 2024) and Rs. 24.19 lakh in exchange penalties; Axis AMC and Axis Trustee received various warning and deficiency letters, with two settlement orders issued in late 2024 and early 2025. One related party transaction's excess value was ratified by the audit committee, and no statutory auditor resigned during the period.
The biggest overhang is the ongoing SEBI case on the Max Life Insurance transactions — while sub-judice with no order yet, an adverse ruling could lead to significant financial liability and reputational damage. Subsidiary-level penalties and deficiency letters are routine regulatory matters and unlikely to materially move the stock.