Recent stock exchange disclosures by two leading companies have taken regulators and investors by surprise, after revelations of selective leaks of price-sensitive information via WhatsApp. Earlier this month, Hatsun Agro Product Ltd informed the exchanges that a senior executive had “inadvertently” posted the first draft of the company’s third-quarter results on his personal WhatsApp status.
“We would like to inform you that, one of our key managerial personnel (KMP) while sharing (internally with the Accounts department of the company) the first cut draft of the unaudited financial statements of the company for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, inadvertently uploaded the draft figures [which may constitute certain Unpublished Price Sensitive Information of the Company (UPSI)] to his personal WhatsApp Status at about 5.00 pm yesterday ( January 4, 2026), the stock exchange filing said on January 5.
This was seen by around 19 people in his contact list, including some insiders, the company statement said. Though these figures were in a very draft form and are subject to change during the ongoing limited review process, the company treated them as a potential leak of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) and made a formal stock exchange disclosure, it added.
Around a week later, a similar incident was reported by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company. The insurance major said that a designated person accidentally uploaded certain details pertaining to the draft financial results on their personal WhatsApp status on January 9, 2026, at around 5:44 pm.
Upon becoming aware of the incident, the designated person deleted the WhatsApp status within an hour, ICICI Lombard said.
The company further said the information shared was in draft form and subject to changes as the audit process is still ongoing. Despite the disclosure’s limited duration, the insurer chose to report the matter to the stock exchanges as a precautionary measure.
Caution to investors
The company has also cautioned investors and market participants against relying on any information regarding its financial results unless such information is formally disseminated by the company after its Board of Directors approves the audited results.
These developments fall under the ambit of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations. Under these rules, an insider is defined as any person connected with a company or having access to unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI), such as financial results, dividends, or mergers, that could influence stock prices. Insiders include directors, employees, key managerial personnel, auditors, consultants, and their immediate relatives. Such individuals are required to comply with trading restrictions and also monitor the trades of their immediate relatives.
New challenges
One should appreciate the two companies bringing these incidents to the public domain. These incidents throw up fresh challenges not only for market regulators, exchanges, and investors, but also for corporates.
In recent years, the market regulator has been increasingly proactive in curbing insider trading and has established a dedicated department to investigate such violations. SEBI has also mandated that companies implement a code of conduct to prevent insider trading. In fact, Hatsun Agro stated that its board of directors approved, on January 19, an amendment to the “Code of Conduct and Code of Practices and Procedures for Fair Disclosure of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information” following the incident.
SEBI and the stock exchanges should also circulate details of such incidents to other listed companies to help strengthen their disclosure frameworks and ensure that such “inadvertent” errors do not recur. While these lapses arose through one medium—WhatsApp—companies must also review other communication tools for potential leaks and make their systems watertight.
Emphasising the need for more robust measures to strengthen disclosure practices across India Inc will help prevent insider trading and enhance overall market integrity.
Published on January 23, 2026
