Insider Trading (SEBI's PIT Regulations)

SEBI's Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations, 2015 prohibit trading in a listed company's securities by anyone holding Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) - information that could materially affect the stock's price once made public, but hasn't been yet (like an unannounced earnings result or a pending merger). This applies not just to company insiders and promoters, but to anyone who has actually obtained UPSI, including 'designated persons' with regular access to such information, who face additional disclosure and conduct obligations. The rule exists specifically to keep the playing field fair between someone trading on information the whole market can see, versus someone trading on information the market hasn't been given yet - a core reason ordinary retail investors can reasonably trust that a listed company's publicly available disclosures are the same information insiders were required to trade on too.