Rs 1.75 crore gains due to broker's tech glitch: Bombay HC allows F&O trader to keep profit

Rs 1.75 crore gains due to broker's tech glitch: Bombay HC allows F&O trader to keep profit

• Bombay HC lets trader keep Rs 1.75 crore profit from accidental margin credit
• Kotak Securities' appeal hearing set for February 4, 2026
• Court says Kotak suffered no loss and can't claim trader's profit

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Bombay High Court recently allowed an F&O (futures & options) trader to keep the Rs 1.75 crore profit he made due to accidental margin money of Rs 40 crore from his broker Kotak Securities.

In 2022, trader Gajanan Rajguru got an erroneous Rs 40 crore margin owing to a Kotak Securities' tech glitch and made Rs 1.75 crore profit in 20 minutes, said news reports. Bombay HC ruled in December 2025 he can keep the profit, as it's not unjust enrichment. Kotak had appealed the decision and next hearing has been fixed as February 4, 2026. Till then, the court said the interim judgment will be upheld.

Advocates Nitesh V. Bhutekar with Aaditya Mahamiya represented the trader.

The broker reversed the Rs 40 crore margin in sometime but wanted that profit of Rs 1.75 crore as well.

The court ruled that since Kotak Securities had not suffered any loss due to the accidentally transferred margin money and hence should not unjustly get to keep the profits earned by the trader through his own risk-taking abilities, reported The Economic Times.

The Bombay High Court said: “It cannot be that the Respondent (trader) would only be liable to repay the amount of losses but cannot be permitted to retain the profits.”

The Bombay High Court said that there cannot be a win-win situation for the Petitioner (Kotak Securities), where it would recover losses from the Respondent (trader) but retain the whole profit earned by Respondent (trader) on a plea that the profit was earned by using Petitioner’s (Kotak Securities) margin.

The Economic Times reported said Kotak tried to settle the case with the trader by offering him Rs 50 lakh out of the profit earned by him, thus, in other words, seeking Rs 1.25 crore profit for itself in other words. The trader rejected the offer.