Mumbai, Oct. 12 -- In a rare show of self-reflection, India's top market regulator acknowledged that its own investigations had at times caused undue hardship for the firms it oversees.

A recent regulatory action against investment adviser Alliance Research has exposed procedural complexities in the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) enforcement process, raising questions about fairness and internal coordination.

In October, a Sebi quasi-judicial authority Santosh Shukla described the case as "peculiar and unique," noting that the initiation of three separate proceedings against Alliance created an internal "deadlock." The regulator itself flagged lapses in its investigative process, including what it called a "non-applicat...