A yogi ran NSE as puppet master, says mkt regulator
MUMBAI: The former head of India’s largest stock exchange shared confidential information with a yogi and sought his advice on crucial decisions, a probe by the market regulator has found, ahead of the bourse’s muchawaited public listing.
In a case of “bizarre misconduct” that was a “glaring breach” of regulations, Chitra Ramkrishna, the former chief executive of National Stock Exchange (NSE), shared information including the bourse’s financial projections, business plans and board agenda with a purported spiritual guru in the Himalayas, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.
“The sharing of financial and business plans of NSE ... is a glaring, if not unimaginable, act that could shake the very foundations of the stock exchange,” SEBI said in an order, imposing penalties on Ramkrishna, the bourse and other top former executives for the lapses.
Ramkrishna, who quit NSE in 2016 citing “personal reasons”, was not immediately reachable for comment. NSE and Sebi did not respond to requests for comment.
Allegations of corporate governance lapses have dogged NSE for several years. The exchange had planned to go public in 2017 but its listing was derailed by allegations officials had provided some high frequency traders unfair access through co-location servers, which could speed up algorithmic trading.
After a three-year investigation, Sebi fined the exchange over $90 million and barred it from raising money on securities markets for six months. NSE challenged the order in court and has sought SEBI’s approval to file for a new IPO.
However, during that investigation, Sebi found documents showing Ramkrishna’s emails to an unknown person, who she said during questioning was a “spiritual force” she had sought guidance from for 20 years.
Ramkrishna, in her defence, told Sebi that sharing of information with the person who was “spiritual in nature” did not compromise confidentiality or integrity.
The Sebi order however stated that it was “absurd” for Ramkrishna to contend that sharing sensitive information such as dividend pay-out ratios, business plans and the performance appraisals of NSE employees did not cause harm.