harshad shantilal mehta

Harshad Shantilal Mehta (Hindi: ) was an Indian stockbroker. He is alleged to have engineered the rise in the BSE stock exchange in 1992. Exploiting several loopholes in the banking system, Mehta and his associates siphoned off funds from inter-bank transactions and bought shares heavily at a premium across many segments, triggering a rise in the Sensex. When the scheme was exposed, banks started demanding their money back, causing the collapse. He was later charged with 72 criminal offenses, and more than 600 civil action suits were filed against him. Mehta died in 2002 with many litigations still pending against him. Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born on 29 July 1954 at Paneli Moti, a village of Rajkot District in a Gujarati Jain family of modest means. His early childhood was spent in Mumbai (Kandivali), where his father was a small-time businessman. Later, the family moved to Raipur in Chattisgarh after doctors advised his father to move to a drier place on account of his health. Mehta studied in Holy Cross Higher Secondary School, Byron Bazar, Raipur.. He traded in the Stock Market on the Bombay Stock Exchange and had an expensive lifestyle. He lived in a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) apartment, which had a swimming pool as well as a golf patch. By 1990, Mehta had risen to prominence in the stock market. He was buying shares heavily. The shares which attracted attention were those of Associated Cement Company (ACC). The price of ACC was bid up to Rs 10,000. When asked, Mehta used the replacement cost theory as an explanation. . Through the second half of 1991 Mehta had earned the sobriquet of the Big Bull, because he was said to have started the bull run. On April 23, 1992, journalist Sucheta Dalal exposed Mehta's illegal methods in a column in The Times of India. Mehta was dipping illegally into the banking system to finance his buying. The authors explain: The crucial mechanism through which the scam was effected was the ready forward (RF) deal. The RF is in essence a secured short-term (typically 15-day) loan from one bank to another. Crudely put, the bank lends against government securities just as a pawnbroker lends against jeweller. The borrowing bank actually sells the securities to the lending bank and buys them back at the end of the period of the loan, typically at a slightly higher Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Management 1

price. It was this ready forward deal that Mehta and his accomplices used with great success to channel money from the banking system.A typical ready forward deal involved two banks brought together by a broker in lieu of a commission. The broker handles neither the cash nor the securities, though that wasnt the case in the lead-up to the scam. In this settlement process, deliveries of securities and payments were made through the broker. That is, the seller handed over the securities to the broker, who passed them to the buyer, while the buyer gave the cheque to the broker, who then made the payment to the seller. In this settlement process, the buyer and the seller might not even know whom they had traded with, either being known only to the broker. This the brokers could manage primarily because by now they had become market makers and had started trading on their account. To keep up a semblance of legality, they pretended to be undertaking the transactions on behalf of a bank. Another instrument used was the bank receipt (BR). In a ready forward deal, securities were not moved back and forth in actuality. Instead, the borrower, i.e., the seller of securities, gave the buyer of the securities a BR. As the authors write, a BR confirms the sale of securities. It acts as a receipt for the money received by the selling bank. Hence the name - bank receipt. It promises to deliver the securities to the buyer. It also states that in the mean time, the seller holds the securities in trust of the buyer. Having figured out his scheme, Mehta needed banks which issued fake BRs, or BRs not backed by any government securities. Two small and little known banks - the Bank of Karad (BOK) and the Metropolitan Co-operative Bank (MCB) - came in handy for this purpose. These banks were willing to issue BRs as and when required, for a fee, the authors point out. Once these fake BRs were issued, they were passed on to other banks and the banks in turn gave money to Mehta, assuming that they were lending against government securities when this was not really the case. This money was used to drive up the prices of stocks in the stock market. When time came to return the money, the shares were sold for a profit and the BR was retired. The money due to the bank was returned. The game went on as long as the stock prices kept going up, and no one had a clue about Mehtas modus operandi. Once the scam was exposed, though, a lot of banks were left holding BRs which did not have any value - the banking system had been swindled of a whopping Rs 4,000 crore. When the scam was revealed, the Chairman of the Vijaya Bank committed suicide by jumping from the office roof. He knew that he would be accused if people came to know about his involvement in issuing cheques to Mehta. M J Pherwani of UTI also died in this scandal.

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In the early 1990s, the banks in India had to maintain a particular amount of their deposits in government bonds. This ratio was called SLR ( Statutory Liquidity Ratio). Each bank had to submit a detailed sheet of its balance at the end of the day and also show that there was a sufficient amount invested in government bonds. Now, the government decided that the banks need not show their details on each day, they need to do it only on Fridays. Also, there was an extra clause that said that the average %age of bond holdings over the week needs to be above the SLR but the daily %age need not be so. That meant that banks would sell bonds in the earlier part of the week and then buy bonds back at the end of the week. The capital freed in the starting of the week could then be invested. Now, at the end of the week many banks would be desperate to buy bonds back. This is where the broker comes in. The broker knew which bank had more bonds (called plus) and which has less than the required amount (called short). He then acts as the middleman between the two banks. Harshad Mehta was one such broker. He worked as a middle man between many banks for a long time and gained the trust of the banks senior management. Lets say that there are two banks A (short) and B (plus). Now what Harshad Mehta did was that he told the banker at A that he was dealing with many banks and hence did not know who would he deal in the end with. So he said that the bank should write the cheque in his name rather than the other bank (which was forbidden by law), so that he could make the payment to whichever bank was required. Since he was a trusted broker, the banks agreed.


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Then, going back to the example of bank A and B, he took the money from A and went to B and said that he would pay the money on the next day to B but he needed the bonds right now (for A). But he offered a 15 % return for bank B for the one day extension. Bank B readily agreed with this since it was getting such a nice return Now since Harshad Mehta was dealing with many banks at the same time he could then keep some capital with him at all times. For eg. He takes money from A on Monday,and tells B that hell pay on Tuesday, then he takes money from C on Tuesday and tells D that hell pay on Wednesday and the money he gets from C is paid to B and as a result he has some working capital with him at all times if this goes on with other banks throughout the week. The banks at that time were not allowed to invest in the equity markets. Harshad Mehta had very cleverly squeezed some capital out of the banking system. This capital he invested in the stock market and managed to stoke a massive boom. He took the price of ACC from 200 to 9000.Thats an increase of 4400%!!!The market went up like crazy and the bulls were on a mad run. Since he had to book profits in the end, the day he sold was the day when the market crashed. The same day Vijaya Bank chairman committed suicide by jumping from the top of the banks office. The chairman knew that when it would become public that he had written cheques in the name of Mehta, he would be dead meat. One rather unknown fact about this scam is that there was a very important player in this scam who managed to keep a very low profile. That man was Nimesh Shah. He was just as involved as Harshad Mehta but he knew how keep out of the hands of the law. Nimesh Shah still deals in the stock market and is known to be a heavy player. Harshad Mehta is now dead. It is rumored that when he died, he still had 10% of ACC shares with him.


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STOCK broker Mr Harshad Mehta died at Thane civil hospital following a brief heart ailment. Mr Mehta, who was 47, is survived by his wife and two sons. Mr Mehta was under judicial custody in the Thane prison after a special court remanded him and his two brothers, Mr Ashwin Mehta and Mr Sudhir Mehta, in a fresh case of misappropriation. According to sources, Mr Mehta complained of chest pain late last night and was admitted to the civil hospital where he died around 12.40 a.m. The body was moved to J.J. Hospital for post-mortem. Mr Mehta and his brothers were arrested by the CBI on November 9 for allegedly ``misappropriating (in 1992) more than 27 lakh shares of about 90 companies, including Sensex heavyweights such as ACC and Hindalco, through forged share transfer forms. The total value of the shares was placed at Rs 250 crore. The two brothers have been granted temporary bail for five days following the death of Mr Harshad Mehta. Mr Harshad Mehta started his career as an employee of New India Assurance Company but later quit the job to play the stock market. By 1991, Mr Mehta had become the most recognisable and revered icon of the stock market. Considered a financial genius by many, he was nicknamed the Big Bull who single-handedly decided the course the markets would ply.At the peak of his glory, Mr Mehta lived in a 15,000 sq.ft. house with its private swimming pool and golf patch. His lavish lifestyle and flashy cars were the stuff known only of movie stars.His ``bull run, however, ended in April 1992 when the stock market scam broke out bringing down in its wake several financial entities and causing despair to millions of investors. The man who was singularly credited with the rise of the market was also squarely blamed for the crash.


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Mr Mehta's fall from grace was as fast as his meteoric rise. Investigations revealed that his ``unending resources were actually siphoned off from the banking system. According to investigators, he had devised an ingenious way of using bank receipts to feed the stock market frenzy.

He was arrested and banished from the stock market with investigators holding him responsible for causing a loss of more than Rs 4,000 crore to various entities. Mr Mehta again raised a furore in 1995 when he made a public announcement that he had paid Rs 1 crore to the then Congress President and Prime Minister, Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao, as donation to the party for getting him ``off the hook. The decade-long tug of war with the law that started in 1992 was continuing when Mr Mehta died. He had altogether 28 cases registered against him. The trial of all except one, are still continuing in various courts in the country. Market watchdog, Securities and Exchange Board of India, had recently banned him for life from stock market-related activities. Mr Mehta perhaps had as many admirers as critics. If he was loathed by some, he was revered by many. But almost all of them admit that he caused a ``change in the Indian stock market, permanently.


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Never give out your credit card details in emails Are you thinking "Why would I ever do that?" Well youd be surprised because many people often are misled into believing that credible sources are asking for their credit card details. A recent email scam in India asked recipients to provide credit card numbers so that the RBI can credit tax refund to their accounts. So watch out for dubious emails that ask for such details. If you are not sure, simply pick up the phone and call the relevant company or service provider and report to them that you have received such an email on their behalf. Shop online with caution This tip to avoid credit card fraud is for all you folks who love to do a bit of online shopping. Nothing wrong with that. Simply make sure that you use your credit card for online shopping on safe and well known portals. Wherever you shop, make sure that the website is legit, recommended, well known and the address of the payment page starts with "https" rather than simply "http". What it essentially means is that it is a secure site, and has a very little chance of someone snooping in on your private data! Register for transaction alerts Transaction alerts are SMSes sent by banks to your mobile phone whenever there is a transaction on your card. If you have opened a new account, chances are that you are already registered for transaction alerts on your mobile phone. In case you are not signed up, we suggest that you call your bank today and get registered. This way, you will get to know immediately if there have been any suspicious purchases on your accounts. According to me this is a MUST It sure will save you a lot of headache later, just incase there are any unauthorized transactions


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Scratch out your CVV number One of the first things you should do when you receive your credit card is memorize the CVV number and scratch it out. The CVV number is the last 3 digits of the numbers at the back of your credit card. Remember, even if someone has your credit card number and expiry date, they will not be able to complete most online transactions without the CVV number. When you scratch out your CVV number, the chances of fraud on your credit card are greatly reduced. Shred all those photocopies Do you have unwanted photocopies of your identity documents lying around the house? We suggest you start shredding them right away because such copies make it easier for fraudsters to get hold of your personal information. Even when you go to the local photocopy shop to get a copy of a document like your passport, license, etc, make sure that the person attending the photocopy machine takes out the exact number of copies that you need. When in doubt, report immediately Many banks and credit card providers give customers the benefit of Zero liability once a credit card has been reported stolen or lost. So if you cant find your credit card or you think it has been stolen, call your bank immediately. If you dont, your bank may refuse to take full liability of the fraud on your credit card. So, there you have it If you take care of above things, you can avert 99 percent credit card frauds that happen. Where has all the money gone? It is well known that while Harshad Mehta was the "big bull" in the stock market, there was an equally powerful "bear cartel", represented by Hiten Dalal, A.D. Narottam and others, operating in the market with money cheated out of the banks. Since the stock prices rose steeply during the period of the scam, it is likely that a considerable part of the money swindled by this group would have been spent on financing the losses in the stock markets.


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It is rumored that a part of the money was sent out of India through the Havala racket, converted into dollars/pounds, and brought back as India Development Bonds. These bonds are redeemable in dollars/pounds and the holders cannot be asked to disclose the source of their holdings. Thus, this money is beyond the reach of any of the investigating agencies.

A part of the money must have been spent as bribes and kickbacks to the various accomplices in the banks and possibly in the bureaucracy and in the political system.

As stated earlier, a part of the money might have been used to finance the losses taken by the brokers to window-dress various banks' balance sheets. In other words, part of the money that went out of the banking system came back to it. In sum, it appears that only a small fraction of the funds swindled is recoverable.


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The immediate impact of the scam was a sharp fall in the share prices. The index fell from 4500 to 2500 representing a loss of Rs. 100,000 crores in market capitalization. Since the accused were active brokers in the stock markets, the number of shares which had passed through their hands in the last one year was colossal. All these shares became "tainted" shares, and overnight they became worthless pieces of paper as they could not be delivered in the market. Genuine investors who had bought these shares well before the scam came to light and even got them registered in their names found themselves being robbed by the government. This resulted in a chaotic situation in the market since no one was certain as to which shares were tainted and which were not. The government's liberalization policies came under severe criticism after the scam, with Harshad Mehta and others being described as the products of these policies. Bowing to the political pressures and the bad press it received during the scam, the liberalization policies were put on hold for a while by the government. The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) postponed sanctioning of private sector mutual funds. The much talked about entry of foreign pension funds and mutual funds became more remote than ever. The Euro-issues planned by several Indian companies were delayed since the ability of Indian companies to raise equity capital in world markets was severely compromised.


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harshad shantilal mehta

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