NSE scam: SEBI order raises more questions

16 February 2022

The February 11, 2022, order of SEBI on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) looked into the appointment of Anand Subramanian as Chief Strategic Advisor and his re-designation as Group Operating Officer and Advisor to MD, and the sharing of confidential information with unknown people by Chitra Ramkrishna, the MD of NSE. The SEBI order clearly indicts Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, and former Board members, of NSE for violation of securities regulations, as said by moneycontrol.

From the SEBI order it is clear that everyone--the Board, the shareholders, the executive team members--at NSE was sleeping at the wheel and there were external influences, of a purported yogi, which were driving many of key decisions taken by the MD and confidential information was being shared with someone outside of the exchange. If SEBI lacked the capability or capacity to take the investigation further, it should have sought the assistance of other investigating agencies. The mysterious yogi seems to be someone who closely knew the inside workings of NSE but also was very well networked in political and bureaucratic circles.