It is a matter worth regrading when one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), in this case Indore, includes the story of Jignesh Shah, a businessman who has been facing problems since the NSEL case broke out in 2013. Jignesh Shah has maintained his opinion that the brokers who were the perpetrates have been now declared ‘not fit and proper’ as commodity derivates brokers by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Jignesh Shah has served a legal notice to P. Chidambaram, former Finance Minister, along with K.P. Krishnan, former bureaucrat, and Ramesh Abhishek, former chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC). Ramesh Abhishek, who chaired the FMC back in 2015 is being accused of suppressing an important report by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) that clearly stated the default on the part of the brokers that include big names like Motilal Oswal, IIFL, Geofin Comtrade among others.
The study has been written by a marketing veteran, Ganapathy Lakshmana Sharma who has compared Jignesh Shah to the protagonist (John Galt) of Ayn Rand’s most famous book, Atlas Shrugged. The same has also been covered by Sunday Guardian Live under the title – A top politician and key officials kill an Indian Unicorn. It contains excerpts from the study which is called, How Vested Interests Eroded the Best ‘Make in India’ Story. And rightly so. Jignesh Shah’s Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL), now 63 moons technologies, was the first company to introduce financial technologies in the commodity markets in India. It is also credited for connecting the South East Asian markets with India to bring a boon in the commodity markets.
However, the NSEL case slowed down the progress of the company and destroyed a self-sustaining ecosystem that created millions of jobs. It is worth noting that Shah was able to do that long before ‘Make in India’ was even a thing. Still, Shah faced the worst of circumstances which included being arrested. However, nothing has been proven against him till date. There are many times when the C-company’s affiliation with other top exchanges in the market has been hinted.
It can be imagined that, just like John Galt, who is Jignesh Shah and many others in real life have been victims to conspiracies that served vested interests. However, now the brokers have come under the radar and it finally seems that justice will prevail.