Slow and steady wins the race. This age-old adage is finally coming true with the recent Bombay High Court order which quashed attachment of assets of fintech star Jignesh Shah flagship company 63 moons technologies in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case.
The high court ruled that NSEL is not a financial establishment and hence notifications for attachment of the company’s assets, including bank accounts and properties under the MPID (Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial Establishments) Act stand quashed.
The seeds of malice against the exchange, its parent company 63 moons and its founder Jignesh Shah have been sown so deep that the then commodities market regulator FMC and the investigating agencies refused to look at the other side for the longest time. Needless to say, all lies around the NSEL crisis are being nailed one by one after the recent court orders. In April 2019, the Supreme Court set aside a Bombay High Court judgment approving the forced merger of crisis-hit NSEL with parent company, 63 moons, in public interest under Section 396 of the Companies Act.
NSEL, its parent company and Jignesh Shah were persecuted under the MPID Act despite the said act not being applicable to a market dispute. This was done under the pressure mounted by certain big brokers backed by the then top ministers in the UPA government and their favorite bureaucrats.
While the assets of NSEL and its promoters were hastily attached under the provisions of MPID, the same brokers cried foul when it was time to taste their own medicine. The NSEL in December 2018 had filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court, questioning the Maharashtra Government for its inaction against the brokers and trading members in attaching their assets. The court had issued a notice to the state government asking it to seize the assets of the accused brokers.
Post these favorable developments for the shareholders and employees of 63 moons, Jignesh Shah, is rising again. He now wants to act as a mentor for millions of entrepreneurs of India so that they are able to generate crores of jobs over the next decade.
ENTREPRENEUR JIGNESH SHAH AND HIS ZEALOUS SPIRIT TO BENEFIT START UPS
Innovator/entrpreneur Jignesh Shah, the Commodity King of India and the Czar of Exchanges began to succeed in unshackling the spirit of enterprise in the Indian markets but ran into several challenges created by a nexus of vested interests, which included politicians, bureaucrats, crony capitalists and rival empires. Mr Shah went on to set up 10 world-class exchange companies under his flagship company FTIL (now called 63 moons tech), in various asset classes, in just 10 years across India and abroad.
However, FTIL faced hostility from institutions as it began to rise. To decimate Jignesh Shah and the strong empire that was built by him, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the then commodities market regulator, directed one of FTIL’s subsidiary, NSEL, to stop trade and settle all the existing contracts which led to outstanding transactions and resulted in a payment default crisis which has not been solved till date because of the hurdles created by vested interests. It has been alleged by Jignesh Shah that this crisis which was artificially created by vested interest happened on the directions of former finance minister, P Chidambaram, who had his own vested interests in the rival exchange, the NSE.
Despite these daunting situations, Jignesh Shah always stood like a one-man army, and has remained as zealous as he was before NSEL payment default and has continued with the same spirit of innovation without retrenching a single employee.
Recently, the Bombay high court ruled that the NSEL was not a financial establishment and quashed the attachment of assets, including bank accounts and properties, of 63 moons technologies. The Supreme Court has also set aside a government order to merge NSEL with 63 moons. These judicial victories have prompted Jignesh Shah to turn a mentor for millions of Indian entrepreneurs to enable them to generate one crore jobs a year in the start up eco system.