A HIMALAYAN SCANDAL

Former NSE Managing Director & CEO Chitra Ramkrishna may well be in the news for alleged wrongdoings and her links with an “unknown person”. But questions must also be asked of market regulator Sebi for the systemic lapses

- ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

A LENGTHY ORDER from capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is nothing new. The watchdog also has a history of issuing important orders late on a Friday night when most people are looking forward to the weekend. So, when a 190-page order was released late on February 11 against the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former honchos Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, and an individual named Anand Subramanian, it was assumed to be important. And indeed it was. The order laid down intricate details about how Ramkrishna, who was the MD & CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016, flouted norms to recruit Subramanian at an exorbitant salary—when compared to his then prevailing compensation—and practically made him her second-in-command.

There was, however, another element that was equally important but more mystifying than Subramanian’s appointment, and which has hogged the limelight ever since. The Sebi order mentioned the term “unknown person” nearly 240 times and, on a few occasions, based on Ramkrishna’s submission, stated the entity was a yogi or a spiritual being who “dwelt in the Himalayan ranges”. Now, spiritual babas and yogis are not uncommon in India, especially those who draw devotees from the political milieu. But this was perhaps the first time that an order from Sebi stated that a stock exchange honcho was allegedly sharing confidential information with a Himalayan yogi.