#Episode 2 of Harshad Mehta Scam

Before entering into the details, it is better to know the following terms…

1.The Ready Forward:is in essence a secured short-term (typically 15-day) loan from one bank to another. Bank has some securities deposites at RBI.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 price,as a pawnbroker lends against jeweller.

2.A Bank Receipt:is a receipt for the money received by the selling bank and pledges to deliver the securities to the buyer. In the meantime, the securities are held in the seller’s trust by the buyer.

Now lets see how Mehta used these instruments?

Armed with these schemes, all Mehta needed now were banks which would readily issue fake BRs, or ones without the guarantee of any government securities. His search ended when he found that the Bank of Karad (BOK), Mumbai and the Metropolitan Co-operative Bank (MCB) two small and little known lenders, were willing to comply. The two banks agreed to issue BRs as and when required. Once they issued the fake BRs, Mehta passed them on to other banks who in turn lent him money, under the false assumption that they were lending against government securities. Mehta used the money thus secured to enhance share prices in the stock market. The shares were then sold for significant profits and the BR retired when it was time to return the money to the bank.

The MAN’ipulation

Mehta continued with his manipulative tactics, triggering a massive rise in the prices of stock and thereby creating a feel-good market trajectory. However, upon the exposure of the scam, several banks found they were holding BRs of no value at all. Mehta had by then swindled the banks of a staggering Rs 4,000 crore. The scam came under scathing criticism in the Indian Parliament, leading to Mehta's eventual imprisonment. The scam’s exposure led to the death of the Chairman of the Vijaya Bank who reportedly committed suicide over the exposure. He was guilty of having issued checks to Mehta and knew the backlash of accusations he would have to face from the public.

A few years later, Mehta made a brief comeback as a stock market expert and started providing investment tips on his website and in a weekly newspaper column. He worked with the owners of a few companies and recommended the shares of those companies only. When he died in 2002, Mehta had been convicted in only one of the 27 cases filed against him.