Scam 1992 – A Web Series on Harshad Mehta Scam

The web series is inspired by the book “The Scam” by Debashis Babu and Sucheta Dala, who had the
most important role in this Harshad Mehta Scam. Pratik Gandhi, the protagonist, just nailed the role
of Harshad Mehta. From his dialogue delivery to acting in the interviews as same as Harshad Mehta,
he won so many hearts.

Belonging to an impoverished family, Harshad always had a dream to do something big. He always
wanted to earn big in a short period. But with his current job, he wasn’t able to do so. He was in a
dire need of an opportunity to earn big and somehow, he came to know of his connections, who
were earning through Stock Markets. Since then, he has decided to enter the market. He worked
under some of the stockbrokers and later, himself became a stockbroker. While working, he
recognized the illegal practice of Inside Trading. Generally, inside information is first provided to the
Stock Exchange by the company itself, through which it reaches to the public. But with Inside
Trading, crucial information was leaked to someone like Harshad Mehta, who used that information
to manipulate the stock price of that company. For example, if XYZ company had a contract with ABC
company, it may affect the stock price of XYZ company, positively or negatively. Such information, if
leaked to a stockbroker before it reaches Stock Exchange, he can decide whether to invest or not,
and hence, the share price is steered by the stockbroker. Harshad Mehta has used much inside
information and boosted many shares like ACC, the price of which rose from ₹200 to ₹9000. Being so
proficient in the stock market, Harshad decided to open his own company, GrowMore Research,
where he used the method of Pump and Dump. In Pump and Dump, he used to invest in some share
and as a tip, he used to ask other investors to do the same. After the price rise, he used to sell the
share and earn huge profits through this manipulation. He used to provide the tip and then charge
some commission from the profit. He suffered both profits and losses because of other manipulators
available in the market. Successfully driving through the road of riches, Harshad decided to utilize
the government bank’s money for pump and dump procedure. Many a time, the government sell
bonds to meet the expenses. The government could pledge these bonds with another bank in return
for some money. This deal is called Ready-Forward Deal. Bonds were exchanged in the form of Bank
Receipts. It is difficult to find a bank that will be interested in this Ready Forward Deal. That is where
the role of the broker comes in. This also created good relations between the bank and the broker.
With such trust, the bank used to transfer the money in the broker’s account, who will deliver the
Bank Receipt to the bank. Harshad Mehta took benefit of this trust and he started using the bank
money to manipulate the stock market. He used to issue fake Bank Receipts to the bank and
continued the process. He even returned the money to the bank. He earned so much that he was the
positioned highest in paying the advance tax. Also, he bought many luxurious cars. All of this was
going fine until the market witnessed a fall. He was unable to pay back the money that he was using.
Due to which, with some confirmed sources, Sucheta Dalal posted an article about the fraudulent
activities of Harshad Mehta in the Times of India. With all this, Harshad Mehta was accused of
approximately 600 Civil Action Suits and was arrested for fraud of ₹4000 Crore. The bank manager,
who issued fake Bank Receipts to Harshad Mehta committed suicide. Many investors also committed
suicide after the fall of the stock market.

All of these incidents in mentioned in this web series and all the roles are very well played. This
shows the fall of ‘The Big Bull’ or ‘Amitabh Bachchan of Stock Market’. Even though he was the most
intelligent investor, the practices he used were illegal. This scam does have a positive impact on the
Stock Market. With all the loopholes, SEBI guidelines were improvised which serves the interest of
investors. The Indian stock market has come a long way since the scam. Over the years, there have
been other stock market scams that have cleaned out investors and left regulatory bodies red-faced.
But Mehta was the one who started it all. The events that he scripted continue to serve as a
reminder to both investors and regulators to remain vigilant at all times.