The Bigger Picture

This pall of uncertainty can lift only if regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) gets to the bottom of the current crisis and takes quick punitive measures against both bull and bear operator cartels who have been wreaking havoc on the bourses. SEBI has already sacked all broker-directors of the bse and banned them from trading. The next step will be to corporatise bse, on the lines of the National Stock Exchange (nse), where there is a clear demarcation between the exchange management and brokers—the umpires and the players.

This is the third time in nine years that the bse has been plunged into crisis: the 1992 scam and then, in 1999, when bse president Jasvantlal Parekh quit following rigging in bpl, Videocon and Sterlite scrips. This time around, SEBI is focusing on bear cartels hammering down the Sensex after the budget and alleged rigging of share prices of Global Trust Bank ahead of its proposed merger with uti Bank.