MUMBAI: Jyoti Mehta, widow of Harshad Shantilal Mehta, has claimed in a website launched to defend her late husband that the stockbroker was summoned for a meeting with the then PM Narasimha Rao on November 4, 1991, to ostensibly “boost” the markets and that he would have the “blessings” of the government in doing so.
Harshad, she claimed, was accompanied by his younger brother Ashwin Mehta, Sunil Mittal, founder of Bharti Enterprises, and his father Satpal Mittal. “In the said meeting, the Hon’ble Prime Minister conveyed that the foreign currency situation of the country was alarming as there were reserves of only about 7 days and if they were not shored up the country could default and become a ‘banana republic,’ which would jeopardize the plans of the government to turnaround the situation.”
The late Prime Minister, she said, wanted to dispel the environment of “gloom” and “revive” the animal spirits and build up confidence in the economy by “boosting the stock markets” since it was widely considered to be a barometer of the economy. “My husband was asked to boost the markets and a promise was made to him that he will have the blessings of the government in doing so. Harshad was called upon to serve the country at a most critical juncture and suggestions were also sought from him on the role that the stock market could play in providing the capital and boosting industrial growth.”
Mrs Mehta said that courtesy of Harshad’s several steps to boost the market sentiment thereafter and opening up of the economy, culminating in the dream budget of Feb 29, 1992, the market rose perpendicularly from 2,800 to 4,487 by April of that year itself. However, it was in the same month, that the Rs 4,000 crore scam, which hit banks and investors, erupted and caused the Sensex to the tank by 2,500.
Mehta was arrested and died from a heart attack in police custody on December 30, 2001. He was accused of misusing bankers’ receipts (BRs) in ready forward deals in the inter-bank market, raising cash against these and using the same to invest in the stock market, which saw stocks like ACC zoom from Rs 200 to Rs 9,000, earning him sobriquets of “Big Bull” and “Amitabh Bachchan of the stock market”.
Mrs Mehta on Harshad
Mrs Mehta said Harshad was called upon to serve the country at a critical juncture and suggestions were sought from him on the role stock market could play in providing capital and boosting industrial growth