The ex-head of India’s largest stock exchange shared confidential information with an unnamed yogi who had substantial influence in decision-making, according to a probe by the country’s market regulator.
Chitra Ramkrishna, the former chief executive of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), shared information with a purported spiritual guru in the Himalayas, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
SEBI described the «glaring breach» of regulations as «bizarre misconduct» with sharing of information that included NSE’s financial projections, business plans and board agenda.
«Spiritual Nature»
According to the defense of Ramkrishna, who left NSE in 2016 for «personal reasons», she told SEBI that she made no compromising moves as she shared information with a person that was «spiritual in nature».
SEBI said it was «absurd» to defend the sharing of information – dividend pay-out ratios, business plans and NSE employee performance appraisals, for example – as harmless.
«The sharing of financial and business plans of NSE […] is a glaring, if not unimaginable, act that could shake the very foundations of the stock exchange," SEBI said, adding that Ramkrishna was «merely a puppet in [the yogi’s] hands».
20 Years of Advice
The discovery of the yogi's advice to Ramkrishna was made through a three-year investigation originally aimed at officials allegedly providing unfair access to co-location servers for some high frequency traders to speed up algo trading.
During the probe, SEBI found documents revealing Ramkrishna's e-mails to the person with «spiritual force», seeking guidance from him for 20 years.
The investigation derailed plans to IPO in 2017 and eventually led to a $90 million fine and a six-month fundraising ban.
