Jignesh Shah led 63 Moons Slams P Chidambaram With Damage Suits

by Ankita Sehgal Freelance Blogger, Lives in New Delhi

Jignesh Shah introduced his flagship product Financial Technologies (India) Limited that revolutionized the FinTech industry at the time when India was facing a bleak and broken economy. Since its inception, this venture has faced hurdles and attempts by opposing parties to tarnish it’s reputation. The five-year-old National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case has had some developments recently. Venkat Chary, the chairman of 63 moons Technologies, formerly known as Financial Technologies, had said that the company will file for damages worth Rs 10,000 crore against former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, former Chairman of forwarding Markets Commission (FMC), Ramesh Abhishek and former Additional Secretary for Finance K.P. Krishnan.

Led by Jignesh Shah, 63 moons was accused of carrying out illegal forward contracts along with commodity spot trading and running a Ponzi scheme. These allegations have been severely countered by 63 moons. Despite the fact that there is no money trail traced to NSEL, 63 moons and its founder, by a number of investigative agencies, has time and again been targeted as a part of a conspiracy. The company believes that the three people mentioned above played a vital role in tarnishing the reputation of the company, perpetuating the crisis and destroying the exchange ecosystem to favour the competitor- National Stock Exchange. This move led to a huge loss to the shareholders of 63 moons Technologies and loss of employment for many.

Jignesh Shah also commented on the fact that the case would have been solved much earlier if the then market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) had acted in time and taken the right measures without being biased. The suit has been filed in their individual capacities to taking mala fide actions against the company by misusing their powers. Complaints have been filed with the CBI along with material supporting the claims as well.

Chidambaram was the Finance Minister when the case was brought to light in late 2013. While FMC has now been merged with market regulator SEBI, Ramesh Abhishek currently serves as the Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal trade. K.P. Krishnan is presently the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Secretary. Chary claims that Chidambaram had approved a note by Krishnan that forced other co-promoters of commodity bourse NCDEX to sell their stake to the NSE. This is a clear example of unfair interference in the competition within the exchange industry. He further states that Ramesh Abhishek was aware of the role of traders and brokers but acted in a biased manner only against NSEL and its owner.

With things out in the clear now, we are to see if justice is brought to those who deserve it.