RAMESH ABHISHEK: The Man Who Killed India’s Entrepreneurial Zeal

Ramesh Abhishek’s style of functioning and lack of business-friendly policy initiatives have discouraged the budding entrepreneurs and businessmen within and outside India from regarding India as a conducive business environment.

The Bihar cadre IAS officer, who destroyed India’s vibrant commodity market six years ago as the then FMC chairman, has failed to implement bolder initiatives to encourage entrepreneurial zeal in his current role as Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary since 2015.

Even in his previous role as chief of erstwhile commodity markets regulator, he killed more than 10 lakh jobs in the commodities markets with his actions that were contrary to public interest. As the FMC Chairman, he was empowered to resolve the NSEL payment default crisis by taking necessary actions against the defaulters.

However, he chose to deliberately keep the crisis alive by targeting the exchange, its parent company and its founder instead of chasing down the defaulting brokers to whom the entire money trail has been traced.

After the supreme court recently struck down the merger of NSEL with 63 moons technologies, a flawed move recommended by Ramesh Abhishek, questions are being raised as to why he went out his way to suggest such an unwarranted order against a particular business group. At whose behest did he do this? His links with former finance minister P Chidambaram are also in the focus once again.