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Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/story-in-a-sentence-17800.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Story in a sentence | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Story in a sentence

-The Indian Express

The Rajat Gupta case provokes a question: Could the Indian system handle such a situation as well?

Rajat Gupta has got two years in prison for insider trading, a fraction of the term sought by the prosecution. It is a fair sentence, delivered without regard for the multiple pressures that had been brought to bear on this much-publicised case. The handling of the case — among about 60 others in the biggest crackdown ever on insider trading — has established that the US judicial system can be depended upon to straighten out the irregularities of the financial system. Of which there must be many, or could the financial crisis of 2008 have arisen at all?

Could the Indian system handle such a situation as well? If the country aims to become an open, capitalist system organised chiefly by markets, distorting practices like insider trading and manipulation will assume serious implications. In the very near future, India could face difficult questions like the ones the US is now grappling with in the courts of New York. But India could fare worse for several reasons. Its culture of transparency and propriety in finance is poorly developed. For instance, market advice comes unaccompanied by complete disclosure of the advisor’s interests. If a scrip is recommended or dismissed, how deeply the advisor is invested in his choice or its competition is usually unknown. The culture of trading tips is perhaps worse than in the US, with popular SMS services spreading market whispers. At the same time, the investigative apparatus is seen to be biased and the judicial system is too slow to deal effectively with such threats. 

In market manipulation, size matters. The greatest threats would be posed by market leaders who are closely networked with their peers in business and with influential people in government, academia, international agencies and charities. Could the Indian system have brought to book an accused of the stature of Rajat Gupta? Currently, it does not seem credible. But its agencies must develop the nerve to do so, or Indian markets cannot come of age.