A controversial stockbroker with roots in Bombay named Harshad Mehta fraudulently withdrew funds from banks and used them to inflate share prices on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He committed what is currently regarded as the largest Indian securities scam ever by taking advantage of flaws in the country’s banking and stock markets. In 1998, Harshad Mehta was found guilty of his crimes, imprisoned, and died in 2001 from a heart attack. In 2020, the 4,000 crore rupee Harshad Mehta securities scandal will be worth 24,000 crores.
Harshad Mehta was born on July 29, 1954, in Paneli Moti, Rajkot, Gujarat (he was 47 years old at the time of his death). His father used to manage a small textile shop in Mumbai’s Kandivali, where he spent his early years. Harshad finished his education when his family later relocated to Raipur, Chhattisgarh. He moved back to Mumbai, where in 1976, he gained a B.Com degree from Lala Lajpat Rai College.
harshad mehta Family
Middle-class Gujarati Jains were the parents of Harshad Mehta. Sudhir Mehta, Hitesh Mehta, and Ashwin Mehta were his three siblings. His mother, Rasilaben Mehta, was a stay-at-home mom, while his father, Shantilal Mehta, owned a small textile business. Ashwin Mehta, Harshad’s brother, worked as a stockbroker for Harshad. At the age of 50, Ashwin completed his legal education and took on all of the cases that were still pending against him.
Jyoti Mehta- (Harshad Mehta’s wife)
Jyoti Mehta is part of Harshad Mehta’s life from the early days of Harshad Mehta’s career. She used to be with him when he used to be a stockbroker, both of them got married at a very young age. After marriage to Harshad Mehta, she was a housewife or homemaker.
But due to the 1992 securities scam, his husband got prisoned and one day Harshad Mehta died due to a sudden heart attack in police custody for the crime he did.
So she had to stand out to support her family. Harshad Mehta and Jyoti Mehta had a son Aatur Harshad Mehta, also known as Atur Mehta.
After Harshad Mehta got into criminal custody, Jyoti got involved during a series of legal battles. She was trying to achieve money that her husband had the right over. The tax Appellate Tribunal scrapped almost the whole tax demand of quite ₹2000 crore after 27 years that was on Harshad, his wife, Jyoti, and his brother, Ashwin Mehta. Since 1992, Stockbroker Kishore Janani and Federal Bank owed about six crore rupees to Harshad. Jyoti won a case against them in the same year, in 2019. She was entitled to receive the whole amount with 18% interest because she was his sole beneficiary.
Aatur Mehta-(Harshad Mehta son)
Atur Mehta, also known as Aatur Harshad Mehta. He is the only son of his father Late Shri Harshad Mehta (Harshad Shantilal Mehta). Atur Mehta is mostly famous for his father. His father was Harshad Mehta, he was a stockbroker, investor, and businessman. He was infamous due to his Indian securities scam in 1992 as a market manipulator.
After the death of Harshad Mehta, his son Atur Mehta made the distance from social media and media. That is the reason today no one is sure about his current residence and his actual life.
Due to the 1992 Securities Scam, which his father done. he never comes to media and shares anything about his family or business life. He was last seen at the time of his father’s death. Which you will find below in this post.
There is not much info available about his married life. Some people claim that he married Malavika Jagdish Toprani . She is also the business partner in his company MYRIAD BUSINESS ADVISOR LLP?
Atur Mehta lives an unsocial life and never shares anything on social media or in news, So currently there is no information available on the internet about his marriage.
Harshad mehta Career
He was a salesman with the New India Assurance Company Limited as well.
He became so interested in the stock market during this time that he quit his previous job and began working for P. Ambalal, a stockbroker connected to the Bombay Stock exchange, in 1980. (BSE). He spent a year there before joining a brokerage company called Harjivandas Nemidas Securities in 1981 to work in lower-level clerical positions.
Harshad founded his own stock brokerage company, GrowMore Research and Asset Management, in 1984 after learning about how the stock market operated. At this company, he first encountered broker Prasann Pranjivandas, and he later came to think of him as his “guru.” by 1990, Harshad had already established a reputation that encouraged many people to contribute to his company and use his services.
He quickly rose from poverty to greatness and amassed millions of crores of rupees via his activities. He owned a sea-facing 15,000 square-foot penthouse in Worli, Mumbai, and a collection of opulent vehicles, including an imported Toyota Lexus worth 40 lakh rupees. The media had enhanced his reputation to the point where he was called “The Amitabh Bachchan of the stock market” and “The Big Bull,” among other nicknames.
Introduction to the Harshad Mehta Scam
The 1992 stock market scam is often referred to by the perpetrator’s name who brought about the downfall of the stock market: Harshad Shantilal Mehta. The scam featured an embezzlement of Rs 1439 crores ($3 billion) that led to a severe crunch and drastic loss of wealth in the life savings of many investors that amounted to Rs 3542 crores ($7 billion). Harshad Mehta is also framed as a victim due to alleged political alliances that included prominent governmental figures. However, it remains true that Mehta exploited the loopholes for his personal benefit, manipulated the market and was heavily involved in many banking frauds.
In a country broken under major political and policy based economic reforms with the liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) process of opening the economy to the world, Mehta thrived and was rich beyond the existing standards. Mehta had what people could consider a rags to riches story: from being a mere immigrant to the city to becoming a renowned stock broker in BSE. He was called the ‘Big Bull’ after resounding success with his Grow More Research and Asset Management firm after many a series of odd jobs. He owned shares of Associated Cement Company (ACC), which saw an inexplicable surge in price from a mere Rs. 200 to a Rs. 9,000. Mehta justified that the stock had only been undervalued all along, prompting a market wave of investors flocking to his investment choices. The bandwagon, coupled with the broken financial system that was beginning to find its foothold in the country that Mehta saw his benefit in, led to the market’s downfall. The key reasons why Mehta is held accountable for crimes is due to his heavy involvement in market manipulation, exploiting the loopholes of the banking system, embezzlement etc.; he was convicted for 23 crimes, but he died in prison after being charged for only four.
Highlights of Harshad Mehta Scam
The key instruments used in the great scam were stamp papers, bank receipts, ready forward deals, and higher interest rates. Sucheta Dalal exposed Mehta’s crimes and involvement in the columns of Times of India in 1992 after taking keen interest into his overly luxurious lifestyle. As valued in 2019, the Harshad Mehta scam had swindled nearly Rs. 250 Billion from the banking system. The effects of the scam, while not persisting directly, still affect the conservative investors’ mindsets. Ketan Parekh, an associate working under Mehta, would later go on to reanimate a similar crime in the stock market in 2008 and be convicted for his involvement in market manipulation in 1992.