Harshad Mehta Net Worth: What scam did Harshad Mehta do?

Not just a simple stock broker, in fact, a millionaire on whose life, even films and seasons are being made, is none other than Mr. Harshad Mehta.

Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born on 29^th July, 1954, in Rajkot, India. He was a stockbroker and was known for his risk taking appetite and was often called as The Big Bull or The Amitabh Bachchan of the Stock Market. The 1992 Indian Securities Scam lead to the belief that he was the market manipulator. In this article we will be discussing about Harshad Mehta, his career and net worth.

Although Harshad Mehta was born in Rajkot, he spent his initial years in Mumbai and then shifted to Raipur. He went to Janta Public School in Bhilai. He was not fond of studies and loved cricket. After schooling he again shifted to Mumbai for further studies and work. He completed his graduation in commerce from Lala Lajpatrai College. He took different jobs such as sorting diamond, selling cement etc. Soon after he developed interest in stock market and started working as jobber.

Later in late 1980’s he started his own firm Grow More Research and Asset Management along with his brother. In short period, they had prominent investors and soon he and his firm started growing and he emerged as the highest advance tax payer in India. He started the Bull Run in the stock market and he traded heavily in the shares of such companies, which he thought were undervalued.

What scam did Harshad Mehta do?

The scam in 1992 was a systematic fraud committed by Mr. Harshad Mehta in the stock market of India. This created a huge blunder, which made the entire securities system collapse. 

He managed to create a diversion of huge amounts from the banking channel to the stock market, by exploiting the various lacunas and loopholes in the broking system.

Harshad committed a fraud of over 1 billion rupees from the banking system to buy stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Due to this transaction, the banking systems suffered a loss of about 3500 to 4000 crores.

Due to this scam and this loss to the banks, the stock market crashed badly. Thousands of innocent investors lost a lot of money and this scam became one of the biggest scams in the history of the world.

Harshad Mehta Net Worth

Harshad and his brother Ashwin Mehta used to handle the business together. Harshad Mehta is no more in this world, and his brother is estimated to have a very high net worth.

It is said that Ashwin fought single handedly to clear his brother’s name and paid around 1700 crores to banks to clear all the debts and the NPA’s.

When Harshad was alive, it was estimated that Harshad Mehta was directly responsible for embezzling funds of Rs 1439 crores ($3 billion) and causing a scam that led to the loss of wealth to the tune of Rs 3542 crores ($7 billion) !!! Thus, his personal net worth increased enormously, while a lot of people lost all their wealth.

Harshad had expired on 31st December 2001 in Mumbai leaving behind his siblings Ashwin Mehta, Sudhir Mehta, Hitesh Mehta, his wife Jyoti Mehta, and Son Atur Mehta.

We could never imagine a person of Indian origin doing a scam like this and this seems like a movie, however, this is the real picture behind a person’s life.

This is how big bull is made

In 1984, he started his own company and took the membership of Bombay Stock Exchange. The 80s were coming to an end, but Harshad’s fire was increasing. In the coming decade of the 90s, every newspaper was full of delight, every magazine had its pictures printed and big people yearned for a meeting with it. It is said that when the upper one gives, it makes thatch tear. The same thing was happening with Harshad. New people wanted to be like him, old people used to take his name with respect and everyone wanted to know what is the secret of Harshad Mehta.

What was the secret of Harshad Mehta after all

Harshad was the philosopher’s stone that the stock he used to touch became gold. Harshad’s value was more than Kohinoor in the stock market. But to understand the secret of Harshad Mehta, one has to understand the way of working. When he took interest in ACC’s stock, it was 200 rupees, but within a short time the price of this share reached 9 thousand. Think what was the secret that opened up the country’s banking system? What did he do that the stock market senses were blown away? And who was the person who revealed this?

The stock market was constantly touching a height and at the same time, Harshad Mehta was also growing. This was the time when the country’s economy was going through a phase of change. Privatization and foreign investment were increasing. The country had moved on the path of change. As long as the market kept growing, Mehta’s fire also kept growing, but a day came when the stock market went bust. Mehta could not return the money to the banks and then went on to open this ‘Harshad Mehta scandal’.

After this case, an article was published in the New York Times in which Debashish Basu, author of Business Today, said, “The problem is not Mehta. This is the unique time in the history of the Indian economy when old pages are being torn. In such moments, scamsters come out of their shells. ”

On the floor with havoc

The pen of Sucheta Dalal had done that which even those who burnt with Harshad could not. From Dalal Street to Parliament this scandal was being discussed. When the matter grew, a joint parliamentary committee was formed to investigate the matter. Along with Harshad, the CBI also arrested both his brothers Ashwin and Sudhir. 72 criminal cases and more than 600 civil cases were registered against Harshad.

After this, that happened which had never happened before in the history of the country. Mehta claimed in a press conference that he had given a bribe of one crore to PM Narasimha Rao. Congress and Rao denied the allegations. There was never any evidence of this. But this case took a heavy toll on Narasimha Rao, as during this time he was also accused of bribing JMM MPs to save his government.

Aise dooba mehata ka taitainik

After getting bail, Mehta started his business again. He was getting bail in one case after another. It seemed that the days would change again. But in 2001, he was arrested again and sent to jail where he died of a heart attack on 31 December 2001.

According to a report by the Janakiraman Committee of RBI, the 1992 scam was worth Rs 4025 crore. The biggest case in this was of 600 crore fraud done with SBI. It is said that when he used to go to court, the crowd would gather to raise slogans in his favor.

Sucheta, a journalist who disclosed the case, was also awarded the Padma Shri Award in 2006. In an article on her blog, Sujata writes,

“The problem with Mehta was that he never changed his formula. He failed to realize that his old magic is no longer affecting the investors. He always lived in the world of appearances. After the SBI scandal surfaced, he had a photoshoot at the Mumbai Zoo feeding peanuts to the bears. Through this, he wanted to show that the stock market would always run at his behest. “

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