Gossip & Tales: Jio Lifeline For Chanda Kochhar?
Jio lifeline For Chanda Kochhar?
Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar was spotted socialising and lazing around in the opulence of the pre-wedding bash of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's youngest son Anant at the family's luxurious Jamnagar ranch. That Kochhar, who has been under the CBI scanner for alleged corruption cases, was even invited for the function graced by the global business elite, has got the tongues wagging in Mumbai's corporate circles. Recently, the Bombay High Court held Kochhar and her husband's arrest by the CBI as 'illegal' and called it 'abuse of power.' The buzz is that Kochhar may join her mentor KV Kamath in a senior role at Jio Financial Services. Kamath, who founded ICICI Bank, is a close confidant of MDA and currently the non-executive chairman of Jio Fin. It is well known that Kochhar and Madhabi Puri Buch, the current SEBI chief, were the two blue-eyed girls of Kamath when they worked at ICICI Bank and still enjoy his blessings. Between the two, Kamath favoured Kochhar as the CEO of the bank and Buch was made the MD of the bank's brokerage and financial services arm. Ever since the Bombay HC ruling of February has put CBI on the backfoot, Kochhar has been showered with the blessings -- 'Jug Jug Jio.'
Jamnagar Jamboree
Pop diva Rihanna's gyrations, punjabi mix of Diljit Dosanjh, Akon's Chammak Challo, songs of Arijit Singh, Shreya Goshal, some other bollywood dancers and glitterati, cricketers and Nita Ambani's own devotionally graceful Vishwambhari performance at Anant Ambani's pre-wedding gala has kicked-up a storm in the social media. Then, there was Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg, Jared Kushnar, Ivyanka Trump (draped in a sequined gold copper Bengali style saree) for whom the tiny airstip of Jamnagar was temporarily declared as an international airport. But conspicuous by their absence in the jamboree were top Indian politicians both from the ruling BJP and opposition, high ranking current and former bureaucrats, who for the past many years have known the Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani. Back in January 2023, when PM Modi was in Mumbai, the same day as the engagement ceremony of Anant and Radhika, he gave Antila a pass even as a few top BJP leaders in Maharashtra were present for the celebrations. But during the last weekend pre-wedding bash, the PM called for an urgent cabinet meeting with a whip for everybody to be present. If nothing much, Rahul Gandhi's Adani Ambani jibe has killed all the fun for politicians.
Saving India's Wedding Economy
Grapevine says the initial idea of the Ambani's was to hold a destination pre-wedding bash for Anant and Radhika in Morocco. But PM Modi dented that plan. Few months ago in his speech, the PM urged the big rich families to shun the idea of holding weddings abroad and instead do these sacred ceremonies in India. “Country’s money will remain within the country,” the PM had then averred. Modi ji said rough estimates had suggested to him that there could be a business of around Rs 5 lakh crore during this wedding season. Excluding roughly Rs100 crores that Ambani is said to have spent on Rihanna and other international stars, majority of his spend on the pre-wedding bash was ploughed back into the Indian economy. Waiters and stewards from Mumbai's five star joint owned by the Ambani family were shuttled to Jamnagar as well. Stock markets kept moving higher led by Reliance stock price and hit a new lifetime high as the party in Jamnagar began. Ambani's are even being praised for the timing of their pre-wedding bash ahead of the elections and the wedding after the elections, both of which will not steal the show as elections are being allowed to take center stage in the media in March, April and May.
Former TV Anchor On The Run?
A former financial analyst and anchor with a leading English business news channel is on the run now after the recent raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a stock market, betting kingpin and hawala operator Hari Tibrewal. ED probe has revealed that Tibrewal used to dabble in stocks from Dubai and launder the money of company promoters. It has now come to light that the former TV anchor was a conduit between Tibrewal and company promoters. Post-Covid the TV anchor had launched a financial advisory cum research firm with a full fledged team in Mumbai. He used his past relations with leading TV anchors to garner publicity for the companies. His recent operations involved a buffalo meat packaging company and a mobile accessories company, which he helped get listed on the SME exchange. His AMC company had also won a SEBI license recently. However, after the ED action on Tibrewal, the former TV anchor has now come under SEBI scanner too and major action is expected from the regulator in the coming weeks.
Electoral Bonds: A Pandora's Box?
CJI D Y Chandrachud led the Supreme Court (SC) bench's February 15 ruling on scrapping the electoral bonds and disclosure of donors' names is likely to open a Pandora's box, especially when national elections are around the corner. While listed companies have to follow disclosure norms, it is the multi billion dollar unlisted holding companies of conglomerates that are feeling the heat of such an order by the SC, market talks suggest.
Maharashtra Khichdi
Arrest of a real-estate builder from Chembur by the Mumbai police has caused a flutter. The builder is said to be behind a social media handle that exposed the links of a high ranking politician in the ruling dispensation, big spends on foreign trips by his OSD, awarding of marquee IT infra contracts and other such details. Now the politician who tipped-off the police against the dubious activities of the builder in his construction projects to get him arrested, is using the same tricks and social media to expose his contemporary by making frivolous allegations against his OSD. The news of the infighting has reached New Delhi.
Churn in BJP
In the previous GT's (Gossip and Tales) it was mentioned that Sonia Gandhi will give up her Rae Bareli since chances of winning had vanished and some of BJP's incumbent MPs feared they would not be given a ticket this time. All of this came true. This time, there are talks that those who have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha twice from the BJP will not get a third chance and will have to fight it out and win a seat through Lok Sabha elections or simply work for the party.
BSE's Churn
BSE has seen the exit of several old employees over the past one year. However, some of the recent joinees too are leaving now. Chief information security officer Balaji Venkatesh is one such example. He was a chief level employee directly reporting to the CEO. Then, there is Avinash Kharkar, who was hired to oversee the important job of listing regulations. But in just around a year, Kharkar too is on his way out. Ambarish Datta, CEO of BSE institute too has left along with several of his team members. Former IPS officer Nandkumar Saravade who also worked with ICICI Bank in 2008 has now joined the BSE board. Meanwhile, a whistleblower letter highlighting unvalued sale of tech business by BSE is under SEBI's scanner.
On The Receiving End Of The Regulator?
Independent directors of a leading depository are not seeking a reappointment on the board. So is the MD and CEO. Off late, the regulator has issued a few show cause notices to this depository for various grounds. Also, it is the fear of Karvy-like fiasco which keeps the executives of the depository from seeking another term. In the Karvy default matter, SEBI had issued a dictate to NSDL to freeze the accounts of the broker and did not allow banks to execute their lien on the underlying shares. SAT not only set aside SEBI order but it imposed a heavy penalty on NSDL as well. NSDL has now told the Supreme Court that if it was asked to pay the penalty, its operations would be impacted and it may have to shut down. It is a precarious situation since the IPO of the depository has been delayed due to regulatory high handedness. Most top employees have expressed their desire to leave or are on their way out.
