Promoters may be declared unfit to run NSEL

Amid payout failure looming at NSEL, institutional shareholders will meet FMC today to get clarity on MCX's future

Tuesday will be a crucial day for Jignesh Shah’s two big ventures, Multi-Commodities Exchange (MCX) and National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

NSEL, which faced default by nine members in the first week of payout, will have its second payout on Tuesday. Indications based on the progress so far suggest it will fail to meet its payment obligations for this week, too. This is happening at a time when pressure is being built on the regulator, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), to take firm steps, including withdrawal of the ‘fit and proper status’ of the NSEL promoters, including Shah, who is also vice-chairman of NSEL.

In a meeting with NSEL Investors Forum on Monday, FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek said the regulator was seriously considering declaring the promoters of NSEL not fit and proper to operate exchanges, apart from other actions. Abhishek also informed the investors that more than one government agency was working in concert to resolve the issues and bring the culprits to book.

In another development, the institutional investors in MCX are meeting the FMC on Tuesday. This is to seek clarity on the implications of FMC’s threat to NSEL board members last week, after it failed to meet the first week’s committed payout. The regulator had warned the NSEL board members that their “status as a ‘fit and proper’ person was at serious risk and might lead to consequential action. And, that the board should take complete responsibility for the completion of settlement of all unsettled trades at NSEL.

Institutional investors are now wary on the future of MCX and want to know whether in the event of the NSEL board members losing the said status, whether Financial Technologies (FT) can continue to be an anchor investor of MCX. Questions are also being raised on whether FT will be asked to sell the stake.

Sources in the government said they were waiting for the outcome of Tuesday’s payout at NSEL. “Some concrete action is expected tomorrow, as the trend in collection has been quite tardy. The exchange has been able to collect only  Rs 11.90 crore during the week till date, against its commitment to pay investors Rs 174 crore every week,” said one.

Meanwhile, NSEL has filed a police complaint against five defaulters. In a note, it said, “The exchange has filed a complaint with the economic offences wing, the investigating authority, that five defaulters — ARK Imports, Lotus Refineries, N K Proteins, Vimladevi Agrotech and Yathuri Associates — did not have adequate commodities in their warehouses. They hold a total payout due of Rs 2,380.61 crore, or over 42 per cent of the total payment due for NSEL of Rs 5,600 crore.”

The exchange has also sought details from the other four of the declared defaulters. These defaulters, according to sources, did not allow SGS – the agency appointed by NSEL to carry out quality and quantity inspection – to enter their warehouses. They are LOIL Overseas Foods, NCS Sugars, Spin Cot Textiles and Tavishi Enterprises. Their dues are Rs 514 crore. The exchange has also started getting warehouse-wise reports from SGS, though the details could not be ascertained. The pay-in so far and SGS reports have been reviewed by the supervisory committee appointed by FT in early August to oversee the settlement process. Sharad Kumar Saraf, chairman, NSEL Investors Forum, said the investors were losing patience and would stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the NSEL office, demanding suitable action against “the fraud committed by NSEL.”

In a separate development on Monday, one more company of the FT group disassociated itself from NSEL. Earlier, MCX had distanced itself from NSEL and now National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC), a warehousing company of the group, said “the company acquired five warehouses in June–July, linked with NSEL, cumulatively holding less than three per cent of the total commodities currently under its possession worth Rs 6,500 crore.” It emphasised that the two (NBHC and NSEL) were different entities.