PMS rout pulls Porinju Veliyath's Equity Intelligence stock down 8% in January

The stock of portfolio management company Equity Intelligence, whose investors' wealth has eroded by almost 44 per cent in the current fiscal, slipped 8 per cent last month amid a rout in portfolio management services (PMS) stocks that saw some notable PMS losing up to 10 per cent on the BSE.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) data for January showed that as a result of the selloff in midcap and smallcap stocks, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices dropped 5.69 per cent and 5.31 per cent, respectively, during the month.

Besides the Porinju Veliyath-led Equity Intelligence, among the host of well-known PMS losers in January, the Basant Maheshwari Wealth Adviser stock lost the most in January at 9.85 per cent.

Other PMS whose stocks declined between 4.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent last month include Aditya Birla Money, Alchemy Capital Management, ASK Investment Managers, Equirus Securities, IndiaNivesh Investment Managers, Sharekhan, Steward & Mackertich Wealth Management and Tulsian PMS, among others.

Last month, Equity Intelligence Founder and CEO, the Kochi-based Veliyath apologised to the company's investors admitting that investing in LEEL Electricals Ltd (formerly Lloyd Electric & Engineering) was a mistake.

In a private letter to investors, Veliyath said the damage had already been done through the "flawed investment" and that attempting to liquidate the investment now would only lower the realisable value and won't make any material positive impact to the firm's net asset value (NAV).

"I write to my investors whenever I feel like communicating something in the natural course of service," he said.

The company stock fell from Rs 215 to Rs 127 in five days. As per SEBI data, while Equity Intelligence continued to hold the stock, its portfolio value, meanwhile, fell by 11.9 per cent in May, 12.3 per cent in June and 20 per cent in September last year. Till December, the investor's wealth was eroded by 43.7 per cent in the current fiscal.

Alleging fraud and siphoning off company's wealth for personal enrichment by LEEL promoters, Veliyath said he had filed a complaint with SEBI seeking a forensic audit of books of accounts of LEEL Electricals, without which the suspected fraudulent actions of the promoters and senior management to siphon off company's wealth for personal enrichment could not be proven legally.

--IANS

bc/nir