Raids that raise more questions than answers

Why would sophisticated algo traders be running around with cash, if they were able to make billions of white money digitally?

Last week, teams comprising income-tax officials and, some say, those of the Enforcement Directorate raided the premises of former and current National Stock Exchange (NSE) executives, brokers, and even academicians.

The raids began just a day after the exchange submitted reports by the Indian School of Business (ISB) and EY to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is investigating alleged irregularities in its co-location and algorithmic trading systems.

In the end, a haul of Rs 11 crore in cash, apart from some laptops and storage devices, from one of the premises raided was put up before the media.

This makes