Securities & Exchange Board of India executive director Vijay Ranjan is optimistic that the current depression in the capital market will pass and the market will revive some day.
Ranjan, who looks after the primary markets department, blames lack of investor confidence for the current depression.
The Sebi official says an artificial trigger like the one of Harshad Mehta would definitely prop up sagging sentiments and the investors would return to the capital market in hordes.
Going by Ranjan's prescription, the capital market operators felt, the investing community would have to reconsider Harshad Mehta's gamble with the stock market which had left many people penniless.
According to Ranjan, it was only during Harshad Mehta's time that the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index leapfrogged from 1,200 points to nearly 4,500 points. This was when the investors developed interest in stock market operations, he added.
The Sebi official expressed the belief that some artificial trigger was necessary at this point of time, regardless of the consequences.
Some stock market experts do not view this opinion as healthy, especially coming from a person attached to an institution responsible for streamlining the activities of the capital market.
They felt that it was only after the Harshad Mehta-led multi-crore securities scam that had made Sebi more vigilant than ever.
Any artificial boosting of sentiments might prove to be counter-productive.
Some market operators also said that Sebi was responsible for the current depression. According to them, the regulator did not keep a check on the unbridled floating of public issues.
According to them, most of the new issues were never traded in the markets, and this had driven away investors.
