Subhash Chandra apologises after stock market rout, blames ‘dark forces’

A report in BloombergQuint stated earlier today that Essel Group had lost about ₹14,000 crore of its market value. This was after a report in The Wire claimed that the group was being investigated for making a large deposit after demonetisation in November 2016.

In response, Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra sent out an open letter indicating that the group was under a severe debt burden. He also apologised to his bankers, non-banking finance companies amd mutual funds for not being able to live up to their expectations.

Chandra also stated that the group’s “share prices were intentionally hammered by these negative forces, driving away the investors.” Read the full letter.

“The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is currently probing a company called Nityank Infrapower (formerly Dreamline Manpower), for deposits of over Rs 3,000 crore made just after demonetisation (November – December 2016),” The Wire had reported on January 24. It also stated that documents showed “Nityank and a group of shell firms carried out financial transactions that involved a few firms associated with the Essel Group of Subhash Chandra between 2015 and 2017”.