Abhirup Singh

MUMBAI (Reuters] – A former chief of India’s stock exchange disclosed confidential information to a yogi. He sought advice from him on important decisions. The market regulator conducted a probe ahead of India’s long-awaited public listing.

Chitra Ramkrishna was the ex-chief executive of National Stock Exchange. She shared with the Securities and Exchange Board of India information, including financial projections and plans for the board, as well as the agenda, about a case of “bizarre misconduct”. This is a violation of the regulations.

SEBI issued an order stipulating that Ramkrishna and the other former top executives would be punished for sharing financial and business plans.

Ramkrishna left NSE in 2016 due to “personal reasons” and was not reachable immediately for comment. NSE and SEBI didn’t respond to our requests for comment.

NSE has been plagued for years by allegations of corruption in corporate governance. NSE had intended to list in 2017, but was thwarted by claims that officials gave high-frequency traders unjust access via colocation servers. This could have sped up algorithmic trading.

The exchange was subject to a 3-year-long investigation. SEBI also fined $90 million, and forbid it from raising capital on the securities markets. NSE has filed a lawsuit against the SEBI order and sought SEBI approval for a fresh IPO.

SEBI discovered documents showing Ramkrishna’s emails to an unidentified person during the investigation. She claimed that this was a spiritual force she sought guidance from over 20 years.

In her defense, Ramkrishna stated to SEBI that the sharing of information by the “spiritual” person did not compromise integrity or confidentiality.

However, the SEBI ordered stated that Ramkrishna could not claim that NSE employees sharing sensitive information like business plans or dividend payout ratios did not harm.

SEBI also discovered that the purported Guru had significant influence on the appointment of a middle-level executive without capital market experience directly as Ramkrishna’s adviser. He was lacking documentation and received a higher salary than other senior NSE officers.

SEBI claimed that Ramkrishna was merely “a puppet in his hand” and the exchange was run by the Guru.

Emails to an address listed in the SEBI Order as belonging to the Guru were not answered immediately.

SEBI stated that NSE’s board and NSE were both aware of the information being exchanged, but decided to “keep it under wraps”.

NSE has been fined $20 million ($270,000) by the regulator and banned from launching products in six months.

Ramkrishna received a 30 million rupee penalty from SEBI and was banned for three years from all SEBI-registered intermediaries and bourses.

Ramkrishna is one of a few executives that founded NSE in 1990 as an alternative to BSE Ltd. (then Bombay Stock Exchange). In 2009, she was named joint managing director at NSE and in 2013 became CEO.