Scam 1992 - The Harshad Mehta Story

'Early 1990's. The era of change for India.'

'The old heroes were gone, and the new ones were yet to rise.'

'Before the time of mobiles, internet and social media...'

'...everything moved at its own sweet pace.'

'Be it the economy of the country...'

'...or the paperwork at government offices...'

'...and even breaking news.'

'If there was speed, it was only at the Bombay Stock Exchange.'

'For the first time, the common man...'

'...was trying to change his fate through the share market.'

'And in this glittering share market...'

'...everyone was blinded by the promise of profit.'

'A promise so great, that it hid the white lies on which it was based.'

'And then came the day, which shook the very foundation of the Indian economy.'

'But the story of that fateful day starts a day earlier.'

Sir! Excuse me, sir.

Sir, I need to meet the editor. It's very urgent, sir.

Oh, your good name?

Sir, I'm Sharad Bellary from S- SBI.

I see.

Sir, I have some confidential information.

So, which editor would you like to meet?

Executive editor? City editor? Sports editor? Business editor?

- Sir, any editor will do... - Associate editor?

I don't have much time, Sir.

If it is wasted, my information will turn stale.

Sir, maybe I can give it to you...

- You look like a senior editor yourself. - Oh, no, no...

I'm just a common man, you see.

- Sir, you are... you are... - Yes... R.K. Laxman. Yeah.

- It seems your news is very important. - Yes, sir.

I think you should meet the business editor, Mr. Kiran Ajgaonkar.

'Yes, I'm there for the edition. Yes, I'm there.'

Oh! I'll call you back. Laxman sir?

Kiran, someone is looking for you.

Why did you take the trouble, sir? You could've asked a peon.

- Oh, it's alright. Please. - Thank you, sir.

- Hello, sir. - Tell me, how can I help you?

What will you have? Tea? Coffee? Water?

No, thank you, sir. There is a huge problem at SBI, sir.

It's a very big fraud. You need to know about it, sir.

- Fraud? At SBI? - Yes, sir.

Go on.

Sir, the bank has issued a cheque without any BR.

- BR? - Bank receipt, sir.

Oh, bank receipt.

Sir, there is no SGL note either.

In the PDO, the books aren't tallying.

It's a big problem, sir.

SGL? PDO?

Sir, SGL is Subsidiary General Ledger...

...and PDO is Public Debt Office, sir. Of the RBI.

So, if you don't get the SGL or BRs then...

- One second. Wait a minute. - It's a...

This is getting too technical for me.

I'll send you to someone who will understand this.

- Just a second. - Okay. Please hurry, sir.

Please take him to Sucheta ma'am.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Come on, sir. Let's go.

'You should have informed me in the morning itself.'

'You could've called me from BSE.'

Sorry, Sucheta.

-There was confusion regarding the strike... - What am I going to do with this sorry?

We've only run this story because we assumed that the strike was getting over, right?

I mean... every time with you, Aditya.

We can't be doing the same thing, right?

- There should be some... - 'Sucheta ma'am.'

Kiran sir has sent him to meet you.

- Sharad Bellary from S... - Please be seated.

Mayank? I need you to go to BSE and get a statement from Manu Mundra about the strike.

I need to know what changed so suddenly.

Fine. Should I also talk to a couple of my other sources there?

Yeah. But please don't start gossiping there.

I need to file this ASAP, yeah?

And you guys, please start respecting deadlines, yeah?

I mean we can't keep doing this again and again, right?

- Yes, tell me. - 'Sorry?'

Tell me?

Yes. Deadlines must be respected. Correct.

No. I mean, tell me why are you here?

Oh, yes, ma'am.

- I'm Sharad Bellary from S... -

Just one minute, please. Excuse me.

Hello? Ravi, I won't be able to do the Hindustan Limited conference with you.

No, I just... Hold on a second.

- Would you like some tea? Organise a cup of tea, please. - Tea? No.

Yeah. No, the strike thing is still developing. So, I need to focus on that.

Yeah. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll talk to you later. Bye.

- Yeah, so... - 'Sorry, just...'

Hello? I had asked for a buttered bun in the morning.

I don't want it now. It's lunchtime.

No. Later. Thank you.

- You didn't get your tea? Aditya? - Ma'am, I...

- Sorry. - I've to go, ma'am. I'm getting late.

No one listens!

- I don't want tea! - Okay, Mr. Bellary. Please, tell me.

Ma'am, I'm Sharad Bellary from SBI.

I just want to tell you that there's something very fishy going on at SBI.

Things are not how they used to be.

'Everything has changed at SBI.'

There's something really amiss there.

It's a huge scandal.

You can't even begin to imagine how big the fraud is.

Fraud?

F...

Five hundred crores.

Five hundred crores are missing from the books of SBI.

Payments have been made without any BRs.

- BR means... - Bank receipts, I know.

What do you do at SBI? Which department do you work in?

It's PR, ma'am. Public relations.

Then, how do you know this?

Ma'am, this has been going on for a while now.

They are having meetings upon meetings daily.

But things are out of control now.

Because we didn't even receive the SGL, ma'am.

How will they show it in the books? I mean... I'm so... I...

- SGL means... - Subsidiary General Ledger, I know.

So, SBI has issued a payment of 500 crores.

And the SGL and BRs due in exchange haven't been received.

You do know what you're saying, right?

Five hundred crore is such a huge amount, even a calculator may shy away from it.

Yes, that's how big the fraud is. Maybe even bigger than that.

Do you know who is behind this fraud?

'Har...'

H-Harshad Mehta, ma'am...

Harshad Mehta.

'This isn't just a story about India's biggest financial scam.'

'This is the story of India and her people.'

'It's our story, the story of our dreams.'

'The kind of dreams that Harshad Mehta lived.'

'In 1992, Harshad Mehta was India's highest advance taxpayer.'

'His personal holdings were worth 4,000 crores.'

'It's a large number, right?'

'Adjusted for inflation today...'

'...this number would be over 20,000 crores.'

'So, how did a boy from a lower middle class family...'

'...make so much money, in such a short time?'

'Harshad's first love was cricket.'

'He was an excellent spin bowler.'

'Everyone thought, if not for India, he would at least play for the Ranji trophy.'

'He was weak in studies.'

'So, he spent his college life playing cricket and dancing Garba.'

'But his father's failed cloth business burdened him with responsibilities.'

'Harshad did many odd jobs, to help run the house.'

'Sometimes, he worked as a clerk for a six hundred rupee salary...'

'...at other times, he tried selling plastic, cement, diamonds etc.'

'But the money was never enough.'

'Because Harshad's dreams were much bigger than this small income.'

'Responsibilities were increasing, and so was Harshad's restlessness.'

Full marks to the one who has prepared this eggplant curry.

Bhabhi has made it.

His sister-in-law, I mean.

I'm not so lucky to have one.

Bhai , I will get married.

Enough of these taunts.

Jyoti, it's really very tasty.

Isn't the eggplant a bit burnt?

Only you seem to feel that.

Better watch out or she'll cook you next. Make sure that you mash him well.

- Jyoti, come, eat with us. - Yes.

It's alright, I will eat later.

- Come. We're done. - Come on. I am done too.

Come, let's have some paan .

- I'll have a plain one... - I know, Pappa .

- Without areca, right? - Done.

The eggplant was really good, right?

How long will we live like this?

What do you mean?

I'm talking about the house.

It feels like a rush-hour train.

If this continues, we'll soon be punching and elbowing each other.

Bhai , this difficulty is here to stay.

And staying here is difficult. That's what I mean.

Look... take my advice...

Jyoti and you should find a small house and shift.

- A separate house, nearby. - What are you saying?

If we have to shift, why don't we all shift together?

- Let's find a big house. - Big house?

Do we have that much money? Big house!

Money is our real problem.

Today, even the diamond-market has lost its shine.

This diamond trading will fetch us nothing.

It will. Everything will be okay.

- Slowly, but surely. - Slowly, my foot!

Everyone is busy doing something or the other.

Even a snack-seller is buying cars...

...some are making a triple profit in textiles...

Everyone's pockets are full.

Look at Jimesh. He has made so much money in the share market.

Bhai , you can dabble a little in the share market.

But we can't depend on that.

- It's too risky. - What do you mean ‘risky'?

Jimesh has involved his entire family in this business.

Even his mother-in-law.

Instead of counting her last days, she's counting money.

Bhai, we're not Jimesh's mother-in-law.

If something goes wrong, Shantilal will kill us before Jimesh's mother-in-law dies.