Counted as it is among the world’s fastest growing economies, an unfathomable amount of money flows in and out of the Indian economic system. But there are cracks in said system, and ever so often, a fraudulent mastermind uses them to slip some cash out for their advantage. From <keyword id="19964851" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ponzi" source="keywords">Ponzi</keyword> schemes to bank frauds, the Indian government and investors have fallen victim to many financial scandals — some of which were so sordid that they can be recounted like they happened yesterday. Here’s a rundown of the most infamous scams in Indian financial history: <h2><keyword id="20713434" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="harshad-mehta" source="keywords">Harshad Mehta</keyword> Scam (1992) – ₹4,000 Crore </h2>Perhaps the most iconic of all Indian financial scams, Harshad Mehta was known as the "Big Bull" of the stock market. He manipulated stock prices using illegal loopholes in the banking system. By obtaining unsecured loans from banks and investing them in the stock market, Mehta artificially inflated stock prices. His bubble burst when banks demanded their money back, revealing the massive fraud. This scandal led to a major reform in India's financial markets. Mehta died in jail before full legal accountability was reached, but the scam caused a significant loss to investors and led to tighter regulation in the Indian stock market. <h2><keyword id="23122396" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="satyam-scam" source="keywords">Satyam Scam</keyword> (2009) – ₹14,000 Crore </h2>Dubbed as India’s Enron, the Satyam scandal involved its founder, <keyword id="23122397" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ramalinga-raju" source="keywords">Ramalinga Raju</keyword>, admitting to falsifying the company's accounts to the tune of ₹14,000 crore. Satyam Computer Services, once considered a blue-chip company, was found guilty of inflating profits and revenues. Raju admitted to the scam after a failed attempt to buy two Maytas firms owned by his family. This case brought corporate governance issues in India to the forefront. Raju was convicted, but the legal processes have allowed him temporary freedom through bail. But this incident called for improved transparency and stricter corporate governance norms. <h2>Punjab National Bank Scam (2018) – ₹13,700 Crore </h2>Diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi orchestrated one of the largest frauds in Indian banking history by obtaining fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) from Punjab National Bank (PNB). These LoUs allowed them to obtain loans from foreign branches of Indian banks without providing any collateral. The scam involved over ₹13,700 crore, and Modi fled the country, causing significant reputational damage to India’s banking sector. Nirav Modi’s extradition is still pending, and Mehul Choksi remains out of India’s legal jurisdiction. The scam, however, resulted in strengthened banking regulations regarding LoUs and SWIFT transactions. <h2><keyword id="23122399" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vijay-mallya-scam" source="keywords">Vijay Mallya Scam</keyword> (2016) – ₹9,000 Crore</h2>The "King of Good Times" was living large while his airline, Kingfisher, was drowning in debt. Vijay Mallya allegedly defaulted on loans amounting to ₹9,000 crore from various banks. He fled to the UK in 2016, leaving creditors, employees, and stakeholders in financial distress. His lavish lifestyle amidst the collapse of his airline made this scandal a high-profile case. Mallya’s extradition process is ongoing, but he remains out of reach of Indian authorities. The main impact was enhanced scrutiny of loan defaults and triggered legal reforms on extradition. <h2>Saradha Chit Fund Scam (2013) – ₹2,500 Crore </h2>The Saradha Group, operating a ponzi scheme disguised as a chit fund, promised unrealistically high returns to its investors, mostly in West Bengal and Odisha. The scam collapsed, leaving over 1.7 million people, many of whom were low-income investors, without their life savings. Politicians and celebrities were also implicated in the case. While Sudipta Sen is behind bars, not all the accomplices have been held accountable. But this Ponzi scheme resulted in reform of chit funds and greater regulatory oversight on such investment schemes. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112337071" title="Noida woman invests in stock market via an app, loses over Rs 69 lakh as it turns out to be a scam" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> <h2><keyword id="6560832" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="2g-spectrum-scam" source="Orion">2G Spectrum Scam</keyword> (2008) – ₹1,76,000 Crore </h2>The 2G spectrum allocation scandal involved the underpricing of telecom licences to select companies in exchange for bribes. Telecom minister A. Raja was at the centre of this controversy, which allegedly caused a loss of ₹1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer. The case was seen as a massive blow to public trust in India’s telecom sector and led to significant political fallout. Sadly, all key figures involved were acquitted despite the Supreme Court’s intervention and cancellation of 122 telecom licences. <h2><keyword id="455134" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="coal-allocation-scam" source="Orion">Coal Allocation Scam</keyword> (Coalgate) (2012) – ₹1,86,000 Crore </h2>The coal allocation scam, or "Coalgate," involved the illegal allocation of coal blocks to private companies between 2004 and 2009. The CAG of India estimated a loss of ₹1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer due to non-competitive bidding. Many high-profile politicians and industrialists were implicated, making this one of the largest political scandals in India. While some officials faced legal consequences, many key players were not prosecuted. But it did trigger policy reforms in the allocation of natural resources. <h2>DHFL Scam (2019) – ₹34,615 Crore </h2>Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) was accused of syphoning off over ₹34,000 crore through a series of shell companies and fraudulent loans. Investigations revealed that the promoters used these funds for personal enrichment and illegal political donations. The case came to light after an investigation by investigative journalists and was later confirmed by a report from KPMG. The case is ongoing, and the main accused are in custody. For now, regulations governing non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have been strengthened. <h2>Yes Bank Crisis (2020) – ₹3,788 Crore </h2>Yes Bank, under its founder <keyword id="19899935" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rana-kapoor" source="keywords">Rana Kapoor</keyword>, was involved in questionable lending practices. The bank made high-risk loans to companies already in financial trouble, which eventually turned into non-performing assets (NPAs). Kapoor was arrested, and the Reserve Bank of India had to step in to stabilise the bank. The case highlighted serious lapses in corporate governance and risk management. As of now, Rana Kapoor is facing trial, and legal proceedings are active. The RBI has also introduced new measures to monitor the health of banks more rigorously. <h2>Commonwealth Games Scam (2010) – ₹70,000 Crore </h2>The 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi were overshadowed by corruption allegations involving inflated contracts and kickbacks. <keyword id="23122398" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="suresh-kalmadi" source="keywords">Suresh Kalmadi</keyword>, the head of the organising committee, was arrested for awarding contracts at exorbitant rates. The estimated loss to the exchequer was around ₹70,000 crore. This scam tarnished India’s image on the global stage. Kalmadi was arrested but the case has not resulted in major convictions or recoveries, except for stricter oversight on large public projects and international event planning. These scams not only caused financial damage but also eroded public trust in India’s institutions. In response, India has tightened regulatory frameworks, improved corporate governance, and adopted stricter banking standards, although challenges persist in tackling large-scale fraud. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112896255" title="I was scammed out of $300K in a 3-month-long government impersonation scam" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

10 financial scams that shook India: A dive into deception

<ul><li>A Hyderabad civil court passed the stay order on a petition filed by Raju, who was released on bail in 2018. He sought orders to restrain <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> from releasing the web series on the ground that it would invade his privacy in an unlawful manner.</li><li>Raju also claimed that the narrative contained half-truths and palpably designed to bring down his reputation.</li><li>Netflix released the trailer of the web series which is about Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Subrata Roy and <keyword id="41263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ramalinga-Raju">Ramalinga Raju</keyword>.</li></ul> A court in Hyderabad on Tuesday restrained Netflix from releasing web series "<keyword id="9827211" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bad-boy-billionaires">Bad Boy Billionaires</keyword>: India" on the life story of Satyam Computer Services founder B. Ramalinga Raju who was convicted in Satyam scam and three others. A Hyderabad civil court passed the stay order on a petition filed by Raju, who was released on bail in 2018. He sought orders to restrain Netflix from releasing the web series on the ground that it would invade his privacy in an unlawful manner. Raju also claimed that the narrative contained half-truths and palpably designed to bring down his reputation. Netflix has already released the trailer of the web series which is about Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Subrata Roy and Ramalinga Raju. "What would you do to make it to the top? To build an empire? To maintain an image? Bad Boy Billionaires answers just that. Dive into the stories of India's most infamous billionaires - Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Subrata Roy, and Byrraju Ramalinga Raju as they plan, plot and maneuver through their rises and falls. Watch as insiders and experts discuss what made these men genius and, in some cases, the greatest conmen," reads the description by Netflix. A court in Bihar had last week restrained Netflix from using Subrata Roy's name in the web series. The over Rs 7,000 crore Satyam scam came to light on January 7, 2009 when Ramalinga Raju confessed that the company's account books and profits were inflated over many years to the tune of several crores of rupees. Police arrested him two days later on a complaint by some shareholders. The CBI filed three charge sheets against Raju and the other accused, charging them with cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery, falsification of accounts and breach of trust. A special CBI court in April 2015 had sentenced him, his two brothers and seven others to seven years in prison in the case, said to be India's biggest corporate fraud. However, a month later, the metropolitan sessions court suspended their sentence and granted them bail. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/icj-raises-concern-on-sc-decision-in-bhushan-case-says-its-inconsistent-with-international-standards/articleshow/77885669.cms">ICJ raises concern on SC decision in Bhushan case — says it’s inconsistent with international standards</a>

Hyderabad Court stays release of Netflix's Bad Boy Billionaires: India following Ramalinga Raju's objections

Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Nirav Modi, and Ramalinga Raju— these are the four Bad Boy Billionaires of India

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46860473.cms" />In what can be considered a huge setback for the erstwhile software company, <keyword id="10958" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Satyam">Satyam</keyword>, a special <keyword id="6362306" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CBI-court">CBI court</keyword> on Thursday held its founder and chairman B <keyword id="41263" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ramalinga-Raju">Ramalinga Raju</keyword> and nine others guilty in the multi-crore accounting fraud. The court will pronounce the sentence on Friday. 
 
Touted as the country's biggest accounting fraud, the scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, after the firm's founder and then Chairman B Ramalinga Raju allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books and inflating profits over many years to the tune of crores of rupees. 
 Raju was arrested by <keyword id="37102" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Andhra-Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</keyword> Police's <keyword id="6451278" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Crime-Investigation-Department">Crime Investigation Department</keyword> two days later after he allegedly confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others. 
 
Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years ago. 
 Beside Ramalinga Raju, the other accused are, his brother and Satyam's former <keyword id="24973" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="managing-director">Managing Director</keyword> B Rama Raju, former Chief Financial Officer <keyword id="272047" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vadlamani-Srinivas">Vadlamani Srinivas</keyword>, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former <keyword id="2571205" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="internal-chief-auditor">internal chief auditor</keyword> <keyword id="626096" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="V-S-Prabhakar-Gupta">V S Prabhakar Gupta</keyword>. Raju and others were charged with offences like cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of IPC for inflating invoices and incomes, account falsification, faking fixed deposits, besides allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various <keyword id="6354751" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Income-Tax">Income Tax</keyword> laws. 
 
In February 2009, the CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets (on April 7, 2009, November 24, 2009 and January 7, 2010), which were later clubbed into one. 
 
The first two charge sheets dealt with the account fudging by Raju with the assistance of nine others, while the third charge sherelates to "violation" of various Income Tax rules. 
 
While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third charge sheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws. 
 
During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam, while the defence countered the charges saying the accused were not responsible for the fraud and all the documents filed by the central agency relating to the case were fabricated and not according to the law. 
 The <keyword id="6357808" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Enforcement-Directorate">Enforcement Directorate</keyword> had also filed a charge sheet against them under Prevention of <keyword id="6355008" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="money-laundering">Money Laundering</keyword> Act. 
 In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife <keyword id="2799808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Nandini-Raju-and-sons">Nandini Raju and sons</keyword> <keyword id="158777" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Teja-Raju">Teja Raju</keyword> and Rama Raju were among 21 relatives of the ex-Satyam boss who were convicted by a <keyword id="2107210" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="special-court-for-economic-offences">Special Court for Economic Offences</keyword> here for default in Income Tax payment. 
 Last year, on December 8, Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, Vadlamani Srinivas and former director <keyword id="125006" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ram-Mynampati">Ram Mynampati</keyword> were sentenced to six months jail term and fined by the Special Court for Economic Offences in connection with complaints filed by <keyword id="107956" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Serious-Fraud-Investigation-Office">Serious Fraud Investigation Office</keyword> (SFIO) for violation of various provisions of the Companies Act.

Ramalinga Raju, 9 others 'guilty' of fraud. Sentencing on Friday

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47243738.cms" /><keyword id="10958" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Satyam">Satyam</keyword> Computers founder <keyword id="41263" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ramalinga-Raju">Ramalinga Raju</keyword>, his brother <keyword id="8810" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rama-Raju">Rama Raju</keyword> and eight others were granted bail on Monday by a metropolitan sessions court. The court also suspended their seven-year rigorous imprisonment sentence in the multi-crore rupee accounting fraud in the erstwhile IT firm. 
 
They had been taken into custody barely a month ago after the conviction in the trial court. 
While Ramalinga Raju and Rama Raju will have to give a surety of Rs 1 lakh, the eight others will have to cough up Rs 50,000 each. 
 
The court on Friday had deferred its order to Monday, on an application filed by Mr Raju and nine others, seeking suspension of their sentence and fines imposed on them in the multi-crore rupee accounting fraud. 
 Mr Raju, the kingpin of the scam that ran into crores, and nine other convicts, currently lodged in Cherlapally Central Prison had challenged their conviction, besides sentences and fines imposed by the <keyword id="2847183" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Additional-Chief-Metropolitan-Magistrate-Court">Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court</keyword> (ACMM) in the over Rs 7,000-crore fraud that came to light in 2009. 
 On April 9, the ACMM court, which tried the Satyam corporate fraud case probed by the <keyword id="6354889" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Central-Bureau-of-Investigation">Central Bureau of Investigation</keyword> (CBI), sentenced Mr Raju and others to seven years' rigorous imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and cheating, among other offences. 
 
It had also imposed Rs 5.35 crore fine on Mr Raju and his brother Rama Raju while others were fined Rs 25 lakh each.

Hail the Bail! Now Former Satyam Founder Ramalinga Raju, 9 others granted bail after suspension of court sentence

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46862625.cms" />A special <keyword id="6362306" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CBI-court">CBI court</keyword> on Thursday held <keyword id="10958" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Satyam">Satyam</keyword> founder and <keyword id="6364480" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chairman">chairman</keyword> B <keyword id="41263" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ramalinga-Raju">Ramalinga Raju</keyword> guilty in the multi-crore accounting fraud, sentencing him to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on Raju. 
 
Raju who has already spent over 30 months in jail had urged the court to be lenient with the sentencing, citing health grounds. 
 
The scam surfaced in January, 2009, after Raju, Satyam's then chairman, allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books and inflating profits over many years. Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years ago. 
 Beside Raju, the others found guilty in the case are, his brother and Satyam's former <keyword id="24973" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="managing-director">Managing Director</keyword> B <keyword id="8810" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rama-Raju">Rama Raju</keyword>, <keyword id="2757273" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="former-Chief-Financial-Officer">former Chief Financial Officer</keyword> <keyword id="272047" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vadlamani-Srinivas">Vadlamani Srinivas</keyword>, former <keyword id="66728" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="PricewaterhouseCoopers">PricewaterhouseCoopers</keyword> (PwC) auditors <keyword id="263551" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Subramani-Gopalakrishnan">Subramani Gopalakrishnan</keyword> and T Srinivas, Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former <keyword id="2571205" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="internal-chief-auditor">internal chief auditor</keyword> <keyword id="754958" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="VS-Prabhakar-Gupta">VS Prabhakar Gupta</keyword>. 
 Raju and others were charged with offences like cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of IPC for inflating invoices and incomes, account falsification, faking fixed deposits, besides allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various <keyword id="6354751" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Income-Tax">Income Tax</keyword> laws. 
 
While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third charge sheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws. 
During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam. 
 In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife <keyword id="2799808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Nandini-Raju-and-sons">Nandini Raju and sons</keyword> <keyword id="158777" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Teja-Raju">Teja Raju</keyword> and Rama Raju were among 21 relatives of the ex-Satyam boss who were convicted by a <keyword id="2107210" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="special-court-for-economic-offences">Special Court for Economic Offences</keyword> here for default in Income Tax payment.

Ramalinga Raju sentenced to
7 years in jail, also Rs 5cr fine for committing fraud

New Delhi, Nov 18 () The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an order of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) which had held that markets' watchdog SEBI does not have the power to bar auditors.
A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee also issued notice on the appeal filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against the SAT's September 9 order. 
The SAT, in its order which set aside the ban on audit firm Price Waterhouse (PwC), had noted that SEBI does not have the power to bar auditors. 
Earlier, the SEBI had challenged SAT's decision to quash a two-year ban that was imposed on PwC in connection with the Rs 7,800 crore Satyam fraud.
On January 10, 2018, the watchdog slapped a two-year ban on Price Waterhouse (PwC), an arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers India, from auditing any listed company in connection with PwC's role in the Satyam scam.
The tribunal had quashed the order but partly allowed disgorgement of the Rs 13 crore fee from the auditors concerned.
The fraud at erstwhile Satyam Computer Services came to light on January 8, 2009 wherein the company's founder Ramalinga Raju publicly admitted to cooking the books to the tune of Rs 5,004 crore over a period of time. A SEBI probe had found that the scam was much larger at Rs 7,800 crore.
Setting aside the ban, the tribunal had said that only the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) can take any action against auditors and that frauds cannot be proved on the basis of negligence in auditing.
Among other observations, the tribunal had pointed out that SEBI has no authority to look into the quality of audit and auditing services.
"SEBI can only take remedial and preventative action. The direction issued is neither remedial nor preventive but punitive," it had said. PKS SJK 
 
 PKS RDM
RDM

SC stays SAT's order holding that Sebi lacks power to bar auditors

The share price of Infosys fell by 16.2% a day after whistleblowers complaint on its top management turned public, on Tuesday (October 22). That’s a wealth erosion of about ₹53,000 crore (about $7 billion). It also hit a lower circuit and closed at ₹643 per share. This is due to a whistleblower complaint which alleged that the CEO and CFO top management put pressure on them to not recognise the reversal of $50 million on FDR contracts as it will slash profits. Two anonymous whistleblowers accused the CEO Salil Parekh and CFO Nilanjan Roy of concealing information from auditors and keeping large deal information from the board. But, investors seem to fear that this may only be the tip of the iceberg. And, this is not the first time that Infosys has been accused of ‘corporate governance’’ issues. In fact, the founder of the company and the promoter group has been vocal<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/infosys-promoters-including-murthy-nilekani-offer-shares-worth-rs-2038-crore-for-buyback/articleshow/60347494.cms?from=mdr"> of possible irregularities</a>, especially during the acquisition of Panaya for $200 million. This was of course, two years back. Ever since, the CEO Vishal Sikka and the CFO R Seshasayee have quit after blaming the founder Naranya Murthy of ‘personal attacks’ on them. The board too had been scrubbed clean and changed by one of its founders Nandan Nilekani but as it seems to be, the troubles are far from over. The severity of the fall in the share price today shows that investors are more worried about the standard of governance at one of India’s most famous home-grown companies that was once touted to be a benchmark in corporate governance. As per he whistleblower complaints, millions in reversals were not added into the accounts, to make profits ‘look good’. Amongst other things, whistleblowers said that Even without a possibly fake facelift, Infosys has been losing out to its competitors. A research report by Nomura has maintained its ‘neutral’ rating on the company preferring TCS over it. “We expect calendar year growth momentum to moderate in the second half below double digits as it should be seasonally weak with furloughs in the third quarter. Incrementally, outlook is weak in retail, and BFSI remains soft which is 50% of revenues combined), though performance and outlook on other verticals is strong,” the report said after Infosys declared its quarterly results. For a company which is growing slow, investigation and accusations will not help. Not during times of slowdown which it already has a lot of ground to cover. If more troubles come out of the Pandora’s box, Infosys will risk comparison to the likes of Satyam Computers which went down in 2009 after the promoter Ramalinga Raju tried to merge it with another infrastructure company he runs, failed and declared his role in a scandal that hit the credibility of entire India Inc.

Infosys lost $7 billion in share value due to $50 million whistleblower complaint-- showing that governance is bigger than money

<keyword id="6355725" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tata-Group">Tata Group</keyword> Chairman <keyword id="97017" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="N-Chandrasekaran">N Chandrasekaran</keyword> handpicked <keyword id="6359480" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aditya-Birla">Aditya Birla</keyword> Group’s <keyword id="199437" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saurabh-Agrawal">Saurabh Agrawal</keyword> as the group’s CFO. Agrawal, who oversaw Idea-Vodafone merger among other multi-million deals, was at Aditya Birla's as strategy head. "He (Agrawal) brings deep capital markets knowledge and valuable cross-industry experience to this critical leadership role in the Tata group," Chandrasekaran said in a statement. "His expertise will help us in driving rigour and synergy in capital allocation decisions, investment management as well as consolidation and optimisation of the group's business portfolio. We look forward to his contribution in driving financial performance of the group." In the past, Agrawal was the managing director, regional head of corporate finance, South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. He was also part of the team that blew the whistle on Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju.

N Chandrasekaran appoints Aditya Birla Group's Saurabh Agrawal as Tata Group’s CFO

<ul><li>A number of auditors are ending their relationship with clients amid high scrutiny from SEBI. </li><li>According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the auditors of as many as 204 companies have submitted their resignations in the year so far. </li><li>In January 2018, SEBI slapped a two-year ban and fine on PwC for failing to report the corporate malfeasance at Satyam Computer Services.</li></ul>When it comes to <keyword id="6373268" type="TOPIC" weightage="20" keywordseo="Corporate-Governance">corporate governance</keyword>, India has seen its fair share of scams related to questionable business dealings, balance sheet discrepancies and embezzlement. The most recent debacle that comes to mind is that of ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender. The bank’s CEO, Chanda Kochhar, is currently being investigated over allegations of conflict of interest and misconduct. She reportedly allowed the extension of loans to Videocon Group, the former chairman of which had a business relationship with Kochhar’s husband. While India Inc has had a tenuous grasp of corporate governance standards, it has never seemed to be a problem for auditors who weren’t subject to very heavy regulatory scrutiny. Until now, that is. At the beginning of the year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) slapped <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/KlbBm6VhxhQQswdgT9bycK/Satyam-case-Sebi-bans-PwC-entities-from-auditing-listed-fir.html">a two-year ban and a fine </a>against the Indian unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for failing to report and facilitating the corporate <keyword id="38935" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fraud">fraud</keyword> at Satyam Computer Services, founded by the now-imprisoned Ramalinga Raju, which was revealed in 2009. While PwC is challenging the ban, the damage has been done. Auditors now have no choice but to recuse themselves in situations of corporate malfeasance for fear of reputational damage and punitive action. A mass exodus According to the data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, <keyword id="6359983" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Accounting">accounting</keyword> firms of as many as 204 companies have submitted their resignations from the beginning of the year to 17 July. Around 75% of these resignations came in the corporate strongholds of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. In comparison, only 16 auditors submitted resignations in 2017. In a number of cases this year - such as the resignation of Deloitte as the accountant for Manpasand Beverages Ltd - the resignation came days before the annual accounts were scheduled to be released owing to inadequate information. The resignations have not gone unnoticed by shareholders, based on the declining share prices of companies like <a href="https://www.google.co.in/search?ei=qdRWW5_PDIbavATQxbCQAg&amp;q=Vakrangee+Limited+share+price&amp;oq=Vakrangee+Limited+share+price&amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l5.1607.3010.0.3104.13.9.0.1.1.0.337.1365.0j1j2j2.5.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..8.5.1145...0i22i30k1j0i10k1.0.XUhs6OVQ2Ng">Vakrangee Ltd</a>, an IT services firm whose <keyword id="6437332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="auditor">auditor</keyword> PwC quit at the end of January 2018. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has initiated a formal investigation into this exodus and is looking to understand the underlying reasons. For its part, SEBI will continue its initiative to improve corporate governance standards across the country. At its <a href="https://www.sebi.gov.in/media/press-releases/mar-2018/sebi-board-meeting_38473.html">board meeting in March</a>, the regulator agreed to a number of reforms including the separation of the posts of CEO and chairman in listed companies and increasing the importance of audit committees. Earlier this month, it also released <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/sebi-seeks-comments-on-fresh-norms-for-fiduciaries/articleshow/64995732.cms">a set of draft norms</a> giving it clear authority to act against accounting firms in cases of corporate fraud.

A spate of auditor resignations points to India Inc’s problems with corporate governance

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/45628736.cms" /> A special court will deliver its verdict in <keyword id="74971" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Satyam-fraud-case">Satyam fraud case</keyword> on March 9, 2015. Special <keyword id="2655311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Judge-BVLN-Chakravarthi">Judge BVLN Chakravarthi</keyword> deferred the judgment, owing “voluminous documents.” 
 
“You know the volume of the case…it requires some more time (to study). You may be satisfied or not (with the outcome), but I must satisfy myself (before coming to a conclusion). Typing of the judgement itself needs 2-3 weeks,” the judge said. 
 
Satyam Computers founder and erstwhile chairman B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and the company’s former managing director B Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas were present in the court during the hearing. 
 
The others accused in the case are: former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Raju’s another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and CH Srisailam, and Satyam’s former internal chief auditor VS Prabhakar Gupta. 
 Raju was arrested by the <keyword id="6451278" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Crime-Investigation-Department">Crime Investigation Department</keyword>, Andhra Pradesh police, after he confessed to the fraud.

Verdict In Satyam Case To Be Delivered On March 9

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53150be569bedd582531191c-1200-924/employees-7.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="employees" width="480" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div></div>Business has always been plagued by fraud: witness the South Sea Company in the 1710s (which enveloped the British economy in a giant bubble) or Charles Ponzi's Securities Exchange Company in 1920 (which gave the world the Ponzi scheme) or the Enron and WorldCom scandals in the early 2000s. 
Ambitious fraudsters are attracted to businesses for the same reason that Willie Sutton, a contemporary of Ponzi, reportedly said he robbed banks: "Because that's where the money is."
Some frauds are committed by people at the top such as Bernard Madoff or Allen Stanford. Others are committed by hired-hands lower down the organisation. But all frauds involve abusing people's trust and diverting corporate resources for personal ends. Fraud by wayward employees, be they high or low, can never be eliminated. Directors and executives can, however, treat it like any other unavoidable risk, and manage it professionally.
The risk is particularly acute at the moment. Companies are straining the bonds of loyalty. They are making ever more use of contractors and temporary workers. They are putting more pressure on employees to hit targets; they are also holding down the wages of the majority of workers while increasing the boss's pay. This is all happening at a time when economic activity is shifting to the emerging world (where corporate fraud is rife) and to the internet (where fraudsters are having a field day). Kroll, a security consultant, found that 70% of the companies that it studied were affected by fraud in 2013, up from 61% in the previous year.
At the same time the punishment is harsher than ever. Companies nowadays run the risk of being held liable for their employees' misbehaviour unless they can show they had done their best to prevent it. Directors who play even the smallest role in frauds can now go to prison. America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and its European imitators have made a serious crime of something once seen as normal business practice: bribing foreigners. Companies infected by fraud can incur all sorts of other costs. Their licences to trade may be withdrawn, they may be barred from bidding for government work and they may be subjected to online campaigns urging customers to boycott them.
What can companies do to uncover internal scams? A new book, "Corporate Fraud: the Human Factor", by Maryam Hussain, an investigator atEY, an accounting firm, provides a timely guide. One answer is to look for the telltale signs. Some of the biggest corporate tricksters were people whose flamboyant personalities often raised suspicions: think of Robert Maxwell, or Augustus Melmotte in Anthony Trollope's "The Way We Live Now", perhaps the best novel about corporate fraud. Boards have a duty to pluck up the courage to challenge such larger-than-life bosses.
However, most corporate fraudsters do not have swishing reptilian tails as a giveaway sign. In many instances they are not borderline psychopaths, just ordinary people gone wrong. Frequently, they start with small crimes and then engage in ever bigger misdemeanours to conceal their wrongdoing. Nick Leeson, who destroyed Barings Bank by losing £862m in bad bets on derivatives, said, "It all started when I tried to cover for a junior colleague who had lost £20,000." Ramalinga Raju, the chairman of Satyam, who admitted to inflating the computer-services company's revenues by $1 billion, said, "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."
A second answer is to put procedures in place to detect frauds. The Sarbanes-Oxley law passed in America after the Enron and WorldCom frauds requires the boards of public companies to commission independent audits of their internal financial controls. But rigorous procedures can easily lure companies into a false sense of security. The employees most affected by those rules may be precisely the ones most capable of finding ways around them, as was the case with Mr Leeson and Jérôme Kerviel, a renegade trader at Société Générale.
Many companies seek reassurance that all is well by installing cyber-security tools to monitor employees' e-mails and internal accounting systems for suspicious activity. But fraudsters are often quicker at harnessing technology to disguise what they are up to (for instance, using instant messaging on their smartphones as a back-channel to communicate with accomplices) than companies are at using it to spot them. Those running scams may also be skilled at tricking colleagues into giving them passwords--a technique Edward Snowden may have exploited to devastating effect.
<h3>Praising the bearers of bad news</h3>
The most powerful weapon against fraud is not an algorithm or a checklist but a whistleblower. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners calculates that three times as many frauds are discovered by tip-offs than by any other method. It also notes that firms with fraud hotlines, which staff can call anonymously, suffer smaller losses from fraud, and cut by seven months the "exposure gap" between the start of an illicit scheme and its discovery. Governments are increasingly providing whistleblowers with legal protection and financial incentives: America's Securities and Exchange Commission has created a $450m fund to reward them.
Companies that dither, blather or launch half-hearted inquiries when presented with evidence of employee misconduct often end up regretting it. JPMorgan Chase lost billions in its "London Whale" rogue-trader scandal, initially dismissed by the bank's boss, Jamie Dimon, as a "tempest in a teapot". Besides doing more to encourage whistleblowers, businesses must take decisive action to close the exposure gap. A botched investigation can tip off a fraudster and make it easy for him to cover his tracks. A suspicion of deliberate foot-dragging can render an entire company vulnerable. The damage done by corporate fraud can last long after the culprits have been identified.
<img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT01NDZhOTk0ZDRlYjg1ZWExMjU1OWE1NjlkZWFhN2U3MSZub25jZT1iMWYxYThiNi1mMzM0LTQyOTYtODRlNS00Yjk1MjU0MTIyOWEmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" />

You Searched For "ramalinga raju" and got 12 results

10 financial scams that shook India: A dive into deception

Ashmita Gupta

Hyderabad Court stays release of Netflix's Bad Boy Billionaires: India following Ramalinga Raju's objections

IANS

Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Nirav Modi, and Ramalinga Raju— these are the four Bad Boy Billionaires of India

Navdeep Yadav

Ramalinga Raju, 9 others 'guilty' of fraud. Sentencing on Friday

BI India Bureau

Hail the Bail! Now Former Satyam Founder Ramalinga Raju, 9 others granted bail after suspension of court sentence

BI India Bureau

Ramalinga Raju sentenced to 7 years in jail, also Rs 5cr fine for committing fraud

BI India Bureau

SC stays SAT's order holding that Sebi lacks power to bar auditors

PTI

Infosys lost $7 billion in share value due to $50 million whistleblower complaint-- showing that governance is bigger than money

Katya Naidu

N Chandrasekaran appoints Aditya Birla Group's Saurabh Agrawal as Tata Group’s CFO

BI India Bureau

A spate of auditor resignations points to India Inc’s problems with corporate governance

Dilsher Dhillon

Verdict In Satyam Case To Be Delivered On March 9

BI India Bureau

Fraud Within Companies Is A Risk That Can Never Be Eliminated, Just Managed

The Economist