With the BSE Sensitive index inching towards the crucial 16,000-mark, one person the market perhaps may remember is Madhukar-the former member of the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Ridiculed by the market and media for predicting the 16K level when the market was at 7,900 levels two years ago, the man is much relieved today.
FE spoke to Madhukar on his infamous prediction at a time when most were advising caution to retail investors on the risks of a bull run. Madhukar did regret making the statement as a Sebi official, but more than that were the media reports that began sounding like office memos.
?What hurt me then was the intense flak I faced day in and day out for three consecutive weeks.? Fortunately, Madhukar’s statement did not upset his bosses- the finance ministry and Sebi chairman M Damodaran. ?God had told me to suffer (after making the statement) but only to make me conspicuous today,? he told FE, rather philosophically. But there were a few fundamentals, the former economic professor, who later became a banker, based his observations on. ?For any economy to progress, peace, law and order were necessary ingredients to attract investors, second, one needs to have its regulatory framework in place. And third, at the macro level, one needed able ministers, bureaucrats as the driving force. Fourth, investors who were ?financially? educated, and lastly, undeveloped sectors and untapped investors.? All the above factors were present in India. Besides, genuine interest from overseas investors yet to set base in India (FIIs) was pouring in at Sebi. ?The market had only one way to go (up) as fundamentals were stronger than sentiment,? he added. When asked where the market would go from now, he said he was no more with Sebi and hence far away from reality.