The case stemmed from a February 11 order of SEBI found that she indulged in financial misdeed relating to fixation and frequent revision of compensation of Anand Subramanian in a disproportionate manner in cahoots with whom she claimed to be a ‘Siddha Purusha’.
Subramanian had also been appointed Chief Strategic Advisor (CSA) and later re-designated as the Group Operating Officer (GOO) and an Advisor to the MD by Ramkrishna.
Ramkrishna’s bizarre claim of having been guided by a Siddha Purusha/ Yogi dwelling in Himalayas in making her professional decisions did not find favour with the SEBI, which had barred her from associating with any market infrastructure institution or any intermediary registered with SEBI for a period of three years.
Ramkrishna was also found to have shared confidential information relating to NSE with the unknown ‘Siddha Purusha’. The market regulator had, therefore, saddled Ramrkishna with a penalty of ₹3 crores and Subramanian with a penalty of ₹2 crores.
A penalty of ₹2 crores was also imposed on NSE which was also barred from launching any new product for a period of six months. Penalties were also imposed on then NSE vice-chairperson Ravi Narain, J Ravichandran (then president and company secretary of NSE), and VR Narasimhan, the chief regulatory officer.
The SEBI order noted that Ramkrishna did not dispute contents of certain email sent by her to a Siddha Purusha/Yogi who she claimed, dwells in Himalayas and was the spiritual force guiding her for the past 20 years.
The said email correspondence pointed to Ramkrishna making professional decisions as per the guidance received from the unknown ‘Siddha Purusha’.
The SEBI in its order specifically noted two emails exchanged between them.
First, an email dated September 5, 2015, from the ‘Siddha Purusha’ to Ramkrishna – “SOM, If I had the opportunity to be a person on Earth then Kanchan is the perfect fit. Ashirvadhams. SIRONMANI.”
Second, an email dated December 30, 2015 from Ramkrishna to the ‘Siddha Purusha’ stated – “Struggle is I have always seen THEE through G, and challenged to on my own realise the difference.”
From the said emails, SEBI concluded it was apparent that Ramkrishna held Subramanian in the same light as her spiritual force, the ‘Siddha Purusha’.
Hence, it was not surprising that Subramanian received frequent arbitrary increase in compensation even though there was no evidence of any performance evaluation, the SEBI had ruled. It added that it was unfortunate that the head of the leading and largest stock exchange in India has had to resort to such attempts to justify her actions of sharing confidential information pertaining to NSE with an unknown person.
Ramkrishna was the first woman Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSE, a position she held from April 1, 2013 to December 2, 2016.
She had resigned after the manner of appointment of Subramanian as GOO became public.
Source: Barandbench
