Jignesh Shah: A Business Man or a Philanthropist?

The first generation entrepreneur, Jignesh Shah, is a self-made man who comes from a bourgeois family and made it to the list of the richest men in India. After finishing his Bachelors in Engineering, Shah worked at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) where he learned more about the stock market. He knew that the only way he could achieve his dream of globalizing the market is by being an entrepreneur. Soon after leaving the job at BSE, Shah landed with his flagship product Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL), currently known as 63 Moons Technologies Limited.

Jignesh Shah wanted to create new generation markets and segments which are people centric and have a comprehensive market structure. His Public-Private Partnership (PPO) model to build world-class financial institutions was a success. The modern IP-centric financial markets he had created became the tool to change the contours of exchange trading in India and other emerging economies from Africa to Asia. Jignesh Shah wanted the Indian financial market to stand tall among other nations and with his ground-breaking initiatives he brought in a revolution which made India an epitome. After the phenomenal success of Financial Technologies Limited India, Shah came up with more initiatives like ODIN, MCX which completely changed the face of India.    

Jignesh Shah wanted to bring a change in his country and that is why he had created an eco-system which narrates the ideology of the ‘Make in India’ campaign by Narendra Modi. His motive was to create more job opportunities for the youngsters of India, which were both of high-standards and environmental friendly. This brilliant strategy of Shah has created over millions of job opportunities across the country.

Shah has also invested himself in various CSR activities like ‘Gramin Suvidha Kendra’ in association with India Post and ‘Pragati’ with Rotary International which focuses on empowering the unprivileged communities with education and training. 

Over the years,  Jignesh Shah has received a series of awards for his contributions towards the society. Institutional Investor had featured him among the 'Top 30 Global Innovators in e-finance' in 2008. He was also listed among the 'Dominant Financial & Futures Industry Leaders for 2008' by Futures Industry Association (FIA), Washington and was awarded the ‘Indian Express Innovation Award’ presented by the then President, Late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Other achievements like getting chosen among the ‘Top 20 Indians’ by CLSA and honoured with the ‘US-India Businessman of the Year’ award also proves his competency.         

The worth of Jignesh Shah

A leading name in the Financial services industry in India today – Jignesh Shah did not enter the business through nepotism. The boy from Kandivali who pursued his Bachelors in Engineering and worked at Bombay Stock Exchange Limited’s BOLT - an online electronic trading platform, is a self-made man. He gained sufficient knowledge about the stock market there and left to make a mark. Later in 1988, he introduced FTIL (Financial Technologies India Limited) to the world. Soon after this Shah started came up with innovations like the MCX, ODIN and BOURSE AFRICA which took the world by storm and Shah became a leading businessman and not only in India.

The entrepreneur had the vision to create new-generation markets and segments that are people-centric and are based on a comprehensive market structure. He wanted to work for the well-being of his country. He created numerous jobs for the Indian population long before the ‘Make in India campaign. 

To create an efficient and transparent price discovery process in the market and generate jobs, incomes and self-employment opportunities across India was his ultimate goal. A quintessential 360-degree financial market infrastructure where all the ventures flow to the people across India.  He wanted to make the whole world notice and respect the remarkable Indian Exchange Industry. India needed state-of-the-art exchanges of global scale and Jignesh Shah took it upon himself to create it. He envisioned providing training lakhs of people to increase employment in the country, and digitalizing the whole transaction process chain across various platforms and introduce India globally.

Jignesh Shah is a hard-working man who never looked out for any government doles and tax exemptions and always paid his loans, payments, debts on time. A true market evangelist who contributed to the government and other local bodies, and introduced new segments which generated more revenues for the government. Through his business, he established his pursuit of public good. He wanted to see India grow and develop, and present it in a very prestigious manner in front of the world and he did.

Jignesh Shah and 63 moons technologies - Is this justice?

The recent raid at the home of Jignesh Shah was yet another pointer on the list of proceedings in the NSEL case that have hampered the functions of 63 moons technologies, previously Financial Technologies (India) Limited. The company and the Chairman Emeritus have been under the radar of the investigative agencies since the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) payment default broke out in 2013. 

Shantanu Guha Ray’s ‘The Target’ opened the eyes of the corporate world in the matter, which is a brilliantly drafted investigative piece on how the conspiracies have led to the halt in the rise of the company and Jignesh Shah. Recently, Sree Iyer took it upon himself to go to the very bottom of the case and wrote the book C-Company. The book revolves around the involvement of P. Chidambaram in the downfall of NSEL. Iyer argues that, with underlying vested interests that point towards other established exchanges of the country, Chidambaram favored the latter and conspired against Jignesh Shah and his company. 

Jignesh Shah and FTIL rose to prominence within a small time which is what led to his comparison with Dhirubhai Ambani. Recently, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Mumbai froze the operating bank accounts of the company which has done more than some damage to the operations of the company. Additionally, the company has been ordered to operate through funds in an escrow account.

“They have taken all kinds of illegal actions against FTIL and the only action left now is to cut both water and power connection to the company,” said FTIL. The company has reacted with vigor as there seems to be no connection with unlawful practices on the behalf of the company. 63 moons technologies has proceeded to the court against the move. The company and Jignesh Shah have formerly cooperated with the investigative agencies and in this particular instance as well. Other than anything else, the freezing of the account will affect the thousand plus employees of the company and their families. It remains to be seen when the company will get justice it deserves.

Jignesh Shah and Company move to Supreme Court against the merger order

Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL), now 63 moons technologies chaired by Jignesh Shah has approached the Supreme Court. The forced merger of NSEL with FTIL which was upheld by the Bombay High Court has been contested by the company at the apex court. Scheduled for 16^th February, the special leave petition (SLP) will be admitted in the court. This is the last of 12 weeks given to the company to move to the court.

 

A spokesperson stated in a mail, “Our chairman Mr. Venkat Chary had said earlier that we will be moving the Supreme Court before the expiry of the 12-week stay period granted by the Bombay high court on the merger order. Accordingly, we have moved the Supreme Court and filed the SLP. We have full faith in the judiciary and continue to believe that the truth and justice shall prevail.” 

The National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) which was suspended from the market from trading in 2013. Erstwhile promoted by Jignesh Shah’s FTIL, the merger was initiated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

Justice M. S. Sonak affirmed that the merger is not forced since NSEL was a wholly owned subsidiary and these two entities are not entirely unrelated. Current chairman Mr. Venkat Chary, however, has argued that this will be the end of the ‘Limited Liability’ concept. The order was upheld in public interest according to the court. According to the statement by the judge, the government deemed the companies fit for merger owing to the extraordinary case of a collapse of the stock exchange.

If the order goes through, it will be the first time in India when two private companies will be merged in public interest under the Companies Act. A verdict in favour of the MCA’s merger order will mean that FTIL will have to assume responsibility for the payment default that amounts to Rs. 5600 crore. It is, however, unclear if that would be correct since no involvement by Jignesh Shah or his company has been found in the case.

Related Article: http://hirharang.com/the-nsel-scam-a-conspiracy-against-jignesh-shah.html

Jignesh Shah’s 63 Moons Penalized by SEBI

Jignesh Shah is a pioneer in the field of stock and financial markets technologies to have worked hard to create a comprehensive market. He has always looked forward to create a people centric market. With efforts like his, India can actually dream of becoming a powerful economy in the world. With a new vision, FTIL changed its name to 63 Moons Technologies, and is the parent company of 18 technologies in Digital arena.

Previously Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL), 63 Moons Technologies have now been fined by Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for not seeking approval from the stock exchange for the name change. The change was effected last year after Jignesh Shah led FTIL fell under the NSEL fiasco. NSEL was promoted by FTIL, which was supposed to stop trading in July 2013. 

In a ten-page order, Sebi said 63 Moons did not seek approval from stock exchanges—NSE and BSE—before changing its name from FTIL and imposed a fine of Rs1 lakh. On May 27^th, 2016, 63 moons technologies had acquired a certificate from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Chennai to change the name.

Any official statement from 63 Moons Technologies has not been received on the same. However, it applied to the stock exchange later in order to update their records. As per the listing obligations and disclosure requirements (LODR) regulations, any company ought to seek approval for the name changing procedure. The process takes place by submitting a certificate from a chartered accountant who confirms compliance to the conditions as per the regulations.

Sebi quoted, “….it is clear that the requirement of seeking prior approval from the stock exchanges(s) is a condition precedent before filing request of name change to RoC, which in fact has not been met by the notice (63 Moons).”

The penalty of 1 lakh Rupees has been pinned to Jignesh Shah’s venture for the violation. “I note that there are no quantifiable figures available for assessing disproportionate gains or unfair advantage or specific loss suffered by the investors. I also note that no past default against the noticee has been revealed under examination,” Sebi’s adjudicating officer Rachna Anand said in the order. Justice is still aawaited after 4 years in the payment default.