But Left smells a scam

CPI Lok Sabha member Gurudas Dasgupta has written to the Prime Minister claiming that the current bull run, which has taken the Sensex to the 8,300-mark was a “manipulation by a Bull syndicate, maybe, some of the past stock scam masters are pulling the strings from behind”.

He said the present stock market situation was more serious than earlier, when it was manipulated by Harshad Mehta or Ketan Parekh. He said FII involvement was actually not more than 5 per cent of the total transaction of Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore, he added.

Dasgupta says his suspicion were based on the 9 or less P-E ratios of some top PSUs was much lower than those of some private firms, which are over 100. He said this indicated a deliberate speculative effort to boost prices of select shares.

Banks, he said, are investing money disproportionate to exposure limits and LIC was using its investable surplus funds. Besides, mutual funds were also favouring a bull run by a “notorious syndicate.”