Amid the wild fluctuations of the stock markets in the time of elections — down 213 points after one exit poll and then up 71 points on Thursday after another one — at least one man is getting withdrawal symptoms.“This is the time to be investing in the market,” said Samir Arora, former head of Asian Emerging Markets for Alliance Capital Mutual Fund, during a phase when uncertainty has scared many investors away. “Despite these ups and downs that reflect policy uncertainities, several sectors are, and will remain good investments over the next few years,” he adds.The trouble for Arora, who is confident he would have thrived on these wild swings, is that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned him from trading for a period of five years.The man who was once voted the Most Astute Investor in the Asset Benchmark Survey of 2002, and who once controlled assets of $2 billion, is miffed that he is missing out on the action during the most exciting period in the ’’market of everyone’s dreams’’ — India.“At Alliance, we would wager our bets on themes — so, if Pantaloons looked good as a retailer, we went for it. If Zee looked interesting among the media players, we went for it too. as we went for Balaji. Even today, I am sure I would find rising sectors to invest in,’’ says Arora, who now shuttles between his parents’ house in Delhi and Mumbai, following up an appeal he filed with the Securities’ Apellate Tribunal (SAT) last Friday against SEBI’s order.The charges against him are serious, although the savvy Arora has figured out his line of defence. He even holds out the threat that foreign investors would be spooked off Indian markets if his punishment is allowed to stand.“I’m telling you the foreign funds will stop coming if these charges stick,’’ he keeps repeating, almost as if he is reassuring himself. But what is really depressing this Singapore-based NRI, who boasts of being an alumnus of IIT, IIM and the Wharton School of Business, is the thought of being “out of circulation’’ — not for three months or six, as he had first anticipated, but for five years.Arora is accused of insider trading, non-compliance with takeover regulations and helping Alliance’s international funds at the expense of their Indian funds. When barring him from the markets — the final order came this April — SEBI also charged him with “professional misconduct.’’“Arora cannot be totally absolved of his responsibility as a professional and a key functionary to advise. (Alliance Capital Mutual Fund) to comply with regulatory requirements,’’ SEBI said. He intends to fight back. “After being a dominant fund manager in five, not just one, Asian market over a decade, there’s no question of fading away,’’ he says.Pointing to how he thrived on uncertainties far greater than the kind that the market is now experiencing, Arora says he was selling Digital GlobalSoft shares when most of the world was afraid of making a single move on the market front. “I think SEBI forgot to make note of this when they framed charges against me. I was working even on September 11,’’ he says.
