Alegations of stock market scam are ‘baseless’

BJP leader Piyush Goyal termed as “baseless” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of a stock market “scam” based on the exit polls done by various survey agencies and his demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter.

At a press conference held at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi, Mr. Goyal went into great detail refuting specific allegations made by Mr. Gandhi. “In April and May, when the market was rising, foreigners sold in it, and Indian investors took advantage of it and bought it. Indian investors have benefited from this rise in the last two months. The day the exit poll came, foreigners bought at high prices, and Indian investors sold at high prices and took profit,” he said.

Noting that foreign investors had bought stocks worth ₹6,850 crore in retail at high prices, and Indian investors took advantage of this, Mr. Goyal said that on June 4 (when the results for the Lok Sabha polls were declared and the stock market fell), foreign investors sold at a low price, and Indian investors bought the stocks with the belief that the Modi government was returning.

“So foreigners bought at a high price and sold at a low price. Indian investors sold at a high price and bought at a low price. So, in a way, Indian investors earned even during this period. No one suffered a loss,” he said.

He added that Mr. Gandhi was not aware of the nuances of the market. “Rahul Gandhi talks about ₹30 lakh crore. I understood why the people country have no faith in Rahul Gandhi because he does not even understand that it is valuation. Valuation does not mean anything. The purchase and sale is what matters. And foreigners incurred losses in that. Indian investors have benefitted. So retail investors of India also benefitted during this period,” he said.