Apropos Debashis Basu's column "The price of regulators' ignorance" (Irrational Choice, May 6), the author has firmly placed accountability where it should belong. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India are lax in their responses to anything that does not concern a big corporate house or a significant macroeconomic issue. Ponzi schemes are run so openly and on such a massive scale that it's surprising that they run their full course. A few months ago in Ahmedabad, a realtor was heavily advertising his plots on radio channels. He promised double the investment made in buying the plot in three years, or an option to keep the plot. The underlying plots are immaterial; he was clearly running a collective investment scheme. People, in fact, must have bought the plots expecting to double their money. When I contacted Sebi informing it about this scheme, I received a prompt response that "the subject matter of complaint did not fall under the purview of Sebi".
Rajnish Sinha Ahmedabad
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