An wild ride
Bulls, Bears and Other Beasts – A story of the Indian Stock Market
Santosh Nair
Pan Macmillan India 2016
Rs 499, pp 395
Let me start with a very definite statement. As far as this book is concerned, I am most certainly a bull, and I strongly recommend a buy. This is a delightful book on the stock markets. By no means is it a complete history of the stock markets in India, it is a story of Dalal Street covering a period starting 1988, and spans a very interesting time frame in the markets.
The strap line says that it is a story of the Indian stock market, and in that it is partially correct. It is a story, and a well-written one at that but it is not a story of the stock markets. Instead it is the story of one Lalchand Gupta or Lala and covers his entry into the world of equities, and the unfolding of events as seen through the eyes of a market player.
Lala’s life story and his narrative of events takes us through some interesting times – whether it is the Harshad Mehta scam, the Ketan Parekh scam, the Mesco shoes scandal, some marquee IPOs, some failed IPOs, the evolution of Sebi and market regulations, the arrival of the big Financial Institutional Investors and their increasing influence in the market, the emergence of algorithmic trading, the speculation, the luck, and the plays, it has it all.
It is a wild ride on a rollercoaster of the market, and some people who would have been involved in the market during this period or seasoned journalists might well identify some of the key players not directly named in the book. There are bulls and bears aplenty and they are heroes and villains alike. Equally interesting are some of the promoters and their shenanigans to make money from the market using any means available and with the help of unscrupulous traders/ brokers.
The best part about the book is that even as it takes us through all the incidents and events, at no point does it get technical. After all, the story is told by Lala who is no financial expert. He is just a graduate who stumbles into the business, starting as a lowly jobber, and slowly growing into a trader. This means that even a lay person not exposed to the markets can by and large get a fair understanding of what went on in those days, and how it all unravelled. There could be a minor quibble that some of the terms and the acronyms could be expanded a bit, but to my mind that is as far as the complaint would go.
Again, since I am not really from the industry and have not been part of it, I would not know if the author has knowingly or unknowingly omitted some other issue/ scam/ scandal, or has not properly explained in detail as to what really went on at that time and the key players involved, but it does not make such a big difference, because the book does end up giving the reader a fair idea into the evolution of the stock market in India over the last few decades, including the heady days of the BSE, and its decline into playing second fiddle to the upstart the National Stock Exchange, that came from behind and caught the old players too possessive about the old ways and their control over the markets, with its use of technology.
Is screen based trading brought in more transparency in the markets, the emergence of algorithmic trading has resulted in the decline of the old trader and broker, and given near absolute control to money power of the big boys who can invest in the expensive programming to create bespoke and unique trading for themselves. It also actually means that retail investor or day traders are always at a disadvantage, and can never really hope to win in the market. Therefore, they would be better off as long term investors rather than short-term speculatory traders flipping stocks on a regular basis.
Santosh Nair is a veteran journalist who has been part of the financial sector for long with organisations like The Economic Times, myiris.com, Business Standard, Crisil Market Wire, and now as editor of Moneycontrol.com. He brings his vast experience and insights as a journalist and his expertise as a story teller to this book. Once Lala has held your attention and started his story, he does not let go, right till the last page, and the Sensex, the Nifty, Lala’s friends and adversaries, and the other characters in the market, some of them real and recognisable accompany you through the pages right to the end, and you nearly feel sorry for having reached your destination. One can imagine how addictive the markets must be for the participants, given that even reading about it is addictive.
Caption: Bullish sentiment
