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The Market Mafia : Chronicle of India’s High-Tech Stock Market Scandal & The Cabal That Went Scot-Free.

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In 2008, the then SEBI Chairman C B Bhave’s detachment from his Dharma as ‘the market watchdog’ opened the door for data theft at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest asset pool. It also led to the installation of defective Co-location (COLO) trading infrastructure at NSE, by an unofficial decree, which gave a select few brokers preferential access to equity derivatives. Fast-moving trading bots, deep-rooted nexus between enterprising PhD scholars Ajay Shah and Susan Thomas, economists, top dollar earning executives, politicians, bureaucrats and salivating brokers were at play. In 2015, SEBI was woken up by a whistleblower, who described the contours of a front-running market operation perpetrated for over five years involving the use of COLO and High-Frequency Trading. Surprisingly, SEBI never scrutinized NSE’s COLO grid – an omission of duty – before the whistleblower highlighted the skulduggery.Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh are considered the ‘formidable villains’ for exploiting the systemic loopholes to manipulate share prices. Once the Demigods of Dalal Street, the rogue stock traders attracted such severe crack-down from government investigative agencies that could shock even the most hardened criminals. But a scandal of much larger magnitude involving data theft at NSE and the Multi Commodity Exchange, that Mehta and Parekh could ever rev-up, has largely remained a mystery.The author’s path-breaking investigative journalism fleshes out the meticulous planning and organization behind the COLO scam, the dark drama involving SEBI probe and its loosely-knit final verdict.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2020

37 people are currently reading
150 people want to read

About the author

Palak Shah

13 books1 follower

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5 stars
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27 (21%)
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21 (16%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
Profile Image for Kajal TheSpark.
2 reviews11 followers
January 22, 2021
The Market Mafia : Chronicle of India’s High-Tech Stock Market Scandal & The Cabal That Went Scot-Free.The Market Mafia : Chronicle of India’s High-Tech Stock Market Scandal & The Cabal That Went Scot-Free.

Even if you don’t have a lot of knowledge about the market or what happens there, it is fine you can still pick up this book. You wont be disappointed. It will actually give you a good background as well. Palak Shah has impressed me with this one.
Profile Image for Kamlesh Gandhi.
204 reviews8 followers
December 8, 2020
Bares it all
Rare to find a journalist who dares to bare all without fear and innuendo. He named people and institutions has his research done impeccably. Not many have the courage to reveal with names especially bureaucrats and regulators
Worth every page of reading. Finished this riveting book in just one day.
Profile Image for AArush Ahuja.
16 reviews
February 3, 2021
Amazing read delving into nitty-gritty details of the NSE COLO Scam that happened during 2009-2015. The lack of a proper investigation by the SEBI as argued by the author, and the wrongdoers' protection is disheartening.

On the technical side, it is mind-blowing how a seemingly inconsequential choice of using TCP over UDP could lead to a scam potentially worth 1000s of crores.

Reading and understanding the presence of the bureaucratic brotherhood makes the book read like a thriller following the trail of people and their relationships over 20 years from the envisioning of the Nifty in the 90s to a high tech scandal in the 2010s.
Profile Image for Debabrata Mishra.
1,669 reviews45 followers
February 5, 2021
This is a book about the post Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh scam time when the Scam of data theft came in front of everyone in NSE .
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After that the COLO trading is installed unofficially.
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But in 2015 , It hit like a tracer Bullet when SEBI came to know about the COLO 's reality.
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Author himself is a journalist for many a years and who has enough experience & own covered matters which he scrutinized in this book.
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It's just highlighting the hidden part of "Dalal Street" & "SEBI".
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The book is written in an absolute fearless manner where author wrote everything without any manipulation. He just tried to reflect the true incidences with his own words.
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The language used in this book is simple informative understandable & have enough engaging wordplay to make it a perfect read.
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The narration is good just signifies the behind the scenes of the scam from a journalist's prospective which is a good read for me.
1 review
January 21, 2021
Palak Shah
I was actually very surprised to know what all was going on in what is supposed to be such a pristine institution. The author has actually gone on to name these people involved in scams and frauds. So its’ like an eye opener for anyone who didn’t know about these stuff. Nice read must say.
1 review
Currently reading
January 22, 2021

The author is an established journo who hits it out of the park with this one. I knew of his work but this one is seriously well done. Research, narrative, storytelling – full points on all fronts. And he’s actually named names, something most will be afraid to do. So yes, this guy seems fearless with his research. I got an eBook, which seems a good format for a subject like this. I’m hoping it reaches more people, both inside and outside of the industry.
1 review
March 17, 2021
The author is an established journo who hits it out of the park with this one. I knew of his work but this one is seriously well done. Research, narrative, storytelling – full points on all fronts. And he’s actually named names, something most will be afraid to do. So yes, this guy seems fearless with his research. I got an eBook, which seems a good format for a subject like this. I’m hoping it reaches more people, both inside and outside of the industry.
Profile Image for Nayna Bansal.
251 reviews9 followers
January 15, 2021
Good research on a subject like this

Writing is good but it’s the research I’m impressed with. And a subject like this demands it as well. For anyone with an interest in the stock market of India, this book will be insightful. I will actually be looking forward to more books by the journalist on the Indian market.
1 review
January 23, 2021
Managed to finish this 3 days. It's actually pretty sad, the state of affairs we have you know. This book manages to shed light on that with a lot of clarity. Without giving any spoilers, I will say that you get this book for a good understanding of the subject and how these Mafias are dominating our markets.
1 review
January 23, 2021
Scam 92 feels

I read this after finishing the Scam 92 show so it has really deepened my perspective on this topic. Even if you don’t know much about the markets, this book will be a good investment of your time because it will tell you a lot of good stuff about power and corruption in the Indian market.
1 review
March 17, 2021
Palak Shah has done a good job of writing this book. I can imagine it must have taken lots of groundwork. Many shocking facts here so you will learn many new things as well. You should pick up this book if you are curious about scams and stories about the Indian stock market. Very eye-opening anecdotes here.
1 review
March 17, 2021
Managed to finish this 3 days. Its actually pretty sad, the state of affairs we have you know. This book manages to shed light on that with a lot of clarity. Without giving any spoilers, I will say that you get this book for a good understanding of the subject and how these Mafias are dominating our markets.
Profile Image for Jatin Singhal.
38 reviews
January 13, 2021
The author writes like a crusader for justice. With the ambition of a freedom fighter, he names important people, unveils the systematic issues in our regulatory bodies and redefines the genre of investigative journalism.
602 reviews9 followers
January 14, 2021
I’ve managed to finish this in less than a week in a single sitting, which is a big deal actually for me. So I will recommend this to anyone looking for a good understanding of the reality of the stock markets. Book has very many good anecdotes as well. Overall interesting book for sure.
466 reviews13 followers
January 15, 2021
Nicely done by author

Very nice read especially if you are into finance and stuff. You will find eye opening stories here. Author has done good research work according to me. So you should be reading this book if you are into the field or have general interest also.
Profile Image for The  Esteem  Reader.
81 reviews
January 16, 2021


Title: Loved it!

Content: This is one of the few books I’ve dog-eared. Some parts of this, you might need to refer again and again, just to firm your own beliefs about how low people can go with greed on their minds. Will probably read again! Thanks Palak.
1 review
January 23, 2021
I will say you should definitely be reading this book

I have read many books but this one was actually very shocking in the claims its making. From SEBI to NSE, our institutions have been taken over by scammers is what you will realize after you finish this book.
1 review
January 23, 2021
Recommended by a relative. Love it
So one of my cousins asked me to read this one since I am in the finance industry. I was a little unsure because I hadn’t heard of Palak Shah. But having completed the book I can say I am happy I bought this book. The author must be congratulated I think.
1 review
January 24, 2021
Palak Shah has done a great job. We needed someone to tell this story. And I am happy Palak has. He should in fact do more of such stories so the world gets to know about the workings of the markets and how flawed they are.
Profile Image for Pinky Shah.
1 review
January 26, 2021
This book is the revelation of how this high tech market manipulates. It’s an easy read for even those who don’t have much understanding about the market. It’s a clear and open picture shown by the author Palak Shah.
1 review1 follower
March 17, 2021
Writing is good but it’s the research I’m impressed with. And a subject like this demands it as well. For anyone with an interest in the stock market of India, this book will be insightful. I will actually be looking forward to more books by the journalist on the Indian market.
1 review
March 17, 2021
I’ve managed to finish this in less than a week, which is a big deal actually for me. So I will recommend this to anyone looking for a good understanding of the reality of the stock markets. Book has very many good anecdotes as well. Overall interesting book for sure.
1 review
March 17, 2021
Very nice read, especially if you are into finance and stuff. You will find eye-opening stories here. Author has done good research work according to me. So you should be reading this book if you are into the field or have general interest also.
1 review
March 17, 2021
This is a book that is high on research. I liked the division of the stories and factoids and how they were given a good structure. Good narrative and it keeps you engaged. I will give this book 4 on 5 stars.
1 review
March 17, 2021
Even if you don’t have a lot of knowledge about the market or what happens there, it is fine you can still pick up this book. You wont be disappointed. It will actually give you a good background as well. Palak Shah has impressed me with this one.
1 review
March 17, 2021
I was actually very surprised to know what all was going on in what is supposed to be such a pristine institution. The author has actually gone on to name these people involved in scams and frauds. So its’ like an eye opener for anyone who didn’t know about these stuff. Nice read must say.
1 review
March 17, 2021
Very good book according to me. I love how it’s written, with lots of accurate facts and things you don’t know if you are not from the industry. I congratulate the author on how he’s written this book.
1 review
March 17, 2021
I have read many books but this one was actually very shocking in the claims its making. From SEBI to NSE, our institutions have been taken over by scammers is what you will realize after you finish this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews

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