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It was exactly 2:30 in the night. On the third floor of a luxurious building in the Cuffe Parade area of Bombay, there was complete silence in the room. The air was heavy and the sound of breathing was also clearly audible. A huge painting of a black bear was hanging on the wall. Just below it, there was a heavy chair.
Sitting on that chair was the most feared shadow of Dalal Street, Manuman Manik. People knew him only by the name of Black Cobra. His cold eyes were fixed on the computer screen. Two more people were standing nearby. Radhakrishna Damani and young Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. All three had sweat on their foreheads.
The price of a share was running on the screen. Constantly up, every minute, every second. This had robbed him of sleep for the last 3 months. The bear cartel had bet crores on the market falling. But the market was setting a new record every morning. The game of short selling had turned upside down.
The loss had crossed crores. Manu Manik lit a cigar. Ashes fell on the floor. He said softly. No human being can be bigger than the market. Where is this guy getting so much money from? No one had any evidence. But the suspicion was deep. There was noise of only one name on the streets of Dalal Street.
Harshad Mehta is the Big Bull who turns any city he touches into gold. The whole country was blindly running after him. An invisible war had broken out. On one side the money of the banks and on the other side the stubbornness of the beer cartel. One of the two was bound to be destroyed. The stage for this great battle had begun years ago.
It was the 1970s and dinner was going on in an ordinary middle class house in a quiet area of Hyderabad. Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala was drinking tea with his friends. Then a friend said that Tata Steel has fallen again. Third day in a row. Little Rakesh, 10 years old, was sitting in the corner listening to this.
He left the food. Went to father. I asked Papa, why does the stock fluctuate every day? There was pin-drop silence in the room. Such a question from such a small child ? Father smiled and said, start reading the business page of the newspaper from tomorrow. If the news is good, the price goes up; if the news is bad, the price goes down.
Just understand this. Rakesh did not sleep that night. He had a newspaper in his tiny hands. His eyes were drinking up the business pages. Later, Rakesh obtained the degree of Chartered Accountant i.e. CA. But his heart always beat in the stock market. Year 1985 Rakesh Jhanjhunwala entered the Dalal Street arena.
There were only ₹5000 in the pocket. Father [Sangit] had put two conditions. Never ask for money from home and never borrow from anyone. 1500 km in this same arena. Far away stood another boy from a narrow chawl in Bombay. Harshad Shantilal Mehta. He lived with four people in one room. Only an old fan rotated on the roof.
But Harshad had big dreams. He had told Ashwin that here I do not see the roof but the magnificent sea face and swimming pool of Worli. You will see that one day we will be there. He started as a jobber in the year 1980. Shouting, running, distributing slips in the trading ring but his sharp eyes were searching for the biggest weakness of the system.
It was the year 1988 and night time. There was silence in Harshad Mehta's office. Only Harshad and Ashwin were sitting. The tea had become cold. Harshad drew two circles on the white paper . One is written Bank, the other is written Market. Harshad made a third circle between the two . wrote Harshad.
He said to Ashwin, "Look, Ashwin, banks take short-term loans from each other. This is called a ready-forward deal. Government securities are kept as guarantee. " Ashwin asked, So what? Harshad smiled. Said, "I'll be the broker in this game." I will take securities from one bank and give it to another.
But in the meantime, those securities will remain in my physical control for a few days. No one will know where he is. I will bring that security to Dalal Street right away. I will take margin in return. I will invest that money from the banks in market stocks. Stocks will run up. I will get huge profits.
And when I have to give security to the other bank, I will sell the shares and return it. No one will even get a hint. This was the most dangerous loophole in the banking system. Harshad was completely confident about his move. He thought he was smarter than the market. Crores of rupees of the banks now started flowing from its vaults to Dalal Street .
Harshad's strength was increasing every day. On the other hand, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had a different path. His path was one of patience, research [in music] and caution. Harshad's path was one of power and immense influence. The battle field was now fully set . In the year 1986, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala got the first golden opportunity of his life.
He studied the Tata T numbers very closely. He went to his broker friend. He said, look at Tata T shares, they are available at just ₹43. The friend laughed and said hey brother, no one is interested in this stock. The entire market is ignoring it considering it garbage. Rakesh said this is the biggest opportunity.
The numbers are screaming. Tea exports are increasing. Domestic demand is also strong. This stock is undervalued. Rakesh invested all his savings in that one share. People started considering him mad. But in the next few months, Tata T 's share price increased from ₹43 to ₹143. Rakesh's money had tripled.
This win was not achieved through any magic but through his own research. After this, Rakesh got another big jackpot. Sesa Goa 's city. Rakesh read the annual report and talked to his friend Radhakrishna Damani. Damani said, "Friend, the market has no interest in this share. What can you do alone ?" Rakesh gave that historic answer.
Damani Don't be afraid to stand out when the market is wrong. You should feel scared only when you are doing what everyone else is doing. Rakesh invested all his remaining money in Sesa Goa. Sesa Goa shares rose 25% within 1 year. People on Dalal Street started acknowledging the intelligence of this young boy.
Rakesh was a trader with education and deep research. But his name was still very small. Whereas Harshad Mehta had become the god of the entire market . Harshad Mehta now had immense wealth. He also had a theory called Replacement Cost Theory. His logic was simple. If you set up a new cement factory today, acquire land, install machinery, it will cost Rs 500 crore.
But the total market value of ACC Cement Company is only Rs 200 crore. That means the company is available at a price lower than the value of its assets. So tell me is this stock expensive or cheap? This argument drove small investors across the country crazy. Everyone rushed to buy ACC shares. Harshad's old dream of Chola had come true.
He bought a very luxurious 15,000 square feet penthouse on the Worli sea face. It had its own swimming pool. The view of the sea was visible. He owned the country's first most expensive car, Lexis LS 400. At that time its price was ₹1 crore. When he got down from his car on Dalal Street for the first time, every eye was looking at him.
But Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had only one question in his mind that where is a broker getting so many thousands of crores of rupees from? Rakesh was not alone. He had become part of the beer cartel. The head of this cartel was Manu Manik, Black Cobra. Manu Mane's power was so great that at his command the Mumbai Stock Exchange had to be closed for 3 days.
The work of this group was short selling i.e. making profit when the market falls. When the stock fell, these bears would make money and retail investors would lose money. Now this beer cartel and Harshad Mehta were going to clash directly for the first time. The war had begun. Harshad Mehta opened his coffers and started buying every stock that the beer cartel shorted .
He would short, Harshad would buy and the stock would go up. Bear Kittle's losses went from lakhs to crores. The atmosphere in the room was deteriorating every day. One morning Radhakishan Damani and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala were sitting alone in the office. Rakesh said, friend Damani, I am seeing a strange pattern.
In the last 3 months, Harshad Mehta bought all the six stocks that we shorted, and the prices of all of them are skyrocketing. Damani folded the newspaper. Said only two things can happen. Either he knows about our positions or he has so much money that he can control the entire market on his fingers and no normal broker can have that much money.
Rakesh said this is the most frightening thing. The numbers are wrong. These will have to fall one day. But far from collapsing, the ACC Vols were playing amazingly. ACC's average daily volume was 2 lakh shares. Suddenly, 18 lakh shares started being bought and sold in a day. A full nine times more than normal.
Rakesh said, Jitu, look at the volume of ACC. The common retail investor is not investing this much money. There is some invisible force which is throwing crores of rupees into the market every day. Something is very wrong. Damani said nervously, there is some problem but our treasury is getting empty.
Rakesh said, "We're not wrong, Damani. It's just that our timing is different." This battle wasn't just about stocks anymore. It had become a battle about time. The bears had limited money, and Harshad had limited time. On the other side of Dalal Street, Harshad Mehta's system was crumbling from within.
Pending delivery letters from the State Bank of India were piling up. The bankers were demanding settlements for their government securities. One night, the drawing room lights were off, the TV was on. Harshad was sitting alone, letters littered the table. He picked up the phone and said, "A letter from SBI has arrived.
It should be sorted by tomorrow morning." His wife, Jyoti, was awake. She asked, "I'm so scared of calls from the bankers. Letters are coming home too. When will this all end?" Harshad replied, "I'll manage." People say I take too many risks, but that's just my calculations. To hide his anxiety, Harshad made a move that made this battle extremely personal.
He was in the Mumbai Zoo. He went. He called the media. He stood in front of the bear's cage and, in front of the camera, started feeding the bear peanuts. The reporter asked, " Mehta sahib, what are you doing?" Harshad looked into the camera, smiled, and said, "I'm feeding the bear peanuts, brother, because there's nothing left for them to eat in the market." This was a direct attack on Black Cobra Manu Manik and Bear Cattle.
Seeing this on TV, Manu Manik dropped his cigar. Radhakishan Damani tore up the newspaper. But Rakesh Jhunjhunwala remained calm. He told his partner, Jeetu, "Jeetu, come tomorrow morning at the same time. We'll short this market even more tomorrow." The whole world was saying that bears were finished.
Harshad had insulted him in front of the entire country. But Rakesh had only one answer: "We'll short more tomorrow." It was 2:00 a.m. Damani's hands were shaking. His tea spilled from his hand. He put down the cup and, tearing up, said to Rakesh, " Rakesh, if this guy can stay in the market for just seven more days, If I go, I'll have to sit on the street with a bowl in my hand.
Rakesh remained silent. His losses were also huge. No one knew that Harshad was on the phone, pleading with the bankers. " Give me just one more week. I'll pay everything back." Both sides held their breath. Who would break first, whose money would run out first, or whose time? And then came that historic day.
April 23, 1992. Rakesh woke up in the morning, opened the newspaper. Sucheta Dalal's sensational report had appeared on the front page of the Times of India. The banking scam had been exposed. In a flash, the entire maze was laid bare. The truth about how Harshad was moving banks' money on Dalal Street was revealed to everyone.
As soon as the market opened, there was an uproar. There were no buyers today. Everyone was just selling. Harshad's phone kept ringing. The bankers were screaming. " Where are the securities?" Harshad's brother, Ashwin, saw for the first time the death-like frown on his fearless brother's face. The devastating crash devastated Harshad.
But for the first time, the green light shone in Bear Carter's office. Rakesh made crores from this crash. This was the biggest turning point in his career. Police vehicles were parked outside Harshad's penthouse. His Lexus car was seized. All bank accounts were frozen. 27 criminal cases were filed against him.
On the cold night of December 31, 2001, inside a Thane jail cell , Harshad Mehta suffered a massive heart attack at the age of just 47 and passed away in solitude. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala became the new Big Bull of Dalal Street. It's always said in the market that only skill matters. But sometimes, perfect timing also seals your destiny.
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