Ketan Parekh — As one of the most influential players in the Indian stock market, Ketan Parekh is a name that needs no introduction. What you know about him, however, is far from the entire truth. In the 1980s, Ketan began his career assisting his father and uncles at Narbheram Harakchand Securities, a brokerage firm established by his grandfather in pre-Independence India.

Simultaneously, he prepared for the Chartered Accountant qualifications and became a certified CA in 1985.

With his ease with numbers, meticulous approach, and hardworking nature, Ketan rapidly carved a niche for himself in the Indian stock market. Not only did he become an expert trader, his attention to detail and familiarity with the intricacies of the market meant that he soon earned the moniker of “ITC Bull” for his ability to consistently and accurately predict the trading pattern of ITC.

Growing up, Ketan’s father was his role model and his introduction to the world of trading. His father was known to be a decisive “jobber”, someone who is a market maker, giving bids and offers of particular securities to boost market liquidity. His skill and understanding of the market inspired Ketan Parekh to be the best in his field.

However, unlike his father, Ketan was a risk-taker, willing to bet on the opportunities presented by newer ventures. The software and telecom companies of the late 1990s and early 2000s presented one such opportunity. Ketan put a considerable amount of time into studying the companies and understanding their plans and prospects. He identified growth opportunities and worked with financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals across India to take companies globally and help them raise funds to become debt free.

In 2001, ICE (infotech, communications, and entertainment) stocks took a savage global bear hammering and turned the tide on his fortunes. Ketan was trapped, triggering off a payment crisis on the bourses, and forced to default on his payment obligations to banks.

THE LESSER-KNOWN TRUTH
In the Indian public consciousness, the story ends there. While Ketan is widely known as a convicted scamster and rogue investor, very few people know about the actions he has taken over the last two decades to make amends. With faith in the Indian judicial system, Ketan has been working for years toward doing the right thing. He has never openly revealed his side of the story, leading to many false statements and speculations. But the time has come for the world to see the actual truth and learn more about him as a person and an investor.

Ketan firmly believes that the risks he took during his trading days were necessary. Nevertheless, he is very aware of the impact of the consequent losses on the financial institutions involved, their customers, and the Indian economy. For this reason, his ultimate aim has been to return the money he had borrowed from the banks which had been lost in 2001.

Being patriotic, Ketan decided a long time ago that he would face all the charges against him. While others in his position would — and have, as we have seen over the past decade — fled the country, choosing to live a life of luxury abroad, Ketan has made unending attempts to make amends. To that end, over the past 20 years, Ketan has followed the journey of the cases filed against him through the Indian judicial system and accepted the restrictions placed upon him by the Court.

Coming from a financial background, I came across Ketan’s Story while doing my research. I found his story quite fascinating because the case studies in the finance sector are all about numbers. But when I read his story, it gave me a visual idea of how financial sectors work. It was a captivating read, and I started doing more research on him.

It’s surprising that he is an individual who is trying to return the money to the people who suffered. He has returned over a few hundred crores with a few processes still going on and fighting many legal trials to date. I wonder why nobody has ever published this in the last few years.

Why do we humans only focus on the wrong side of any human without knowing the whole story? Some individuals are trying to put their efforts into doing the right things they previously did wrong, and Ketan Parekh is one of them and we need to appreciate and respect that.