NSE's former chief took orders from a 'yogi with no physicial co-ordinates' for 20 years

The latest in the NSE-Yogi News: In a bizzare incident, former MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange, Chitra Ramkrishna had been guided by a mysterious 'himalayan yogi' for over 20 years. Ramkrishna took several big decisions on directives of this 'yogi' through e-mail conversations, the Securities and Exchange Board of India's report showed. However, she fails to identify this person stating that he is apparently a 'spiritual force that has no physical co-ordinates'.

On the advice of this yogi, Ramkrishna appointed Anand Subramanian as group operating officer and advisor to the MD, a person who was apparently not even eligible for the position. He was also given big salary hikes multiple times during his tenure.

As per the SEBI's report, Anand Subramanian was drawing less than Rs 15 lacs per annum as on March 2013 in a subsidiary of Balmer & Lawrie and was in April 2016 drawing a compensation of Rs 4.21 crore per annum for part-time working as a Consultant with a designation of Group Operating Officer and Advisor to the CEO at NSE. There was no evidence on the file of his performance evaluation although he was consistently rated as a top performer.

No employment documentation or any experience in finance couldn't be verified since no papers were provided to the HR department. SEBI's report also showed Subramanian's direct posting as consultant to MD and unequal pay of more than Rs 4 crore per annum higher than most of the seniors at NSE. Subramanian used to work in Balmer and Lawrie in a middle-level management with zero exposure to capital markets.

“The unknown person according to Ramkrishna was a spiritual force that could manifest itself anywhere it wanted and did not have any physical or locational co-ordinates and largely dwelt in the Himalayan ranges,” the SEBI order said.

The regulator levied a fine of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2 crore each on the NSE, and Subramanian.