Kejriwal: Now, bête noire for India Inc?

Day after dig at ‘crony capitalist’ Ambani, RIL stocks fall

akash

Akash Deep Ashok | November 1, 2012



Going by the way he works, Arvind Kejriwal has seemingly never wanted to be a darling of any section. It’s just chance, or perhaps lack of a goal-scoring opening, that he still is for some, at least in the media.

But otherwise, the bête noire for politicians seems to be slowly turning into public enemy number one for India Inc. While DLF was the first to take the hit, with the real estate big dad’s stocks taking a tumble after Kejriwal’s exposé in Messrs Robert Vadra’s allegedly messy affairs, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is now experiencing the effect.

And one can only wonder about the fate of the Nitin Gadkari-backed Purti Group if it was listed in the bourses.

A day after the anti-corruption crusader-turned-politician accused Reliance Industries Limited of using its political influence to get benefits in gas exploration, agencies reported on Thursday afternoon that RIL shares fell by 2 percent.

PTI reports that scrip of the country's most valued firm opened on a weak note and as day’s trading progressed, it fell by 2 percent to Rs 789.10 on BSE. The stock was down 2 percent to Rs 788.70 on NSE.

"The scrip fell in a knee-jerk reaction to Kejriwal's comments," CNI Research CMD Kishore Ostwal said.

RIL at present has a market capitalisation of Rs 2,58,874 crore.

Kejriwal, who got back to his favourite turf at Farrukhabad by Thursday afternoon — slamming politics and their purported itch to hitch the wagon to graft, foreign minister Salman Khurshid in this case — did not get back to the reliance issue immediately. Neither did other anti-graft activists, as of now.

But it is little wonder what his mentor Anna Hazare, who in an interview to The Indian Express on Wednesday advised Kejriwal to take the corrupt politicians one at a time, would tell the former government officer if the two happen to have a tete-a-tete now.

One “crony capitalist” at a time, Arvind?

For now, investors would be equally wary of Kejriwal’s next “exposé”. And for once, politicians can afford to sit back a little, and relax slightly. Or perhaps not, going by the events unfolding in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, even as we speak of this.

 

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