Diamonds Are Not Forever

Newsmaker: Mehul Choksi
The law catches up with the man who pulled off a ₹13,000-crore bank scam

In 2013, Mehul Choksi was telling the media that he hoped to have a ₹50,000 crore-business in five years. Instead, in 2018 he became India’s most famous fugitive. Born to a family in the diamond business, he had turned it into the country’s largest in­tegrated diamond jewellery retailer, building and acquiring new brands from Nakshatra to D’damas. He developed his own retail footprint by opening stores across the country and abroad, while making Gitanjali Gems one of India’s top exporters of rough and polished diamonds, and jewellery.

Choksi was flashier than the usual low-profile diamantaires operating out of South Mumbai’s Opera House. He dressed well, spoke about building brands, and kept the company of Bolly­wood celebrities. When asked about his ambition, he once told a business publication, “The next LVMH [the firm that owns the Louis Vuitton luxury brand] will be born out of India.” Then one fine day in January 2018, Punjab National Bank (PNB) announced that it had been the victim of a massive fraud opera­tion of over ₹13,000 crore perpetrated by Choksi, his nephew Nirav Modi, and some bank employees. They had made fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) of the bank and used them to take loans from Indian banks abroad. The money was laundered. They then used still more fake LoUs to paper over the loans and so on, until PNB had a ₹13,000-crore hole in their books. Remark­ably, no one in PNB knew for years this was going on. When the scam became public, Choksi had already escaped, taking up citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda, with which India shares no extradition treaty.

Choksi is believed to be suffering from blood cancer, and had moved to Belgium to seek treatment where he was arrested on India’s request. There are still legal niggles to overcome before he is brought back to India. His lawyers are seeking bail citing his medical condition. Choksi has earlier too evaded attempts by Indian authorities to get him back. This time his luck seems to be running out. (By Lhendup G Bhutia)

The Big Picture

West Texas, April 14, 2025: To Heaven and Back Pop star Katy Perry exits the capsule after landing back on Earth. Perry and five other women had lifted off on a Blue Origin rocket owned by Jeff Bezos and travelled to the edge of space. Lasting 11 minutes, it was the first all-female spaceflight in more than 60 years.

Noisemaker: Priyank Kharge
Misplaced Arrogance

Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge has earned an unenviable reputation for putting his foot in the mouth. His reaction to a widely publicised incident in Bengaluru, where a couple sitting on a scooter in a park were harassed, that moral policing would not be tolerated as the state is not Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, was unnecessary. Apart from reflecting a bias against other states, Kharge’s comment reflects misplaced arrogance. He would have done well to have limited himself to the first part of his statement. Around the same time, a group of men who harassed a woman in a burqa and her male companion in UP were swiftly hauled in by the police and made to pay for their misdeed.

Ideas
Safe Harbour

Gold prices, in recent times, have been constantly making new all-time highs and the reason is that it is considered a safe harbour in difficult times. Ever since Donald Trump was elected as US president, no one knows what the future holds in terms of the global economic order. Exorbitant tariffs have been imposed on the rest of the world and the dollar as the medium of international transactions is under question. Trust on traditional assets that give high returns is eroding. And so gold, which has since the beginning of civilisation been a store of value everyone agreed on, gets back in demand. That is a characteristic of a safe harbour, to be time-tested in the past and, therefore, viable for the future. It is a concept that goes beyond gold. People in war-torn regions seek safe harbour by migrating to stable countries. When actors see their movies failing, they stop experimenting and flock to tested formulas. There is no such thing as a perfect safe harbour though—gold prices can also crash. They also come with trade-offs. Stocks and bonds can still often outperform gold in the long term, which means losing out on profits. Or, if you seek refuge in a country, they might insist on cultural integration, making you give up your traditions. What safe harbours provide is a perception of reduced risk. It is a fallback against the trust that one is losing in one’s immediate environment.

Money Mantra
Ride The Turbulence
The discipline of systematic investing helps in uncertain times

WHEN MARKETS TURN volatile and headlines scream fear, it is easy for even seasoned investors to second-guess their decisions. Sharp declines, unexpected global events and political instability often combine to create a perfect storm of uncertainty.

But history has shown that the greatest investment opportuni­ties are often born in such periods, not during times of calm.

The fundamental mistake most investors make is reacting emotion­ally to short-term noise. They sell quality assets in panic, only to regret it later when stability returns. The truth is uncertainty is part and parcel of the market system. It is the reason why investors earn a premium over time. Without risk, there would be no reward.

Rather than attempting to predict the next headline or market move, successful investors focus on building resilience into their portfolios. They invest in companies with strong balance sheets, consistent cash flows and a proven ability to navigate tough economic cycles.

It is also important to remember that valuation matters more during uncertainty. Buying a great company at any price during a bull run is easy. But patiently picking high-quality businesses at reasonable or even cheap valuations when others are fearful — that is where real wealth is built.

The discipline of systematic investing also plays a crucial role. Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) in mutual funds or a disci­plined monthly investment approach to stocks can take advantage of volatility. Instead of trying to time the market perfectly—a near-impossible task—investors average out their costs and benefit from long-term compounding.

Finally, having a clear investment plan, aligned with one’s risk appetite and financial goals, helps in avoiding emotional mistakes. A temporary decline in portfolio value is painful, but panic-selling locks in the losses. Those who stay the course, backed by strong businesses and sound strategy, emerge stronger when uncertainty fades. (By Ramesh Singh)

Viral
An Elephant’s Circle of Love

When a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit California recently, a herd of elephants in a zoo were caught doing something very unusual. Security footage from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, which has since gone viral, shows three adult females scanning their surroundings as the ground begins to tremble, and then forming a tight circle around two seven-year-old calves. The elephants were forming what the experts call an “alert circle”, a response matriarch elephants display when they perceive a threat. Elephants are known to be very social animals and they instinctively band together and protect one another when they feel danger is imminent. Elephants, it is said, can sense seismic vibrations through their feet and ears, and there have been reports in the past of elephants behaving unusually, for instance, during the 2004 tsunami, when many elephants in Thailand retreated to higher ground well before the large waves hit the shores.

 

 

 

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