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The front runner
Sebi’s recent 96-page interim order in the Axis MF front-running scandal details the extensive web spun by the fund’s former chief trader Viresh Joshi
An ambitious suburban boy who became a high roller in Mumbai’s stock market, Joshi eventually seems to have succumbed to those old vices—hubris, greed, and envy
Once lauded by his employer for his “integrity and sincerity”, Joshi—known as “V-Power”—is in no mood to go down without a fight. Axis MF is paying the price; more heads could roll
The fiasco, among the largest front-running cases in the country, seems to have pushed the market regulator into overdrive. That might just be the bright side of the Joshi episode
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“Nope, all cut me down, after I lost my position, not paying [giving business], no use for them,” said Viresh Joshi, disgraced former chief trader of Axis Mutual Fund (Axis MF), in a Whatsapp chat with The Ken. The dejection in Joshi’s tone was at once a reflection of a stunning reversal of fortunes for a high-flier trader and a cautionary lesson for others.
Last May, Joshi was sacked by his employer Axis MF—India’s seventh largest mutual-fund house with assets under management (AUM) of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore (~US$30 billion)—for his alleged involvement in a
front-running front-running Front-running The practice by market-makers of dealing on advance information provided by their brokers and investment analysts, before their clients have been given the information. scandal. The fraud, one of the largest of its kind, came to light in May 2022, by when market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had also begun probing.
On 28 February 2023, a 96-page interim
order order Sebi Interim Order-cum-Show Cause Notice in the matter of Front Running of the Trades of Axis Mutual Fund Read more by Sebi detailed the scandal’s modus operandi—an extensive web spread across the underbelly of India’s financial markets, shady offshore entities in Dubai, and involving information carriers, arrangers, enablers,
angadias angadias Angadia The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia that stands for courier. and burner phones.
At the heart of this blow-up is Joshi—a larger-than-life Mumbai-based trader.
The Sebi order is replete with evidentiary details, including videos, audio recordings, and Whatsapp conversations which pull back the veil on how the scam was carried out. The case is still under investigation, and Sebi has barred 21 individuals and entities from the markets until further orders. It has also ordered impounding Rs 30.6 crore (~US$3.7 million) of wrongful gains.
Joshi—the main accused—is a constant fixture across the interim order, with some accomplices calling him “Jadugar”—the Hindi word for “magician”. He is said to have set up the front-running scheme whereby he allegedly passed information to his associates.
Andrew is a freelance journalist and consultant based in the UK. Previously he spent over 6 years in Mumbai working in the Indian stock market at Edelweiss and Macquarie. More recently, he worked for Fidelity Investments in Hong Kong as an Equity Trader. Always open for a chat!
A qualified Chartered Accountant, Anand chose to pack the power of numbers with words when he left a career of seven years in accounting, putting together MIS reports, and investment research to enter journalism. Before joining The Ken, Anand was Deputy Editor at The Hindu BusinessLine, a newspaper he worked at for 11 years.
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