http://www.moneylife.in/article/stock-manipulation-dalal-street-investments/42172.html

Stock manipulation: Dalal Street Investments

10 June 2015

Moneylife

A perfect example of a pump and dump stock, Dalal Street Investments rose by 11600% and soon declined 97%

Listed on the BSE in 2001, Dalal Street Investments (DSI) ostensibly deals in shares and securities. Over the past four quarters ended March 2015, DSI reported total revenue of just Rs19 lakh and a net loss of Rs36 lakh. With a market-cap of Rs9 crore as on 28 May 2015, over the past nine years, the stock price movement of DSI has been amazing. It rallied smoothly and unimpeded from around Rs100 in March 2006 to a peak of Rs11,700 in June 2011, a rise of 11,600%. The smooth rally was a result of the stock being locked in its upper circuit of 2%, on each day that it was traded, day after day! Even the global financial crisis did not create any volatility in the stock. After hitting this peak, it started trending downward. This time, again, the downtrend was predictable, constantly hitting the lower circuit. From June 2011 to 26 May 2015, the stock declined by as much as 97%, from Rs11,700 to Rs306. On an average, there were just four or five trades each time the stock was traded since March 2006. In June 2013, DSI was debarred from trading in securities by SEBI for not complying with the minimum public shareholding requirement.