It was 30 years ago on this very day, the 23rd of April 1992 that Sucheta Dalal broke the Harshad Mehta scam story and what happened then is the history of sorts. Sucheta Dalal has a Belagavi connection as well as she did her schooling at St Joseph’s convent school Belagavi for 3 years and later pre-university from RLS College. Her parents stayed in Belagavi for many years until they sold their house in 1996.
Sucheta Dalal is an award-winning business journalist and author and her career is founded on many newsbreaks, insightful analysis and high integrity. She has been a journalist for 25 years and was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri for journalism in 2006 and Femina’s Woman of Substance Award for her work on the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992 and related writing. She has been a columnist and consulting editor for The Indian Express group until 2008. She is now a Consulting Editor for MoneyLIFE personal finance fortnightly (www.moneylife.in).
Her Facebook page –
Of course, nobody really knew that first day, how big the scam was and how it would unravel. Rs 500 crore seemed a huge number then. Eventually, the scam was Rs 5000 crore, which seems tiny today, as compared to the big loot that has been going on in telecom, realty, coal etc.
But Rs 5000 crore was a stupendous number when India has just embarked on economic liberalization and it is sizeable even by today’s standards when you adjust for inflation!
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Interesting to know the exploits of this courageous lady Sucheta Dalal. Only St Joseph’s Girls Convent High School in Camp Belagavi(old Belgaum) could have produced such a bold and enterprising student in the name of Sucheta Dalal. who ventured to break the Harshad Mehta scam in April 1992. As an Ex-Paulite (St Paul’s High School also in Camp Belgaum), I am really proud of Sucheta ji. I wish her all the best for her future. Jan Mohamed Shaikh.