Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday (July 7, 2025) accused the Modi Government of making the rich richer and pushing ordinary investors to the brink of ruin by being silent on ‘manipulation’ by big players in the F&O market.
Mr. Gandhi, in a post on X, said that he had predicted the loopholes in the Futures and Options (F&O) markets.
“I clearly stated in 2024 — the F&O market has become a playground for ‘big players,’ and small investors’ pockets are continuously being drained.
“Now SEBI itself is admitting that Jane Street manipulated thousands of crores. Why did SEBI remain silent for so long?” he asked in his post in Hindi.
The Congress leader accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre of turning a blind eye to the revelation and wondered if there were more players rigging the market.
“At whose behest was the Modi Government sitting with its eyes shut? And how many more big sharks are still shorting retail investors?” he said.
“In every case, it is clear — the Modi Government is making the rich richer and pushing ordinary investors to the brink of ruin,” he alleged.
Mr. Gandhi tagged his September 24, 2024 post in which he had stated, “Uncontrolled F&O trading has grown 45x in 5 years. 90% of small investors have lost ₹1.8 lakh Crore in 3 years.”
It went on: “SEBI must reveal the names of the so called ‘Big Players’ making a killing at their expense.”
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday (July 7) said the capital markets regulator does not see “many other risks” like the manipulations done by the hedge fund Jane Street.
In an order released in the early hours of Friday (July 4), the market regulator found Jane Street, a New York-based hedge fund, guilty of manipulating the indices by taking bets in the cash, and, Futures and Options markets simultaneously for making handsome gains.
It has suspended the hedge fund from accessing the market and impounded over ₹4,843 crore in gains.
The probe has found that Jane Street made a profit of ₹36,671 crore on a net basis during the probe period from January 2023-May 2025.
Published – July 07, 2025 03:45 pm IST
