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The self-styled options queen pulled off a Rs 104 crore scam, masquerading as a trading expert to play on investor gullibility, with nary a peep out of SEBI for over 10 years. Will the scourge ever be eradicated?

Asmita Patel was famous in the trading community well before the regulator’s ex-parte order last week banned her from the markets. And, asked her to cough up Rs 53.67 crore in fees that she had collected from her students for three of her courses (with the prospect of the disgorgement going up to Rs 104.63 crore—what she is said to have made across all of them). Only now, the self-proclaimed “She Wolf of Stock Market” and “Options Queen” had become infamous.
But “audacious” is perhaps what best describes Patel. She has been in stock market trading for at least a …
The markets regulator has taken little by way of decisive action, with industry resistance and its own wait-and-watch approach getting in the way.
A market dominated by speculative activity is enriching sophisticated traders at the expense of retail investors, distorting exchanges and brokerages, and putting household savings at risk.
Thinly traded listed entities have long served as breeding grounds for stock manipulation, hurting investors. The regulator, the NSE and BSE now want to fix things by focusing on efficient delisting.