The Income Tax Department will apparently seek details of trading worth thousand crores and more on equity exchanges which have been carried out a few years ago using fake Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards. According to a preliminary probe by Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) between 2012 and 2015, several fake PAN cards have been used, reported Business Line citing sources.

The sources told the national daily that trading volumes worth more than Rs 15,000 crore may have been generated by using fake PAN cards. It may be noted that in a 2007 circular, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Forward Markets Commission (FMC) mandated unique client code (UCC) for entering any trade on exchange platforms. A cannot be generated without PAN details which is why the exchanges made it mandatory for brokers to give the PAN details of clients for trading. 

The report mentioned that the details provided were not cross-verified for years. MCX even imposed heavy penlaties on brokers who delayed submission of PAN details for KYC verification. While this was happening some people protested that many others who had submitted fake PAN details have been let off by MCX.

Following this, MCX started a probe in the matter which was added headed by MCX's former regulatory official Narendra Ahlawat. The probe revealed that PAN details submitted by several brokers were either fake or inaccurate. This matter was then taken to an internal committee. A system is now in place in all exchanges which can cross-verify the PAN details with the I-T database. 

The Sensex fell below the 35,000-level to touch a low of 34,811.60 due to heavy selling pressure in view of foreign capital outflows and weak global cues. However, fag-end buying helped to trim losses and the index closed at 34,950.92 with a fall of 60.73 points, or 0.17 per cent. The gauge had rallied almost 580 points on Friday.

The broader NSE Nifty, after slipping below the 10,500-mark to hit a low of 10,477, finally concluded 29 points, or 0.27 per cent, down at 10,524.

The rupee depreciated 67 paise, to 73.12 (intra-day) against the dollar too had a negative influence. he market was volatile in a narrow range due to weak global cues and selling pressure in pharma, FMCG and auto, analysts said.

"Rupee weakened on account of crunch in domestic liquidity while gradual decline in yield may ease the concern. Investors' were bit conservative in the holiday-shortened week due to uncertainty regarding US china trade deal and Fed policy," they added.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 196.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs 852.99 crore. #casansaar (Source - Times of India)