No scam in Sensex: finmin

Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the country's stock market was well-regulated and there was no cause for concern despite a steep fall in share prices in the previous session.

India's benchmark BSE index fell more than 3 per cent on Thursday, its biggest fall in five months, as tax raids on some brokers and rumours of greater regulation caused investors to panic. The index has gained 24.5 per cent this year.
“It's a well-regulated market. So one should not be unduly worried when the market rises or falls rapidly,” Chidambaram told CNBC-TV18 business news channel in an interview aired on Friday.

“One has to ask, 'is the market well-regulated? Are P/E ratios in the comfort zone?' And I believe they are,” he said.

Chidambaram denied reports that the office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been in touch with him over the stock market's movements and said “there is no scam” in the market.

Chidambaram said the upcoming fiscal second quarter earnings would be a good indicator of whether investors had gauged corporate performance correctly.

“We should wait for the second-quarter results if they turn out to be as good as the first-quarter results, then the conclusion is that the market anticipated the second-quarter results,” he said.