Manohar Jethanand Pherwani (1934 – 21 May 1992) was an Indian corporate executive and banker who served as Chairman of the

Unit Trust of India UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC) is one of India's leading asset management companies. It manages mutual funds, portfolio management services, and retirement solutions for individual and institutional investors. UTI Mutual Fund was launch ...

(UTI),

National Housing Bank National Housing Bank (NHB), is a regulatory body for overall regulation and licensing of housing finance companies in India. It is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It was set up on 9 July 1988 under the Na ...

(NHB) and

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) is an Indian state-funded infrastructure development and finance company. It was created by public sector banks and insurance companies. It operates through more than 250 subsidiaries ...

(IL&FS). Under his tenure of almost a decade as the chairman of UTI, the asset base of UTI grew from ₹1 billion to about ₹176.5 billion In 1987, he set up IL&FS to finance infrastructure projects in the country. He headed the 1991 "Expert Study Group" into the establishment of a new stock exchange (also known as the MJ Pherwani Committee) which resulted in the formation of the

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited, also known as the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the List of stock exchanges, 5th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, ...

(NSE).

Controversies

In 1992, while serving as Chairman & Managing Director of the

, the bank's exposure of over 1,000 crore worth of re-purchase option (repo) based security trades to

Harshad Mehta Harshad Shantilal Mehta (29 July 1954 – 31 December 2001) was an Indian stockbroker, businessman, and convicted fraudster. Mehta's involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam (about ) led him to gain infamy for market manipulation. Of t ...

came to light. Pherwani had been regarded as Mehta's mentor. Consequently, Pherwani stepped down from NHB. He also quit as chairman of the NSE and IL&FS in the wake of the 1992 securities scam.

Death

On 21 May 1992, less than 12 days after resigning as NHB chairperson Pherwani was found dead by his family members at his Bombay home. The cause of death was found to be

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

In popular culture

Actor

K. K. Raina K. K. Raina is an Indian film, television and theatre character actor and award-winning script writer, who is best known for his roles as ''Juror #8'' in the 1986 film '' Ek Ruka Hua Faisla'', a remake of 12 Angry Men, and Byomkesh Bakshi's ...

portrayed Pherwani in the

Sony LIV Sony LIV is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Culver Max Entertainment. Sony LIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it provides live sports, origina ...

hit series ''

Scam 1992 ''Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story'' is an Indian Hindi-language biographical financial thriller streaming television series on SonyLIV directed by Hansal Mehta, with Jai Mehta serving as the co-director. Based on the 1992 Indian stock mark ...

''.

Controversies

Death

In popular culture

References

Further reading