In October 2006, some HSBC agent called up my wife to say that they are giving insurance for three months for Rs10 per month; after three months, HSBC will specifically confirm by calling again if we wanted to proceed with the insurance. But they promptly started sending a bill for Rs700 from the fourth month without informing us. When we called up HSBC, they indicated this would be stopped,...

My wife, Rekha Pradeep Pathak, has opted for a personal loan of Rs450,000 from ICICI Bank. I am a co-borrower for this loan. ICICI Bank levied Rs10,113 as processing charges and CFOC (credit facility origination charges) of Rs6,750. CFOC has been made payable from the first EMI.

The personal loan should carry an interest of 19.5% (conversion period not shown), as stated in the credit...

A few days back, Orchid Chemicals tanked to the extent of 50% without any apparent reason. Then came an announcement on CNBC TV 18 that the promoters had to resort to a ‘distress sale’ as they had no margin money. This implies that they had already ‘bought’ a large chunk of their own shares - and that too perhaps over a period of time. Had they disclosed this to SEBI as required? Or have they...