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Imagine waking up to a message saying crores of rupees have been credited to your bank account. Two thoughts immediately follow — you either assume it’s a scam and ignore it, or you investigate for details. And if it turns out to be real, it would surely leave anyone stunned, thrilled, and eager to make the most of the unexpected payment received.
While it may sound like a dream, this was reality for a stock trader. He received Rs 40 crore from his broker Kotak Securities due to a technical glitch.
Not wasting time, he traded it and made a profit of Rs 1.75 crore in just 20 minutes, according to reports.
While Kotak Securities reversed the Rs 40 crore transaction soon, it also demanded the profit of Rs 1.75 crore to be given to it. The trader refused to give away the profit money.
The matter was heard in the Bombay High Court which ruled that the trader need not share the profit money with the broker.
The court said that any profits made by a stock trader by using mistakenly provided trade margin money due to a tech glitch in the broker’s system cannot be treated as "unjust enrichment".
The trader initially suffered a loss of Rs 54 lakh and thereafter got Rs 2.38 crore profit, resulting in a net profit of Rs 1.75 crore, according to news reports. The court pointed out that Kotak Securities did not suffer any loss due to the erroneous provision of margin to the trader.