Sucheta Dalal (Journalist) Wiki, Age, Husband, Children, Biography & More

Sucheta Dalal is an Indian business journalist and author who started her journey with the investment magazine, Fortune India in 1984. Sucheta is the Managing Editor and Trustee of MoneyLife Magazine and MoneyLife Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband in 2006.

Wiki/Bio

Sucheta Dalal was born in 1962 (age 58 years; as of 2020) in Mumbai, India. Sucheta completed her higher education in Mumbai and then went to Karnataka College, Dharwad to pursue B.Sc in Statistics. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Sucheta then pursued LLB and LLM from Bombay University. In the early 1990s, Sucheta joined the Times of India newspaper as a journalist for the business and economics wing.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 2″

Hair Colour: Dark Brown

Eyes Colour: Light Brown

Family & Caste

Husband

Sucheta Dalal got married to Debashis Basu, a chartered accountant, and a journalist. He is the founder and editor of MoneyLife Magazine.

Career

Sucheta Dalal started her career as a journalist in the year 1990 when she joined the Mumbai based newspaper ‘Times of India.’ She was a part of the business and economics wing of the newspaper and under that wing, she investigated several cases including the Harshad Mehta scam of 1992, the Enron scam, the Ketan Parekh scam in 2001, and many more. The investigation of the Harshad Mehta scam led to her prominence in the field of activism and journalism. Sucheta helped in exposing the scam and on 9 November 1992, Harshad Mehta and people involved in the scam were arrested by the CBI. In 1993, Sucheta, along with her husband Debashis wrote the book on the securities scam titled “The Scam: Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away.” She became the financial editor of the Times of India until 1998. Sucheta then switched to another newspaper, the Indian Express where she worked as the consulting editor and wrote columns for the Indian Express and Financial Express till 2008. In 2006, she co-founded the MoneyLife Magazine with her husband and became the managing editor for the same.

Controversy

In July 2015, MoneyLife Magazine carried out an investigation on the NSE’s trading system after a whistleblower letter alleged that the exchange granted few of its brokers and traders access to a facility set up for high-frequency trading. This access would have given the traders and brokers a split-second advantage in accessing the NSE data as compared to a normal trader or broker. In response to this, the National Stock Exchange filed a defamation suit against Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu’s MoneyLife Magazine. NSE asked for Rs. 100 crores for the settlement of the case but later, the Bombay High Court asked NSE to pay Rs. 1.5 lakh each to both the founders and donate Rs. 47 lakhs to the charitable trust. NSE withdrew the defamation case in 2017.

NSE withdraws Rs100 crore defamation case & appeal. Walked out with costs & J Patel's order intact. Million thanks to million well wishers pic.twitter.com/BAwbXcE4Lw

— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) September 12, 2017

Awards

• In 1992, Sucheta Dalal was honored with Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women media persons.

• She received the Femina’s Woman of Substance award for the work she did in unfolding the Harshad Mehta Scam.

• In 2006, she received the prestigious Padma Shri for journalism from the former president of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
  

  Sucheta Dalal receiving Padma Shri from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Facts/Trivia

• After the success of her first book, Sucheta Dalal penned the autobiography of industrialist, banker, and economist of India, A.D. Shroff. The title of the book was ‘A.D. Shroff: Titan of Finance and Free Enterprise.’
  

  Autobiography of A. D. Shroff by Sucheta Dalal

• Sucheta understood the financial market of India and after noticing the poor financial literacy in India, she and her husband decided to launch a not-for-profit organization, Moneylife Foundation.
  

  Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu’s venture Moneylife Foundation

• Sucheta’s interest in the financial sector helped her in understanding the Indian banking sector and her extensive research and investigation helped in putting light on many other scams like the Enron scam, the IDBI scam, and the Ketan Parekh scam.

• Sucheta Dalal was a member of the Investor Education & Protection Fund of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for six years.

• Sucheta Dalal often delivers seminars to create awareness regarding several things like investments in mutual funds, properties, and other financial issues to help people make better and safe decisions with their money.

• In October 2020, a docudrama series ‘Scam 1992’ was released which was based on Sucheta and Debashis Basu’s book ‘The Scam.’ The series was directed by Hansal Mehta, an Indian director, writer, actor, and producer. Sucheta Dalal’s character was played by Shreya Dhanwanthary.