New Delhi: Facing criticism from the opposition for allegedly using exit polls to manipulate the stock market, Axis My India chief Pradeep Gupta has said that he/she is ready to face all kinds of investigations. he/she also added that if the government makes special rules for pollsters, it will help improve business. Opposition political parties and several other organizations have demanded a thorough investigation by capital market regulator SEBI and a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to find out whether there was an attempt to influence the stock markets through exit polls.

What did Pradeep Gupta say on exit polls and stock market?
The stock markets had seen a sharp rise when exit polls gave a landslide victory to the BJP, but the actual results showed that the ruling party did not get a clear majority on its own. Talking to the editors of the news agency here at PTI’s headquarters, Gupta said he/she has been demanding for five years to formulate norms and regulation for surveyors.

Gupta, chairman and managing director of Axis My India, had predicted 361-401 seats for the BJP-led alliance, but the actual number was much less. he/she termed the demand for a ban on exit polls as childish and said every citizen and organisation wants to know the election results and banning exit polls will be of no use.

We have nothing to do with the stock market, but I am happy with these allegations because our data and methodology are perfect. Any investigation will give me a chance to show the world everything we used to predict the exit polls. In a way, this is an opportunity for us. I support the demand because it will give us a chance to show our credibility.

Pradeep Gupta, Head, Axis My India

‘Banning exit polls will not help’
Asked if he/she was ready for a JPC or SEBI probe, he/she said, “I am ready to face any kind of probe.” “As far as any benefit to me from the stock market boom is concerned… Axis My India does not have a demat account. It is a limited company, not listed. There has been no outside investment in the company till date. The promoters have also not made any investment. My personal investment in shares since April has been only Rs 35,000. Where did I gain?” he/she said.

Gupta also responded to allegations of Axis My India conducting exit polls for foreign investors and sharing different results with them. he/she said, no FII has ever approached us, nor have we worked for any foreign investor. We have never conducted any exit poll survey for them. he/she targeted the accusers and said, earlier they used to call exit polls unscientific, now they want exit polls to be banned. These are childish things. Every citizen and organization wants to know the results of the elections and banning exit polls will not help.

he/she said exit polls are not just to tell who is winning and who is losing, but it also helps political parties to analyse the results. Gupta said, “70 per cent of my clients are corporate clients. Even if exit polls are banned, it will not affect our business. Whatever the law decides, I am with it.” Asked if the 2024 election results have damaged his/her image, Gupta said, “They give us business for our work and not on the basis of how accurately we predict the election results.”

Banning exit polls will not help
he/she said, for the last five years I have been running from pillar to post demanding some regulation. When our people go on the ground, they are looked at with a suspicious mindset. We have to explain that we are not salespeople, we are not fraudsters and we have not been sent by any political party. We are often asked who gave you permission? he/she said, we wrote to the Home Ministry, the Law Ministry told us that there is no law for this, so first we need a law. From there we were sent to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to get ourselves registered there and set up a cell.

The question is who will monitor who is right and who is wrong… so nothing happened. I firmly believe we need regulation. Axis My India has been conducting exit polls since 2013, when Gupta returned from Harvard Business School. he/she claims to have correctly predicted 61 out of 65 elections. Asked why Axis My India does not disclose that some political parties are also its clients, Gupta said, “In the 2019 Haryana assembly elections, the BJP was among our clients and in the exit polls we had predicted a hung assembly, which was absolutely correct.

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