Mysterious text messages have begun circulating in Mumbai praising Anil Ambani, the Indian businessman.
The messages, saying "Thank God for Anil Ambani" for "standing by us in times of trouble", were from anonymous correspondents.
They appeared to be responding to a move by the billionaire to issue free bonus shares to compensate investors for a sharp fall in the share price of his company, Reliance Power, after its stock market trading debut.
The group on Sunday announced the details of the bonus issue, saying it would issue investors other than the controlling shareholders with three new shares for every five shares they bought in the initial public offering.
The highly unusual measure, which in effect lowers the IPO price by 37.5 per cent below the original price of Rs450, comes after a plunge in Reliance Power's stock of 17 per cent on its debut two weeks ago.
It has since recovered to close about 7 per cent down on Friday, but the poor performance is in sharp contrast to the hype that surrounded the launch of the IPO.
While investors have welcomed the bonus share issue, it has alarmed many analysts.
They say it increases moral hazard by insulating investors from the true risks involved in buying stocks, particularly start-ups such as Reliance Power, which plans to roll out a national network of power plants but does not yet have any operating assets.
Underlying the move, however, is a deeper phenomenon common in Asian markets: the close relationship between the region's biggest tycoons and their retail investor base and the need to maintain that good faith at all costs.
In India, no group commands more investor loyalty than the Ambani family.
Anil's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, is credited with founding the country's retail equities culture three decades ago in the listing of his group, Reliance Industries.
Since then, the rich returns from investing in Reliance stock have enabled Indians to stage lavish weddings for their daughters and send their children abroad for their education.
"We have faith in the company," said Ram Swaroo, one of a crowd of retail investors gathered on the sunny street outside the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Mr Swaroo said his initial investment of Rs5,000 in Reliance 30 years ago had grown eightyfold to Rs400,000.
The closest example elsewhere in Asia to the Ambani family's unwritten contract with its investors is Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest tycoon. He has also mostly avoided burning his retail investor base on IPOs.
David Webb, editor of Webb-site.com, a corporate governance watchdog, said the nearest equivalent to Reliance's bonus issue occurred in China.
Investors hurt by a 2001 bubble in state-owned shares were issued bonus stock from the government's holdings to compensate them.
But Indian analysts argue that, rather than relying on corporate benevolence to bail out retail investors, the government should tighten regulations to either prevent hyper-speculative stocks with no assets or record from listing, or ensure that they are fairly priced.
Reliance Power, for instance, listed with a market capitalisation three times that of established rival Tata Power.
The irony, said Raamdeo Agrawal, joint managing director of Motilal Oswal Securities, which is based in Mumbai, is that companies that are already listed are subject to rigorous analysis while start-ups can make whatever claims they wish.
"You don't have sales, you don't have earnings, you are selling only hopes and dreams and these can be as big as you like," he said.
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