Over the past week, there was a strange spectacle of an obscure listed company clarifyingRRP SemiconductorsClarification about Market Rumours to the BSE that its massive stock-price spike—from Rs 10 to Rs 9,000 in 10 months—was not supported by its financials.

RRP Semiconductor, a company purportedly in the semiconductor-and-electronics business, also denied a string of market rumours: that cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar had invested in the company or joined as an adviser or ambassador; that the Maharashtra government had allotted it 100 acres of land. And it said that nearly all of the company’s stock remained locked-in until March 2026, insinuating that insiders were not trading its shares.

It also accused unnamed individuals of unethical trading and vowed legal action against rumour-mongers defaming both the company and Tendulkar. BSE, not to be left behind, issuedMoneycontrolBSE flags unusual price surge in RRP Semiconductor, urges investor caution its own warning on 20 October, cautioning investors about the unusual price movement and placing the stock under enhanced surveillance.

The concern for investors is touching. The trouble is that the company’s clarification only tells half the truth, and the exchange’s warning comes a little too late.

For one, almost no one is actually trading this stock. Over the past year and a half, RRP’s average daily volume has been about 50 shares—on many days, just one or two. The company itself says that all public investors together hold only 4,000 shares. Yet the stock has risen every single trading day in that period, by either 5% or 2%. A small-volume-big-price-spike mystery. A whodunit, for now.

What the company—a former trading firm—didn’t mention is that its unlisted sibling called RRP Electronics, received a “letter of comfort” from the Maharashtra government in September for 100 acresThe HinduMaharashtra allots 100 acres to chip firm RRP Electronics of land. The land was ostensibly for relocating a semiconductor fabrication plant from the United States to Navi Mumbai. Nor did the listed entity disclose that this same private firm has, by its own admissionLinkedinRRP Electronics, brought in Tendulkar as a strategic investor.