Subrata Roy, Chairman of Sahara Group, died on Tuesday because of cardiac and respiratory arrest after an extended sickness. He was 75 years outdated. Having constructed an enormous enterprise empire within the retail, actual property and monetary companies sectors, Roy has been on the middle of a serious controversy. He has confronted a number of regulatory and authorized battles concerning his group’s corporations, accused of circumventing rules to create multi-level advertising schemes.
In keeping with an organization assertion, Roy was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Analysis Institute in Mumbai on Sunday after his well being situation deteriorated.
The assertion added that the deceased handed away within the hospital at 10:30 pm on Tuesday following a cardiorespiratory assault after an extended battle with problems ensuing from malignant tumors, hypertension and diabetes.
The group’s assertion stated: “It’s with nice unhappiness that Sahara India Pariwar broadcasts the demise of our esteemed Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara, Administrative Officer and Chairman of the Board of Administrators of Sahara India Pariwar.”
The assertion described him as an inspiring chief and visionary and stated: “His loss can be felt by your complete Sahara India Pariwar area. Saharasri ji was a guiding drive, a mentor and an inspiration to all who had the respect of working alongside him.” for him.”
Subrata Roy: The rise and fall of “Sahransari”
Roy was born in Araria, Bihar, on June 10, 1948. He was the founding father of Sahara India Pariwar, which ran corporations like Aamby Valley Metropolis, Shara Film Studios, Air Sahara and Filmy.
Because the eldest son in his household, Roy accomplished his diploma and later needed to take up enterprise after the demise of his father Sudhir Chandra. His journey started with a Lambretta scooter, the place he bought salty snacks below the enterprise referred to as “Jaya Merchandise”. However the undertaking failed. He additionally did one other undertaking together with his spouse, Swapna Roy, but it surely too met the identical destiny.
In 1978, Roy established Sahara Group in Gorakhpur. This undertaking allowed small buyers, reminiscent of rickshaw drivers and tea stall homeowners, to speculate cash and obtain a assured earnings in return. It’s operated by Sahara India Monetary, the flagship firm of the group.
The corporate employed hundreds of thousands of Indians as its brokers who would promote these schemes to Indians who didn’t have entry to the nation’s formal banking system.
Over the subsequent three many years, the group diversified into completely different sectors, together with actual property, media and aviation, till all of them collapsed within the 2000s.
Many corporations in Indian desert Pariwar
At its peak, the group had their fingers in a number of pies. The corporate has an intensive media community. Its media arm, Sahar One Media & Leisure, operated three Hindi language channels: Movie Channel, Filmi; Common leisure channel Sahara One; And a channel for dubbed Hindu movies, Filmy.
Sahara Film Studios has been concerned within the manufacturing of a number of hit movies, together with Needed, Sarkar and Web page 3. Along with the distribution enterprise, the group owns newspapers and magazines in Hindi, English and Urdu.
The group additionally owns a large-scale business airline, Air Sahara, which was bought to Jet Airways in 2006 for greater than $500 million. The group has additionally made acquisitions within the luxurious hospitality sector, together with the Plaza Resort in New York and the Grosvenor Home Resort in London.
The corporate additionally sponsored the Indian cricket workforce till 2013. In 2010, it purchased the Pune Indian Premier League franchise for $370 million, the best bid by any firm within the league’s historical past. Their run continued till 2018 when the group withdrew from the franchise.
In sports activities, the group additionally sponsored the Indian hockey workforce and owned a stake in Vijay Mallya’s Method One racing workforce.
Subrata Roy shines
Roy’s identify has change into synonymous with luxurious in India. His 270-acre gated residence, ‘Sahar Sahar’ in Lucknow, has hosted quite a few occasions and been acquired by politicians, company figures and movie stars. In 2004, Roy Palace caught the highlight when his two sons acquired married there. India had by no means witnessed a marriage of this dimension till then.
Roy was usually seen in his well-known waistcoat and tie with movie stars like Amitabh Bachchan, businessmen like Anil Ambani, and politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.
Desert fall
Though the corporate confronted a number of monetary issues within the Nineteen Nineties, the massive hiccup got here in 2009 when its arm Sahara Prime Metropolis filed a draft crimson herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Alternate Board of India (Sebi) for an preliminary public providing. (IPO). The draft talked about sure tax-related points in relation to its elective absolutely convertible bonds (OFCDs).
The group was accepting exterior certificates of deposit from buyers in change for money as an alternative of checks or demand payments, as required by legislation. A routine investigation was launched into the group. However the investigation led to the collapse of what was later revealed to be a home of playing cards.
Furthermore, earlier in 2008, the Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) had requested the group to cease accepting additional deposits from the general public. At that time, he had deposits of over Rs 20,000 crore. After additional inquiry, Sebi banned Sahara Prime Metropolis from accumulating funds from the general public.
The group’s funds had been apparently used to develop 10,600 acres of the luxury city of Ambi Valley in Maharashtra. It additionally had cities of Sahara Metropolis and Sahatra Grace in a number of cities within the nation.
The group responded by publishing commercials calling Sebi “irresponsible”. Primarily based on Sebi’s inquiry, the group submitted greater than 30 million utility types in 127 vehicles.
Sebi revealed that many buyers can’t be traced. The regulator additionally stated that two corporations of the group, Sahara India Actual Property Company and Sahara Housing Funding Company, raised funds by public subject of securities by issuing OFCDs with out following numerous procedures supposed to guard the pursuits of buyers in public points prescribed below the principles.
The case went to the Supreme Courtroom.
Supreme Courtroom ruling
In 2014, the Supreme Courtroom ordered the corporate to return all the cash to depositors at 15 % curiosity. Roy was imprisoned till 2016, when he was launched on situations. Later, he was returned to jail. A lot of the properties have been seized by the Revenue Tax Division.
In 2020, the Supreme Courtroom stated it might revoke Roy’s parole if the group didn’t return Rs 62,600 crore to buyers (together with curiosity and penalties).
In 2023, the Heart additionally launched the Sahara Refund Portal the place depositors can declare their a refund inside 45 days. Depositors of Sahara Credit score Cooperative Society Restricted, Saharayan Common Multi Objective Society Restricted and Hamara India Credit score Cooperative Society Restricted earlier than March 22, 2022 are eligible for the refund.
(Tags for translation)Subrata Roy
