Subrata Roy: The legendary businessman
Subrata Roy, a prominent figure in retail, real estate, and finance, died of cardiopulmonary arrest in poor health at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai. He died at 10:30 pm on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
Throughout his career, Mr. Subrata Roy has faced difficulties and legal battles, including allegations of a Ponzi scheme. Having established a significant business conglomerate in retail, real estate, and fiscal services, Subrata Roy set himself at the centre of a major contest. He has faced multiple legal and nonsupervisory battles against companies within his group, accused of despising regulations related to a Ponzi scheme—a charge the group has always denied.
The statement further expressed profound sadness at the loss of the Sahara India family, marking the demise of their deified’ Sahashri’, Subrata Roy. He has been described as an inspirational and visionary leader who guided and inspired numerous people who had the honor of working with him. During his term, Subrata Roy converted Sahara Group into a multi-billion-dollar company, making it one of the largest employers in the country. He even started Sahara Airways, you can read more about it later in this post.
He is also known for promoting comfortable ambience between influential figures in politics and Bollywood. Under his leadership, Sahara patronized Indian justice and hockey brigades and possessed a Formula 1 racing platoon. Indeed, two decades later, his two sons’ marriages were still one of the biggest festivals held in India, as’ they live in Lucknow.
His troubles began in November 2010, when the request controller SEBI directed two units of Sahara Group to stop collecting finances from equity requests or issue securities to the public. Subrata Roy was restrained from reaching out to the public to raise finances. He was subsequently arrested in 2014, grounded on a Supreme Court order regarding an alleged non-refund of over 20,000 crores to investors by his two companies. After carrying bail, he continued facing challenges in colourful business aspects.
Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited( SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited( SHICL) raised finances through Optionally Completely Convertible Debentures( OFCD) in 2007–08.
Although the Supreme Court acquitted Subrata Roy, Sahara couldn’t vend any means. At the end of June 2011, the controller asked two realities in the group to return the plutocrat to investors in voluntary completely convertible debentures (OFCDs). After lengthy legal battles and prayers, the Supreme Court in 2012 ordered a refund of about 24,000, crore with 15 percent interest to investors.
Air Sahara
Jet Airways had a low-cost division called Air Sahara. Prior to Jet Airways’ takeover, the airline was known as Air Sahara; after that, it changed its name to JetLite. Along with its parent business, Jet Airways, JetLite also halted all operations and grounded all of its flights on April 17, 2019.
The rebranding of Air Sahara as Jetlite was announced by Jet Airways on April 16. On April 20, Jet Airways made the last payment of ₹4 billion, completing the transaction formally.
Lifestyle
Roy was well known for living a life of luxury. The Sahara CEO had owned many homes, a collection of luxury cars including Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and BMWs, and a fleet of private jets and helicopters.
He was fascinated with creating homes that were modelled by famous locations; one was inspired by the White House, while another was modelled after Buckingham Palace.
He was also connected to some of India’s biggest actors and leaders.
Roy’s two sons got married in 2004, to an attendance of over 10,000 guests that included fashionistas, Bollywood stars, corporate giants, and cricket stars.
Following their flight on specially chartered aircraft to the venue, the newlyweds were blessed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Indian prime leader at the time.
More things to know about Subrata Roy:
| Born | 10 June 1948 |
|---|---|
| Born Place | Araria (Bihar, India) |
| Born Into | Bengali Hindu family |
| Parents | Mr. Sudhir Chandra Roy & Ms. Chhabi Roy |
| His Parents came from Dhaka, Bikrampur, East Bengal (now Bangladesh) from a rich property owner family named Bhagyakul Zamindary. | |
| Study | Holy Child Institute in Kolkata and for higher studied Mechanical Engineering at Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur. |
| Occupation | An Indian businessperson who founded Sahara India Pariwar in 1978. |
| Businesses fields | • Real State (Aamby Valley City), Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Sahara Movie Studios, SAHARA Air lines, & many more… • The Hindi language newspaper Rashtriya Sahara was started in 1992. • In 2000, Sahara TV was launched which was later renamed Sahara One. • Sahara has a workforce of around 1.2 million including salaried employees. • Sahara group was termed by Time magazine as "the second-largest employer in India" after the Government-run Indian Railways. • In June 2019, Subrata Roy announced his venture into the automobile sector and the brand name was 'Sahara Evols'. |
| Acclaimed as Indian Businessmen of the year | In 2012, by India Today. |
| Legitimate issues | • While building a massive empire in the retail, real estate, and financial services sectors, Subrata Roy met tragic fate when his companies got entangled in a legal battle with SEBI. In 2011, the market regulator had ordered Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) to return the money investors had invested in certain bonds known as Optionally Fully Convertible Bonds (OFCDs), which were later found to be illegal. • Following several months of court fights, the Supreme Court in 2012 confirmed Sebi's decision to require Subrata Roy's two companies to return the money they had taken in from investors, plus 15% interest, or around ₹24,000 crore. • In 2014, Subrata Roy's arrest was ordered by the Supreme Court due to his non-appearance in court regarding the dispute with SEBI. Later on, bail was given to Subrata Roy. • At one point, the Grosvenor House in London and the Plaza Hotel in New York were among Sahara's holdings, according to Reuters. The previous Force India Formula One team was co-owned by Subrata Roy as well. |
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