For many Indian tycoons, 2019 turned woeful as lenders -- empowered by the nation’s recent bankruptcy law and desperate to clean up soured debt from their books -- started seizing assets of delinquent firms or dragged them into insolvency.
Indian banks wrote off a record $39 billion of loans in the 18 months through September in a bid to repair their balance sheets as they battled the world’s worst bad debt pile. Making matters worse, a shadow banking crisis led to a funding squeeze, crushing debt-laden businesses that were critically dependent on rollover financing.
“Life has come a full circle for tycoons that had enjoyed debt-fueled growth,” said Nirmal Gangwal, founder of distress and debt restructuring advisory firm Brescon & Allied Partners LLP. “Many firms collapsed like a house of cards. The downfall was rather unprecedented.”
The government has also been cracking down on economic crime to assuage public anger over absconding businessmen. It’s even barred some from traveling overseas if they were deemed a flight risk.
Here are some of the country’s biggest and most-storied businessmen who saw their fortunes fade. Spokespersons for none of these tycoons, except Essar, immediately replied to emails and text messages seeking comments.
Anil Ambani
The chairman of Reliance Group, which makes movies to metro lines, had a close shave with jail time in March before his elder brother and Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, bailed him out at the last minute. The woes of the ex-billionaire came to the fore when India’s top court asked him to pay Ericsson AB’s India unit about $77 million of past dues or go to jail since Anil Ambani, 60, had given a personal guarantee. His telecom carrier slipped into insolvency this year, while unprofitable Reliance Naval & Engineering Ltd. faced a cash crunch. Reliance Capital Ltd. is selling assets to pare debt. Ambani is also fending off Chinese lenders in a London court.
Malvinder & Shivinder Singh
Karma caught up with ex-billionaires and brothers Malvinder Singh, 47, and Shivinder Singh, 44, and how. Scions of a prominent business family, they once helmed India’s top drug maker and second-largest hospital chain. In October, the two were arrested on charges of fraudulently diverting nearly $337 million from a lender they controlled. India’s market regulator found in 2018 that the brothers had defrauded their hospital company of about $56 million. The collapse of the $2 billion empire turned brother against brother, prompting their mother to broker a peace deal that was short-lived. In February, Malvinder accused Shivinder and their spiritual guru of fraud.
Shashikant & Ravikant Ruia
After a hard-fought battle to keep their flagship steel mill, the first-generation entrepreneurs finally saw the bankrupt Essar Steel India Ltd. pass on to ArcelorMittal last month. The $5.9 billion takeover was almost two years in the making with multiple legal wrangles. The group, controlled by Shashikant Ruia, 76, and Ravikant Ruia, 70, were also reprimanded by a U.K. judge in March this year for concealing documents. Started in 1969 as a construction firm, Essar Group diversified, investing about $18 billion between 2008 and 2012, and piled on debt. In 2017, the group had sold another prized asset, Essar Oil.
Selling an asset to pare a liability shouldn’t be seen as a “lost asset,” an Essar spokesman said, adding that the group remains a diversified conglomerate.
VG Siddhartha
Before jumping off a bridge into a river in July in an apparent suicide, the founder of India’s biggest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day had penned a letter that spoke of pressure from lenders, a private equity firm and harassment by tax officials. He had spent much of the last two years pledging ever more of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. shares to refinance loans for ever shorter periods, at ever higher interest rates. “I would like to say I gave it my all,” V.G. Siddhartha, 60, wrote in the letter. “I fought for a long time but today I gave up.”
Naresh Goyal
The former ticketing agent who built India’s largest airline by value, stepped down as chairman of Jet Airways India Ltd. in March, caving in to pressure from banks who took over the company. Cut-throat price wars and surging costs pushed Jet deeper into loss. The airline stopped flying in April and went into bankruptcy two months later as lenders failed to find a buyer. In July, an Indian court barred Naresh Goyal from flying overseas after the government said it was investigating an alleged $2.6 billion fraud involving Jet Airways.
Rana Kapoor
The founder of Yes Bank Ltd., which became India’s fourth-largest non-state lender, tweeted in September 2018 that his shares were invaluable and requested his children never to sell them upon inheritance. But trouble was brewing. The nation’s banking regulator, which found the lender had repeatedly under-reported its bad loans, refused to extend his tenure as chief executive officer. This forced Rana Kapoor, 62, to step down by end-January. Kapoor, who has pledged some of his Yes Bank shares in July, sold almost his entire stake in the lender by October.
Subhash Chandra
The rice trader-turned-media mogul, 69, who brought cable television into Indian homes in the early 1990s with his ZEE TV, resigned as chairman of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. in November and lost control of his crown jewel. Subhash Chandra has been selling stake in Zee Entertainment in the past few months to repay group’s debt.
Gautam Thapar
A default by Gautam Thapar, founder of the paper mill-to-power transmission Avantha Group, on pledged shares made Yes Bank Ltd. the biggest shareholder in CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd. In August, the firm was hit by an accounting scandal forcing the board to remove Thapar, 59, from the chairman’s post. A month later, the market regulator ordered a forensic audit of the firm and barred Thapar from accessing securities market.
Comments
Dear Irshad sunnis are Not blindly following. sunni follow the 4 Imam they also studied Quran & hadith .sunni have Many ulema studied quran & hadith
This is the influence of BJP's friendship with AP Usthad and Sunni group.
Sunni has no guts to debate with Salafi or Thableek on the base of Quran and Hadeeth.
Sunni is still running under darkness. Instead of calling sunni or salafi, try to prove as muslim by reading and understanding quran and hadeeth, and implant in your life.
After death Angel will ask what is your Din. Answer is Islam not Sunni or Salafi. After death answer is only Islam then why in Dunia so called Sunni and Salfi. Dear Sunni brothers don't blindly follow so called Malabarys. Use your own brain
Whoever said we fight with each other are totally wrong. This is an attack from one group only On those people who are trying to spread the actual message of islam that says Pray to Allah only. The very first chapter of quran clears everything. And all those who oppose are people who have totally misunderstood and lost faith in Quran.
Sunni has taken very drastic route to fight the people of thouheed when it failed to justify through Quran and hadees for what they are doing like darga, mawlid, waseelah etc. this is a sign of failure nothing else.. And as said in Quran falsehood is bound to perish!! But no matter what Allah is with the true believers!!
006.159
\Indeed, those who divide their religion and break up into sects, you have no part with them in the least: their affair is with God: He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they used to do\"
THEN WHO MADE THIS SUNNI, SALAFI ETC, WHY THEY NEED TAG.
PROPHET MOHAMMED WAS NEITHER SUNNI NOR SALAFI,"
Good Lessons for Salfees, who is dividing the society....this should continue in other place also....
Sunnis are becoming arrogant and trying to crush all others who are opposing them. Ulemas in this factions are not doing much to end so many superstitious beliefs and exploitation in the name of religion. They are not addressing the social issues which are causing damage to our society yet again its all unislamic too. If Salafi's are doing their function, why sunnis to there and ransack. It clearly indicates that their mind set is instigated by their Ulemas. As far as I know Salafis are only opposing some of the ill practices which are unislamic but we borrowed from other communities. Such as 1. Dowry - Totally not in Islam but very rampant in other communities. We borrowed it but Sunni ulemas are silent. They are not opposing it. 2. Practicing bidaat like visiting shrines, muslim swamis etc instead of praying to Allah. Hidden benefit to some factions of society - so one is opposing. 3. There are many harams being practiced by some members of society instead of opposing those things they are opposing Salafis etc. They should strongly oppose drinks and many other haram practices in our society. I am sure those attackers may not be praying 5 times but they want to oppose salafis. Very very Contradicting.
Grave worshiping must stop. Shirk must stop. Allah will not give another opportunity to us anymore. Stop sleeping on real issue. Ponder on religion. Start calling yourself Muslim rather than salafi or sunni. We are all to blame for not conveying true message of Islam to our own people. May Allah Guide Us All
IDENTIFY REAL CULPRITS
there is a old proverb in Tulunadu in Tulu \ JAATHIG JAATHI PAGE , NAIG NAI PAGE\" , regardless of hindu and muslims , this is common in Dakshina Kannada.
If any organization who makes programme , whatever they speak one should not go and attack them. Those who attack are called\"terrorists\".
You can take many examples if Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat or similar extremists speaks against muslims in the public speech, no organization, or no muslims go there and attack them, at the same time SDPI party organizers who speak against RSS and Kalladka Bhat in the open function infront of DC office, never RSS people go there and attack the speaker or audience.
Nobody is above the law and nobody in this earth equal to GOD or Prophets. We have seen Swamies, Thangals, Priests ... were doing immoral activities and some are in the jail too.
It is our big mistake that we have imported from nearby Kerala all these politics. These groups are all from Malayalees influenced in
Mangalore religious activities. It is very hard now to eliminate these kerala groups. Because they have already poisoned our common people.
It is unfortunate that in Mangalore some educated so called muslim leaders (businessmen) are supporting these elements. Even one of the University Chancellor too behind these people , going each and every dargas etc. It is shameful.
Now it is the time to unite and fight against the terrorists and facist by joining hands together with other community members but not fighting within the groups."
Not right to use the word \extremist\""
Salafis are big criminals should be banned their organisation all over the country dont let them to do programs.
I thought this Coastal Digest media is diffrent from safron or evening paper.... but again it has proved that... all media is same on thier belif... why should you mention heading ... SALAFI ATTACKED BY SUNNI... rather than group attacked some persons.....
Shame on you CD ..... you are doing lkie western media....
Yaan iththe Tableeg jamaath. Yergaavuye Salafi-Sunni kiri kiri..
haha.. Congo Salafi Sunni brothers for the clash. Bcoz of you people our naren kotian is back !!!
I witnessed this incident. I think many among those who attacked the Salfis were drunk. First time I came to know that Muslims in our region consume alcohol.
Some organisation mus take up the cause of creating awareness among Muslim youths about drug abuse and alcoholism now.
Excuse me. Those are not sunnis. They are grave worshippers, which is strictly prohibited in Islam. Our beloved prophet(S) gave order to hazrat Ali (r) to demolish graves. And these people build graves and do urs and other non-Islamic rituals.
So called Sunni's I know if salafi's talk about bidaath that you people are doing then you will get frustrate. Salafi's are talking with thye reference of Quraan & Hadeeth. If anything which goes against your belief then you guys are ready to kill and fight. My request is with you that if you have any doubts then arrange a stage and lets have a debate on the issues with the knowledge of quraan & Hadeeth. Fighting only shows your weakness.
islamic state practising lynching after looking at their chummah brothers in raqqa... papa 2020 ge isis namma rashtrakke nuggi baruttajnthe ... so may be trials they are doing .... nia must watch ...
Better to send these trouble makers to Andaman and engage them in Construction activities.....
DIVIDING is a tool used by Shaitan & his followers.
SABR is a tool which our prophets of ALLAH taught to their FOLLOWERS to be used in times of ANGER...
When U miss SABR, U end up helping the SHAITAN and his followers.
To be Patience, Follow how Prophet Muhammad pbuh taught us to tackle such situation .... If the LEADERS of EACH group doesnt start to UNITE the MUSLIMs. It will become WORSE in the coming days.
Any msg you receive thru FACEBOOK, Whatsapp or other media channel Please VERIFY it... B4 U fall & trap to such ignorant actions..
Peaceful, Peaceful, Peaceful Piiieeece......
14th century divided ills. Bale Telippale.
Dear Brother Mohan Mahajan (Fake Name)
You might feel funny now but Day is not far to realize and to repent on your FUNNY Comment unfortunately you will not find any one around you to listen your repent.
Viren and Naren brothers are innocent leave them,Poor guys...
Im a MUSLIM....
When somebody is talking about ALLAH and giving knowledge about ALLAH and its prophet... STOP and LISTEN carefully what they say about ALLAH and his prophets....
May be he is saying GOOD and with ignorance, YOU might stop the message of our Prophet Mohammad pbuh reaching out to the PUBLIC...which will have ACCOUNTABLE infront of our CREATOR...
STOP looking other MUSLIM as Sunni, Salafi, Mujahid, Jammat... (Dont ACT like the people of JAHILIYA...) LOOK every MUSLIM as a MUSLIM...and avoid traping to shaitan's trick of DIVISION.
There might be a difference of OPINION, even the SAHABAS had.. But they didn't fight each other.
When Prophet Muhammad pbuh said to take care of the neighbors ( He did not say only MUSLIMs... even if your neighbor is a NON MUSLIM, We should follow the advise of the best of HUMAN and the messenger of ALLAH & treat our neighbor in the best way..).
Bap ray bap, what's going on you wonder world religious crazy's no one not knows who is perfect, who are those buffoons Injured the (religious name fighting) decently the are going to Hell!!!!! because they are destructed, damaged the peaceful nation, never told in Islam or Your Thouheed, really you Citizens of Hindustan you are very much Lucky you Born and Brought up in Hindustan!! not in Pakistan?? my dear citizens of Hindustanis, pleas be aware all good Human beings going to \Heaven\", and Trouble makers going to \"Hell\" please do not kill Innocent people to Earn money to your pocket to feed Poison to Your generation, that's Haram bai Sabb!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jai Hindustan
Jai Hoo Modiannsa."
Hahaha. good one. but keep this fighting within you only. If u touch Hindus Bajrang Dal knows how to teach you people a lesson.
When people started to preach about True Islam definitely there will be some one to oppose, because for some innocent people they cannot Digest the TRUTH.Even Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) used to face such incidents during his time.Even his Own family used to curse him.Prophets uncle cursed him by saying 'Thabbalaq ya Muhammed' (You may Destroy),But at the end Almighty Allah Destroyed his Uncle itself.So no need to worry about all this.After all this is nothing compare to our Beloved Prophet Muhammed PBUH. He faced more then this.
Be patiece and do not quite Preaching Truth to entire Humanity.Because Islam is for all.It will benefit life after death.In sha allah
Very sad. Now salafism will grow. Whenever they came under attack, more number of sunnis joined Salafi. two decades ago there were hardly two dozen salafis in Mangaluru
What a shame. A few years ago we were blaming evengers for publishing such reports. But now we all know about the rising intolerance within small muslim community members in coastal Karnataka. Why the hell these people behave like Bajrang Dal goons? Whats the difference between BD goons and the one who carried out attack on a religious conference?
Dont understand when will the muslims ever become smart! Guys, just follow what you beleive.. Why try to impose on others? Let Sunnis do maulood or visit dargahs or even do ratib.... Why try to be judge? Let Allah decide whats wrong and right... Its been 1400 years since the Islam came through Prophet Muhammed and in the time of Sahabis, the sect Shia came into existence... Since 1400 years the Shias are still in this world and no Salafis or Sunnis could ever convince them and bring them to main stream Islam!! Then, why the hell are we fighting now among our self? Just practice what is good for you, let ALlah be the judge in the end...
:) funny followers of a funny religion do always funny things.
So called sunnis are losing their brain and heart....now they realized that they cannot make corrupt money any more....and can't cheat innocents by inviting them to do shirk at various dargahs....and these dargahs are money making machine for some....looting poor and down and trodden people in the name of saints.....all I can say is day time looting.....
he he he really funny fighting for what ? this s the unity between so called () community.
Shameless and Loveless Muslims know only to speak bad about others and fight with each other.Where is Islam?U are fighting for Islam???Islam means peace,loving each other,forgiving each other,helping each other.Humanity is Islam.Not just 5 times Namaz,fasting,haj to meccca etc....Prophets came to the communities to bring peace..not to create problems..Forgive each other for the sake of Heaven...and most of the problem will get solved.
firstly we need to identify what we are .. where we are heading to? we cant maintain brotherhood then what and from where we can expect the same from others!!
may Allah guide all
Add new comment