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
Whatever you do, shout, cry, Islam is the fastest growing religion not only in India, also in the whole world.
Only learned and educated people know about Islam.
corrupt brains talk like this so called sadhvi.
Even a 5 year old boys and girls can understand that there is no Beja (intellect) in them... How come the adult elect such kind of Leaders who bring their intellect to compare with the Monkey... Sometimes monkey show how intelligent they are...
She looks like came from BUDWARPET of Pune....anyway she use to give controversial statements for publicity stunt but she can be well known as an prostitute for adithyanath & others but not anything else....
Bondu ijjandina marl ponjo..... now i laugh to this type of idiotic statements this people dont know that islam will be alive till this earth exists........pity on u uncultured people
We need people like (Trump,Sadvi,Thogadia,Batta,) etc...who really advertise ISLAM.
Their Anger,Aggressiveness,Fear about Islam is clearly shown to the World.
After all what can a Creation do in front of their Creator (Almighty Allah)
We can just help you by Praying to Almighty Allah may to shower his blessings on you people .Ameen.
Its difficult because many non-muslims born to muslim fathers. Only their mother can tell their real fathers.
RSS should conduct DNA test, i hope they will find 99% DNA belongs to MUSLIM LEADERS.
1000 SAAL HAIYAASHI KA NATHIJA HAIN
She looks like road side beggar begging for food...who is she?? look at her.. yuck!!
Dear Prachiji,
good idea. 1.But first of stop buying gas, petrol, diesel from these countries. For that you need to research on cow urine to use as alternative or need to start pushpak viman,as always our PM says, Planes are the ideas from Puransas. 2.Stop exporting to these countries. 3. Bring back all the Indians working in these countries. Let us see how it will work. Do you have the plan to do this? 4. call back External PM or boycott him for visiting muslim countries begging for investment.Simply giving the communal statement and enjoying with the wealth of these people is not good for your health. people are realizing their mistake by voting your party.
India should be free from Sadhus and Sadhvis and should be sent to Singapore to share / taste snake and beef dishes with Naren
This is what BJPians foul mouth has to utter when PM is roaming around the word visiting Muslims countries and Christian countries begging them to invest in India. Poor people does not have any Hindu country to visit other than Nepal. They want Petrol from Muslim countries, they want investments from Muslim countries, they want Beef order from Muslim countries. But, they don't want Indians to live in India.
BJP is a party of such radical communals. They are not even aware that if they harm 1, 10 will be harmed by Creator, harm 2000 then 20000 will be harmed by Creator. Creator is the best planner. Do not forget natural disasters where 1000s perished.
Bap ray Bap wa Wa Parchi Deddi you better Tie with Our Gangasara \Narain\"he intends same stupid thinking, mainly you Saffron Criminal goonda Looter leader your mind is very short, Your Dream is very high but If you want leave in this Country your thinking stupidity's you Deedi never and ever get peace always in Hell of life, you Understand First, Vanishing others you might Vanish First remember this world is far away from your thinking, you thought your Cheela go America kneel down to US President, you can dream anything for long/ way distance but do not happy days, You Buffoon's definitely get your own day one or other day Parchi."
This only dream......in future it will be vice versa
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