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Founder Of Sahara Group Subrata Roy Dies At 75 In Mumbai

BW Online Bureau Nov 14, 2023

Subrata Roy, 75, the founder of Sahara India Pariwar, died on Tuesday. He had been receiving treatment at a private hospital in Mumbai for some time.

Roy, who was born on 10 June 1948, in Araria, Bihar, was a prominent figure in the Indian business landscape, having built a vast empire that included finance, real estate, media and hospitality.

Roy's journey began with his mechanical engineering education at the Government Technical Institute in Gorakhpur. In Gorakhpur, he started a business before taking over Sahara Finance, a struggling chit-fund company in 1976. By 1978, he had renamed it Sahara India Pariwar, and it had grown to become one of India's largest conglomerates.

Sahara expanded into a variety of businesses under Roy's leadership. In 1992, the group launched the Hindi language newspaper Rashtriya Sahara and in the late 1990s, it launched the ambitious Aamby Valley City project near Pune, later renamed Sahara One. Sahara made international headlines in the 2000s when it purchased iconic properties such as London's Grosvenor House Hotel and New York City's Plaza Hotel.

India's Sahara Time magazine once named Pariwar the second-largest employer in India after Indian Railways, with a workforce of approximately 1.2 million people. The organisation claimed to have over 9 crore investors, representing a sizable portion of Indian households.
Despite his commercial success, Roy faced legal difficulties. His detention was ordered by the Supreme Court of India in 2014 for failing to appear in court in connection with a dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). This resulted in a protracted legal battle, with Roy spending time in Tihar Jail before being released on parole. The case centred on SEBI's demand that Sahara refunds billions to investors, with the Supreme Court establishing a "Sahara-Sebi refund account" to that end.

Roy's legal difficulties did not overshadow his contributions to business. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in business leadership from the University of East London, as well as the Business Icon of the Year award at the Powerbrands Hall of Fame Awards in London. He was also a regular on India Today's list of the country's most powerful people.

Roy looked to the future in his later years, with ventures such as Sahara Evols, which offered a range of electric vehicles and plans to enter the online education sector with Edunguru, targeting small towns and villages.

Subrata Roy's life was marked by notable accomplishments as well as notable controversies. His death leaves a legacy of a man who was once one of India's most powerful businessmen, with a business empire that touched the lives of millions throughout the country. While the Sahara Group mourns the loss of its founder, Subrata Roy's vision and entrepreneurial spirit will be remembered for years to come.