Subrata Roy

Subrata Roy was born in Araria in Bihar, India 1948[3] to Sudhir Chandra Roy and Chhabi Roy.[4][5] He studied at Holy Child School in Kolkata and later studied mechanical engineering from Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur.[6] Roy started his first business in Gorakhpur.[7][8]

Roy joined Sahara Finance, a struggling company, in 1976,[9][10] that ran a chit fund[11] and took it over. He changed its financial model in 1978. Sahara is said to have used the financial model of much older Peerless Group. They are termed residuary non-banking companies (RNBCs)[12] that accept deposits of very low amounts.

In the 1990s, Roy moved to Lucknow which became the base of his group.[13] His Sahara City project covering 217 self-sufficient townships was launched in the 1990s.[14] From there, it went on to become the largest conglomerate of India with a diversified range of business interests. The company now has interests in financial services, education, real estate, media, entertainment, tourism, healthcare, and hospitality.

The Hindi newspaper Rashtriya Sahara was started in 1992. In the late 1990s, the ambitious Aamby Valley City project near Pune was initiated. In 2000, Sahara TV was launched which was later renamed Sahara One. In 2003, Sahara started three weeklies: Sahara Time (English), Sahara Samay (Hindi) and Sahara Aalmi (Urdu).[15]

In 2010, Sahara purchased the iconic Grosvenor House Hotel in London,[16] and 2012 the historic Plaza Hotel and Dream Downtown Hotel in New York City.[17]

Sahara has a workforce of around 1.4 million, including salaried employees and field workers.[18] In 2004, Sahara group was termed by Time magazine as "the second-largest employer in India" after the Government-run Indian Railways.

Sahara is said to have 29.6 million investors and depositors, representing about 8.5% of all households in India.[19]

Subrata Roy has been planning to foray into online education in India, which is targeted at small towns and villages. He has put a team in place which consists of members from top universities and colleges across India, and even abroad.[20] The route map of the program has been prepared, and 14,000 hours of lectures has been developed for this.[21]

In 2013, Sahara contributed to the relief efforts in flood hit Uttarakhand region wherein one lakh bottles of drinking water, packaged juice and food packets along with candles and match boxes were said to be provided by them. There were 25 medical health unit vans equipped with doctors and free medicines made available and it was said by the group that, they will contribute to the rehabilitation programme by constructing 10,000 pre-fabricated houses.[22]

Post Kargil War, the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee praised Sahara India led by Subrata Roy Sahara for providing financial support to the 127 families of martyrs.[23]

Roy received an honorary doctorate in business leadership from the University of East London (2013).[24]

He also received the Business Icon of the Year award at the Powerbrands Hall of Fame Awards in London in 2011.[25] He has been the ITA – TV Icon of the Year 2007. He has received the Global Leadership Award in 2004.[26] He received Businessmen of the Year Award in 2002, the Best Industrialist Award in 2002, Vishisht Rashtriya Udaan Samman (2010) by a daily from one of India's top publication houses, Vocational Award for Excellence (2010) by Rotary International, Karmaveer Samman (1995), Udyam Shree (1994), Baba-E-Rozgar Award (1992) and the National Citizen Award in 2001. He was awarded a general jury award by the Indian Television Academy Awards.[27] He has been also awarded with honorary degree of D. Litt. by Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga.[28] Moreover, he has been featured regularly in the India Today list of 50 Most Powerful People of India, since 2003.{ref?}

In 2012, Roy was named among the 10 most influential businessmen in India by the news magazine India Today.[29]

In 2004, Sahara India was termed by Time magazine as "the second largest employer in India" after Indian Railways.[30][31]

Roy has propounded the corporate philosophy of 'Collective Materialism',[32] that advocates collective growth through collective sharing and caring. He has given lectures on the corporate philosophy propounded by him at Harvard University, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Banares Hindu University and many other institutions.

He has written the following books -

• Shanti, Sukh: Santushti - 1994, Essays on peace of mind and happy living.[33]
• Maan, Samman, Atmasamman[34]
• Life Mantras [35] - "Life Mantras" was released on 2 February 2016 in 5,120 public events across India. The book is the first of the trilogy written by Roy. The book was the best seller and was among the top 5 in the Nielsen BookScan bestseller chart for India for four consecutive weeks. Life Mantras topped the chart by ranking number one and has become a bestseller in the non-fiction category as tracked by Nielsen BookScan.[36]
• Think With Me[37] - The second book of his trilogy was launched on 18 December 2016,[38] at the national 'Think With Summit'. The event proved to be a melting pot of ideas from visionaries and thought leaders. This edition talks about the importance of leadership and aligned all efforts towards the nation.

On 26 February 2014, the Supreme Court of India ordered the detention of Roy for failing to appear before it in connection with legal dispute with Market Regulator - SEBI.[39] In a statement after the arrest, his lawyer said Roy's 92-year-old mother was in poor health and needed "her eldest son" by her side, and hence he failed to appear at the court.[40] As he failed to appear in the court during the ongoing legal battle, Roy was held in custody in the Tihar Jail, Delhi and is now out on parole since May 2016. Sahara was allowed to sell a part of its assets in India to raise part of the money in question.[41]

Initially he was granted interim bail by Supreme Court of India on 26 March 2014 on condition of depositing Rs 10,000 crore with the market regulator SEBI.[42] His deposit of 10,000 crore has not been made.[43] As of August 2014, Roy was trying to sell some of his hotel properties to raise enough money.[44] Roy was granted his first bail in May 2017 for four weeks to perform the last rites for his deceased mother, later extended to 24 October.[45] Since then he has been successful in getting his bail extended on various grounds. As of 31 January 2019, Sahara still had to pay Rs 10,621 crore to meet its total liability.[46]

Sahara claims that the company's fundamentals are intact and assets are greater than the liabilities.[47] and so far has deposited more than 20,000 crores which will in due course of justice come back to Sahara India as it has already repaid 95% of its investors[48] The Securities And Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has repaid only Rs 64 crore to the investors since 2012.[49] It is also been reported that Sahara has paid Rs 725.97 crore as TDS (tax deducted at source) to the Income Tax Departments on the interest which along with investment was repaid to 95 percent of the investors, between 2009–10 and 2012-13. The income tax authorities had found that the beneficiary investors were existent and accordingly confirmed the repayments made in those particular years. One of Sahara's arguments in the apex court revolves around the fact that if one government body has found investors, why can't the other.[50]

• Official Website of 'Saharasri' Subrata Roy Sahara
• Subrata Roy Sahara Website
• Sahara Group Official Website