The story of the man behind India’s biggest parivar

Brut India

With Rs. 2000 in his pocket, he went on to build one of India’s biggest businesses doing door-to-door sales but soon the regulators came knocking. This is the story of Sahara chief Subrata Roy.

Transcript

00:00He started his business with just Rs 2,000 and went on to own an airline, a TV channel

00:08and even sponsored the Indian cricket team for a decade.

00:12But his life on the fast lane came crashing down when he was arrested and sent to Tihar

00:16Jail.

00:17This is the story of Subrata Roy, a first-generation entrepreneur who built an empire that was

00:23once the second-largest employer in India but did not see a fairytale ending.

00:32He was born on 10 June 1948 in Bihar's Araria.

00:36He was a child when his family moved to Uttar Pradesh in search of better opportunities.

00:41He got a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Government Technical Institute in

00:46Gorakhpur and had plans to work for a company.

00:49But his father's sudden death pushed him to drive a scooter around Gorakhpur to sell

00:53snacks throughout the day.

00:57He met Swapna, a university topper, through a common friend and the two fell in love and

01:02got married after a courtship of seven years.

01:06When he was 28, he took over a struggling chit fund company and launched Sahara Finance.

01:11Then, two years later, with just Rs 2,000 in his pocket, he completely revamped its

01:17financial model.

01:18On a talk show, Roy said he had pawned some of his wife's gold jewellery during his

01:23struggling days and once he became successful, he gifted her gold jewellery as gratitude

01:28on every birthday.

01:30Sahara was now a residuary, non-banking company, which meant it was a non-financial entity

01:35that accepted deposits of small amounts from the public.

01:40Agents would go door-to-door to collect deposits which could be made as low as Rs 20 and promised

01:45lucrative returns.

01:47These clients included Indians from very low-income backgrounds who didn't have bank accounts.

01:52The company saw enormous success towards the end of the 2000s due to its financial model

01:57and diversification into other sectors.

02:00In the 2000s, Roy launched a Hindi daily and began developing Ambivali, a 10,600-acre township

02:07for India's richest.

02:09The township had amenities such as airstrips, helipads, golf courses, luxurious restaurants

02:15and bungalows.

02:16The Supreme Court would later attempt to auction off Ambivali to the highest bidder.

02:21Roy even owned professional sports teams, a television channel, a hospital, some real

02:26estate companies and an airline called Sahara Air.

02:29He now referred to his investors as his Sahara Parivar or Sahara Family.

02:34His 270-acre sprawling estate called Sahara Shehar in Lucknow hosted politicians, actors

02:40and businessmen across the country.

02:43He hosted extravagant yearly events for his investors and partied with his high-profile

02:47friends.

02:48He had a close relationship with then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulaim Singh Yadav

02:53and his family.

02:54After being sworn in as the Chief Minister in 2012, Akhilesh Yadav visited his residence

02:59first.

03:00He was said to have spent over Rs 500 crore for his son's wedding, which was attended

03:05by actors and politicians, including then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpai.

03:10In 2004, Time magazine called Sahara India's second-largest employer that employed 1.2

03:16million people just after the Indian Railways.

03:19The same year, the Congress government came to power.

03:23When rumours floated about Sonia Gandhi potentially becoming the Prime Minister, he said only

03:28Indians should be heading the country.

03:30He said this comment was the reason that he ran into legal and financial trouble later.

03:36In 2007, he sold his airline to Jet Airways after the aviation industry became competitive

03:42and the company lost a lot of its market share.

03:44A year later, his two companies came under scrutiny from the country's financial regulators,

03:50the RBI and SEBI, both of which ordered them to stop collecting deposits from the public.

03:56These companies sold bonds to the public but were accused of running a Ponzi scheme instead.

04:02In 2011, when SEBI ordered a refund for the investors of the two companies with a 15%

04:08interest, an explosive legal battle between Roy and the financial regulator ensued.

04:13At one point, there was a major traffic jam in Mumbai because 127 trucks carrying information

04:19of crores of investors were being sent from the Sahara headquarters to the SEBI office.

04:25Roy said the regulators were seeking to drive him out of business due to personal vendetta.

04:31The Sahara agents bore the brunt of the controversy as many were boycotted by their families and

04:35had to move out of their village as panic ensued on the uncertainty of the money invested.

04:41Public opinion on Roy changed overnight and disgruntled investors demanded to get their

04:46money back.

04:47On his way to court one day, an onlooker threw black ink on his face, which was a symbol

04:51of protest.

04:53The Supreme Court told him that if he failed to comply with its demands and didn't pay

04:58to the investors, he would be sent to jail.

05:02On 4 March 2014, Roy was behind the bars.

05:05His bail amount was set at ₹10,000 crore.

05:09He was said to have paid more than ₹1.3 crore to Tihar Jail authorities for special

05:14facilities.

05:15He had access to air conditioning, Wi-Fi, laptops, cell phones and even a conference

05:21room and prison so he could talk to his international clients and run his business.

05:25But six months later, he was moved to an ordinary cell.

05:29He said this sudden change in lifestyle came to him as a shock and that he spent many lonely

05:34and painful days in jail.

05:36He penned three books about his experience behind bars.

05:39In 2016, after spending two years in jail, he was released on parole owing to his poor

05:44health.

05:45While many of his companies were still running, employing around 12 lakh people, his arrest

05:50had damaged his reputation.

05:52His celebrity friends distanced themselves from him and he withdrew from the limelight.

05:58In July 2023, the central government launched a refund portal for investors who were waiting

06:03for a refund from any of the Sahara companies.

06:06After a prolonged health battle, Roy died of cardiac arrest on 14 November.

06:11His funeral procession was attended by more than 5,000 people, including Sahara employees.

06:17His company maintained that the majority of its investors were given a refund.

06:22Roy's influence and power changed society, politics and India's economy in the 2000s

06:27but also left many Indians uncertain if they would ever see their money again.

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