From riches to ruins: India’s fallen tycoons

There was a time when they dominated the Forbes lists, ruled boardrooms, and constructed empires industries. But in the reality, anything can happen. This is how India tycoons constructed empires and made their decision-making, unchecked ambition and misconduct in finances drive them to a massive downfall.

Famous Indian Billionaires Who Lost Everything

Here is a closer look at 7 famous Indian billionaires who have lost their fortunes over the years.

1. Sanjay and Neeraj Bhushan

Sanjay and Neeraj Bhushan constructed India's biggest players in the metal field. Bhushan Steel and Bhushan Power were some of very renowned names in India in metal industry. But their entire kingdom fell down due to money laundering scandals.

Sanjay and Neeraj Bhushan, the promoters of Bhushan Steel and Bhushan Power were charged with obtaining fraudulent loans of 56,000 crore rupees from state owned banks. After it released, both the brothers were subjected to legal battle and the whole empire fell down like playing cards.

2. Subrata Roy

Subrata Roy was the proprietor of Sahara India Pariwar. The business empire worth more than 2.5 lakh crore rupees once getting invested in various sectors such as finance, real estate, hospitality. They even used to have their logo on the jersey of India's Cricket team.

But Sahara India Pariwar folded when India market watchdog SEBI charged Sahara group of raising illegally over 24,000 crore rupees from over 3 crore investors for his ponzi schemes.

SEBI crackdown resulted in Roy being arrested in 2014, he stayed in jail until 2016. Although he was released later, but his empire folded and reputation never returned. Roy died in 2023, leaving an empire eternally marred by accusations of operating ponzi like operations.

3. Shahid Balwa

It was the year 2010 when Shahid Balwa was India's youngest billionaire of the year 2010, due to his stakes in DB realty.

But the very next year 2011, Balwa was alleged to have been a major participant in 2G spectrum scam. The CBI charged that Balwa assisted then telecom minister A Raja in exchange for licences that favored his firm. He ended up behind bars due to such charges.

Balwa was cleared in 2017, but his business empire never regained his earlier levels.

4. Naresh Goyal

Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways was a symbol of Indian aspiration in the aviation sector.

Jet grew into india's largest airline under Goyal.

But as we all know, it is extremely hard to operate an airline business. If you want to destroy your money, invest in airlines. That's what Goyal did. Accumulating debt compelled Goyal to shut down Jet Airways in 2019.

Goyal was later charged with 538 crore rupees of false book-keeping in 2023. Although he has been released on health reasons, but Goyal and his aspiration to restart his airline is stuck in high debt.

5. Nirav Modi

Luxury jeweler Nirav Modi was once renowned for his jewelleries, which were odourned by major celebrities. But in 2018, he was charged with 14,000 crore rupees by Punjab National Bank authorities to get fruadulent Letters of Undertaking, which allowed him to siphon money undetected.

He escaped India during the scandel and arrived in United Kingdom, where he still is under house arrest as extradition proceedings continue.

6. Venugopal Dhoot

As a business founder, Venugopal Dhoot turned Videocon into an Indian household trust of electronics products. As of 2015, he is worth more than 1.2 billion dollars.

However, his mismanagement and suspected fraud in obtaining a 3,000 crore loan from ICICI Bank brought him down. Videocon became insolvent in 2021 and Dhoot was forced to go to jail between 2022 to 2023.

7. Vijay Mallya

The 'King of Good Times' Vijay Mallya owned Kingfisher Airlines in which any Indian would dreamed of getting one. From airlines to liquor, beer, Kingfisher was a big brand among India's corporate behemoths. But his dreams came crashing down in the form of suffocating debt running over 9,000 crore rupees.

Owing to accusations against him, Mallya escaped to United Kingdom. Despite continued extradition wars, he still represents one of India's most dramatic business flops.

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These stories of Indian businessman present a harsh reality. It is not easy to achieve such a state of expanding businesses beyond life, but it is more challenging to maintain them with greater ambitions.