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Sahara: The Untold Story
Sahara: The Untold Story is based on painstaking research to demystify India's most secretive and largely unlisted conglomerate, the Sahara India Pariwar. It also delves into the group's ongoing legal battle with the market regulator.
Entrepreneur Subrata Roy, the guardian angel of the group, whose feet are touched by everybody in the Pariwar, wants to reach out to a million lives and feels impeded and shuttered in by regulations. So the clash with the regulators was inevitable. But when a regulator slams one door, maverick Roy opens another. This play has been on since 1978, when Sahara was set up.
Roy is well known for glamour and his association with film stars, cricketers and politicians. He exudes patriotism, with a statue of Bharat Mata (the presiding deity of the group) on a chariot driven by four fierce-looking lions adorning his headquarters in Lucknow. He is the Robin Hood of a country where only 35% of the adult population has access to formal banking services. This India and its millions of illiterate poor depositors stand in awe and admiration of him. But does he also exploit them? Do these poor people actually keep money with him or are they fronting for others?
EXCERPT FROM THE SAHARA INDIA PARIWAR DISCLAIMER
'The book at best can be treated as a perspective of the author with all its defamatory content, insinuation and other objections, which prompted us to exercise our right to approach the court of law in order to save the interest of the organization and its crores of depositors and 12 lakh workers.'
Entrepreneur Subrata Roy, the guardian angel of the group, whose feet are touched by everybody in the Pariwar, wants to reach out to a million lives and feels impeded and shuttered in by regulations. So the clash with the regulators was inevitable. But when a regulator slams one door, maverick Roy opens another. This play has been on since 1978, when Sahara was set up.
Roy is well known for glamour and his association with film stars, cricketers and politicians. He exudes patriotism, with a statue of Bharat Mata (the presiding deity of the group) on a chariot driven by four fierce-looking lions adorning his headquarters in Lucknow. He is the Robin Hood of a country where only 35% of the adult population has access to formal banking services. This India and its millions of illiterate poor depositors stand in awe and admiration of him. But does he also exploit them? Do these poor people actually keep money with him or are they fronting for others?
EXCERPT FROM THE SAHARA INDIA PARIWAR DISCLAIMER
'The book at best can be treated as a perspective of the author with all its defamatory content, insinuation and other objections, which prompted us to exercise our right to approach the court of law in order to save the interest of the organization and its crores of depositors and 12 lakh workers.'
412 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 2014
51 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
Tamal Bandyopadhyay
18 books56 followersTamal Bandyopadhyay is an Indian business journalist, known for his weekly column on banking and finance Banker's Trust published in Mint, an Indian business daily brought out by HT Media Ltd. He has authored four books namely From Lehman to Demonetization: A Decade of Disruptions, Reforms and Misadventures Bandhan: The Making of a Bank, Sahara: The Untold Story and A Bank for the Buck.
He is popular for his weekly column on banking and finance called Banker's Trust which is published every Monday. His frequent blog Banker's Trust Real Time on livemint.com analyses major developments in the financial sector.
Between April and November 2011, he ran a 32 episode series on Bloomberg India TV, called Banker's Trust, where senior central bankers, commercial bankers, and economists were interviewed every week.
Releasing Tamal's first book, A Bank for the Buck, in November 2012, then finance minister P Chidambaram said, "In a period of great financial illiteracy, it's refreshing to have a book written by somebody very literate about matters relating to finance". In his foreword to the book, former governor of Reserve Bank of India, Y. Venugopal Reddy, wrote, "It's a sort of recent oral history of a financial institution. Tamal has set a new trend in the dissemination of knowledge."
Tamal's second book, Sahara: The Untold Story, details the beginnings and the current day working of the secretive Sahara India Parivar. Well researched, with umpteen interviews with people concerned including Subrata Roy, the book was also cause of a stay order later requested by the Sahara group. In December 2013, the Sahara India Pariwar, moved Calcutta High Court, got a stay on the publication of the book and filed a Rs 2 billion defamation suit against the author and its publisher, Jaico Publishing House.[8] In April 2014, both the parties reached an out of court settlement following which the book carries a disclaimer by Sahara which says, among other things, the book has "defamatory content" --something unprecedented in Indian publishing history, as narrated in Sue the Messenger by Subir Ghosh, with Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. [9]
He has also published a book of poems in Bengali Anupam Meenrashi in January 2014.
He is popular for his weekly column on banking and finance called Banker's Trust which is published every Monday. His frequent blog Banker's Trust Real Time on livemint.com analyses major developments in the financial sector.
Between April and November 2011, he ran a 32 episode series on Bloomberg India TV, called Banker's Trust, where senior central bankers, commercial bankers, and economists were interviewed every week.
Releasing Tamal's first book, A Bank for the Buck, in November 2012, then finance minister P Chidambaram said, "In a period of great financial illiteracy, it's refreshing to have a book written by somebody very literate about matters relating to finance". In his foreword to the book, former governor of Reserve Bank of India, Y. Venugopal Reddy, wrote, "It's a sort of recent oral history of a financial institution. Tamal has set a new trend in the dissemination of knowledge."
Tamal's second book, Sahara: The Untold Story, details the beginnings and the current day working of the secretive Sahara India Parivar. Well researched, with umpteen interviews with people concerned including Subrata Roy, the book was also cause of a stay order later requested by the Sahara group. In December 2013, the Sahara India Pariwar, moved Calcutta High Court, got a stay on the publication of the book and filed a Rs 2 billion defamation suit against the author and its publisher, Jaico Publishing House.[8] In April 2014, both the parties reached an out of court settlement following which the book carries a disclaimer by Sahara which says, among other things, the book has "defamatory content" --something unprecedented in Indian publishing history, as narrated in Sue the Messenger by Subir Ghosh, with Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. [9]
He has also published a book of poems in Bengali Anupam Meenrashi in January 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
April 1, 2017
First things first, I respect this man for only one reason and that being the entrepreneurial spirit of the man. Almost everybody in our country have a rough idea regarding the quantum of fortune the group possesses but there are few who are aware of the starting point with which all this started.
Subrato Roy started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 30 years old, with Rs 2000 as his capital. He saved this money by picking up bags of sand, selling hand-loom sarees, supplying stones to the cement companies and what not. Today, Sahara group's assets are worth Rs 1.52 trillion. They arguably own the largest share of land in the country which is estimated to be around 37000 acres. They operate 4799 establishments and that too under 16 different business verticals. Isn't that an achievement? Debatable.
A lot of stories have floated alleging that Sahara is a machine that converts black money of politicians into white money, they receive funding from the underworld etc etc. None of these allegations have been proven yet. But let's focus on the allegations which have been proven. Near Gurugram(NCR) they own some amount of land, 100+ acres, from the villagers which they claimed that in future, they will be developing a mega-city. Now this patch of land was a paper currency for the Sahara group as it is an asset. When the officials checked with the town and country planning department of Gurgaon, it was revealed that the agricultural land use was never changed to commercial or residential. This whole charade exposed the hollowness of the claims of Sahara when they used to reply to the much coveted question as to, posed by SEBI, "How are you going to repay the money of millions of depositors?", an action enforced upon the company by the apex court.
Sahara was in two different businesses when they fought with RBI and SEBI.
RBI:
RNBC (Residuary Non-banking companies), the vertical in which Sahara was categorized. Banking services in India, since the inception of RBI, was differentiated into 3 categories. The traditional banks (SBI, ICICI etc) , NBFCs (LTFS, Cholamandalam Finance etc) and RNBCs. The third category was born out of necessity rather than planning as this consisted of all those entities which couldn't be classified under either of the two categories. D N Ghosh, one of the authors of the banking principles and regulations, has been involved with this category since its inception and is strongly against this format. Now why is that? These companies raise public money and invest it in lucrative avenues while promising handsome returns to the depositors. The problem in this model was two-fold:
1) The depositors had to follow an extremely stringent policy of depositing monthly and since these depositors belonged to the extremely poor section of the society, their only medium was through the agents who collected their money. The company gave handsome incentives to the agents for the first collections which involved developing the customer base for the company. But as the incentives decreased from thereon, they had little incentives to go and collect from the already existing depositors. The depositors were not excused even if they couldn't deposit because of the negligence of the agent. Now even if the depositors failed to deposit the money for a single time, their account was forfeited by the company and the funds were not even refunded. These forfeited accounts were one of the principal sources of the funds for these RNBCs.
2) The second bone of contention was that, initially there was no restriction on the companies on the selection of avenues of investment. They promised high returns to the depositors and used public money to open up their own real estate firm, building hotels, investing money in movie productions etc. This was extremely risky as the profits were mostly private at public risk. RBI restricted the investment by making it mandatory to invest the 80% money into the government bonds and government certified options. Whereas 20% or the 10 time of the net assets owned by the company (whichever was lower) was left as discretionary option to the company to invest in the option of their own choice. This 20% leeway gave birth to the biggest players of the sector - Peerless and Sahara. So, RBI realized their mistake and made it 100% mandatory to invest in the certified options.
SEBI:
OFCDs( Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures) were the reason this time. Let us first discuss what are OFCDs- OFCD is a type of debt security where the option is given to the holder if he wants to convert his debenture into equity share after stipulated time. Now one of the most important information to understand the quagmire is that Sahara is an unlisted company and unlisted companies don’t come under the purview of SEBI. Sahara has always contended with this fact that they come under the purview of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and a company cannot be regulated by 2 autonomous regulators. SEBI came after Sahara because they claimed that the money raised through OFCDs were a private placement as the 50 investors were directly associated with the Sahara group. Suspicion got the better of regulator and they amended the law that any amount raised by 50 or more investors will not be considered as a private placement. Subrata Roy claims that before this amendment, he had raised money through these options before as well but nobody asked any question before. This disturbed him deeply as he took this personally. He repeatedly said in various public forums that all the regulators are deliberately trying to target him. Identity check of the 30 million investors of Sahara whose money was used indirectly in these OFCDs was pursued by SEBI and a lot of irregularities were found especially in the KYC norms. I feel that the regulator hounded the frim to prevent the worst case scenario and in the process may have dented its image in the eyes of enterprising population taking advantage of the lack of regulation in certain sectors ;p
I had an impression in my mind that Sahara will become a full blown convicted company once I’ll finish this book. But it allowed me to generate a very informed neutral opinion regarding this company. Rather than conducting malpractices, this company has always made its money in that particular financial sector that the regulators later realized that, is too unregulated and poses threat to the common depositors and the financial fabric of the country as a whole.
Mr Roy has got parole extended till 17th of the April, 2017 to pay back the depositors an amount of Rs 17500 cr with 15% interest in every single account which totaled to Rs 24000 cr. The order was given by the apex court in 2014 and since then he has been receiving extensions to payback and close down this business. Remaining amount of Rs 5902 cr is required to be paid by the firm else their Aamby Valley project is set to be auctioned in the coming future.
It remains to be seen that what Mr Roy does from here.
My bet is he'll bounce back ;)
Subrato Roy started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 30 years old, with Rs 2000 as his capital. He saved this money by picking up bags of sand, selling hand-loom sarees, supplying stones to the cement companies and what not. Today, Sahara group's assets are worth Rs 1.52 trillion. They arguably own the largest share of land in the country which is estimated to be around 37000 acres. They operate 4799 establishments and that too under 16 different business verticals. Isn't that an achievement? Debatable.
A lot of stories have floated alleging that Sahara is a machine that converts black money of politicians into white money, they receive funding from the underworld etc etc. None of these allegations have been proven yet. But let's focus on the allegations which have been proven. Near Gurugram(NCR) they own some amount of land, 100+ acres, from the villagers which they claimed that in future, they will be developing a mega-city. Now this patch of land was a paper currency for the Sahara group as it is an asset. When the officials checked with the town and country planning department of Gurgaon, it was revealed that the agricultural land use was never changed to commercial or residential. This whole charade exposed the hollowness of the claims of Sahara when they used to reply to the much coveted question as to, posed by SEBI, "How are you going to repay the money of millions of depositors?", an action enforced upon the company by the apex court.
Sahara was in two different businesses when they fought with RBI and SEBI.
RBI:
RNBC (Residuary Non-banking companies), the vertical in which Sahara was categorized. Banking services in India, since the inception of RBI, was differentiated into 3 categories. The traditional banks (SBI, ICICI etc) , NBFCs (LTFS, Cholamandalam Finance etc) and RNBCs. The third category was born out of necessity rather than planning as this consisted of all those entities which couldn't be classified under either of the two categories. D N Ghosh, one of the authors of the banking principles and regulations, has been involved with this category since its inception and is strongly against this format. Now why is that? These companies raise public money and invest it in lucrative avenues while promising handsome returns to the depositors. The problem in this model was two-fold:
1) The depositors had to follow an extremely stringent policy of depositing monthly and since these depositors belonged to the extremely poor section of the society, their only medium was through the agents who collected their money. The company gave handsome incentives to the agents for the first collections which involved developing the customer base for the company. But as the incentives decreased from thereon, they had little incentives to go and collect from the already existing depositors. The depositors were not excused even if they couldn't deposit because of the negligence of the agent. Now even if the depositors failed to deposit the money for a single time, their account was forfeited by the company and the funds were not even refunded. These forfeited accounts were one of the principal sources of the funds for these RNBCs.
2) The second bone of contention was that, initially there was no restriction on the companies on the selection of avenues of investment. They promised high returns to the depositors and used public money to open up their own real estate firm, building hotels, investing money in movie productions etc. This was extremely risky as the profits were mostly private at public risk. RBI restricted the investment by making it mandatory to invest the 80% money into the government bonds and government certified options. Whereas 20% or the 10 time of the net assets owned by the company (whichever was lower) was left as discretionary option to the company to invest in the option of their own choice. This 20% leeway gave birth to the biggest players of the sector - Peerless and Sahara. So, RBI realized their mistake and made it 100% mandatory to invest in the certified options.
SEBI:
OFCDs( Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures) were the reason this time. Let us first discuss what are OFCDs- OFCD is a type of debt security where the option is given to the holder if he wants to convert his debenture into equity share after stipulated time. Now one of the most important information to understand the quagmire is that Sahara is an unlisted company and unlisted companies don’t come under the purview of SEBI. Sahara has always contended with this fact that they come under the purview of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and a company cannot be regulated by 2 autonomous regulators. SEBI came after Sahara because they claimed that the money raised through OFCDs were a private placement as the 50 investors were directly associated with the Sahara group. Suspicion got the better of regulator and they amended the law that any amount raised by 50 or more investors will not be considered as a private placement. Subrata Roy claims that before this amendment, he had raised money through these options before as well but nobody asked any question before. This disturbed him deeply as he took this personally. He repeatedly said in various public forums that all the regulators are deliberately trying to target him. Identity check of the 30 million investors of Sahara whose money was used indirectly in these OFCDs was pursued by SEBI and a lot of irregularities were found especially in the KYC norms. I feel that the regulator hounded the frim to prevent the worst case scenario and in the process may have dented its image in the eyes of enterprising population taking advantage of the lack of regulation in certain sectors ;p
I had an impression in my mind that Sahara will become a full blown convicted company once I’ll finish this book. But it allowed me to generate a very informed neutral opinion regarding this company. Rather than conducting malpractices, this company has always made its money in that particular financial sector that the regulators later realized that, is too unregulated and poses threat to the common depositors and the financial fabric of the country as a whole.
Mr Roy has got parole extended till 17th of the April, 2017 to pay back the depositors an amount of Rs 17500 cr with 15% interest in every single account which totaled to Rs 24000 cr. The order was given by the apex court in 2014 and since then he has been receiving extensions to payback and close down this business. Remaining amount of Rs 5902 cr is required to be paid by the firm else their Aamby Valley project is set to be auctioned in the coming future.
It remains to be seen that what Mr Roy does from here.
My bet is he'll bounce back ;)
June 11, 2014
There are a few shortcomings. The actual "story" required a more tight editing to be able to bring out the highlights. The editing would have helped figure out a way to introduce characters (and often cameos) in a manner that do not take anything away from the story. In fact, this is the kind of narrative that would do well with an online presence as an aid - a significant part of the character histories, citations from letters and Acts etc could be linked back for further reading without adding to the volume of the book. The ability to use footnotes judiciously has been lost.
The book requires better proof-reading - grammatical and typographical errors are sprinkled throughout. It is a story worth writing about. But the manner and form leaves much to be desired - neither it is a straightforward story-telling and nor is it investigative approach. At points it is a dry listing of events and memorandum.
The book requires better proof-reading - grammatical and typographical errors are sprinkled throughout. It is a story worth writing about. But the manner and form leaves much to be desired - neither it is a straightforward story-telling and nor is it investigative approach. At points it is a dry listing of events and memorandum.
March 19, 2024
There was a line in the Netflix series - Bad Boy Billionaires - For Subrato Roy, Family is a powerful idea and he thinks it taps into the psyche of Indian people. And this book accurately explored how Subrato cheated and duped India's million poor people by selling them the concept of family.
Prior to reading this book, I only knew about Subrato's crimes from news and newspaper articles. This book provided me with an overall understanding of why the crime was committed and how it was possible to continue for so long in India, as well as how Subrato was able to deceive Indian civilians for so long by exploring Indian beliefs and customs. It also delves into the dark and sad side of India's financial system, including corruption. This book also mentions the fact that we Indian civilians must exercise caution around criminals such as Subrato because criminals exist and are looking for their next prey.
This book is well-researched, there are certain details about Subrato that will shock you and make you laugh at the same time. I enjoyed reading it.
Prior to reading this book, I only knew about Subrato's crimes from news and newspaper articles. This book provided me with an overall understanding of why the crime was committed and how it was possible to continue for so long in India, as well as how Subrato was able to deceive Indian civilians for so long by exploring Indian beliefs and customs. It also delves into the dark and sad side of India's financial system, including corruption. This book also mentions the fact that we Indian civilians must exercise caution around criminals such as Subrato because criminals exist and are looking for their next prey.
This book is well-researched, there are certain details about Subrato that will shock you and make you laugh at the same time. I enjoyed reading it.
April 5, 2021
This being the first book on finance that I picked up, found the financial terminology & jargon little difficult to grasp. However, learnt quite a lot as well in the process. The author has tried to maintain an unbiased and factual reporting of the events and legal tussles surrounding the enigma behind the Sahara group of companies and its predecessor, Peerless with various regulatory authorities like RBI & SEBI. After watching the OTT series Scam 1992, at quite some places in the book, my mind used to drift over the storyline of the Harshad Mehta scam quite often (and the theme song :D). However, unlike that story, here it is not evident whether Sahara had good intentions but couldn't handle such a massive empire financially, or there was real corruption and shady dealings going on in the backdrop. This book also gives us a peek into the financial history of the country, and the personal qualities of the Sahara chief Subrata Roy. A good book to revisit in parts later on.
August 29, 2014
There are biographies, autobiographies, and then, there is 'Sahara - The Untold Story'. When a book, supposed to be a work based on truth, comes laden with a disclaimer from the concerned people, Sahara India Parivar in this case, that "we don't agree with many of the things and the way they were presented in the book", well, you know, it would really be difficult to keep your curiosity under check.
And why should you?
Tamal Bandyopadhyay, the author, clearly mentions that this book is not a work of fiction, and shouldn't be considered as a creative product. Rather, it's a journalistic work that has been conceived and brought forth after intensive research, and that shows, very vividly, in the way this book has been documented, unearthing 'facts' and demystifying several conceptions relating to this giant conglomerate, in turn posing several questions, some answered, and a few that are still awaiting apt responses.
Subrata Roy founded Sahara India in 1978, headquartered in Lucknow, and gradually the organizational group rose to epic proportions, carving a niche for itself in the Indian and International market. With investments in diverse fields such as real estate, sports, retail, media, finance, entertainment, hotels, health care, power and airlines, Sahara made sure they were way ahead of the competitors, earning profits as well as goodwill from all quarters. Things looked good and well in line. However, the tremendous success wasn't short of its share of controversies.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India ordered the arrest of Subrata Roy on the basis of evidences that suggested Sahara India had not been playing a clean game over the years. Sahara's continuous rift with SEBI, and it's different approach to KYC policy have often led to bitter disputes with the Government bodies. Also, it was alleged that several thousand crores that were deposited had not been refunded to investors. Allegations. Proofs. Allegations. Proofs. An entity that soared high into the realms of success, Sahara soon found itself burdened with controversies that it wouldn't have preferred.
While the authorities of Sahara India, Subrata Roy included, have come up with justifications over time and again, there still were loopholes that crept up regarding their handling of finances. How they have been generating bulk of money, investing in avenues and properties, and how they have maintained their accounts have always been a topic of keen interest among the avid debaters. Tamal Bandyopadhyay puts forward the case, with all it's aspects visible to the readers.
'Sahara - The Untold Story' traces the various facets of the conglomerate. It applauds its charitable approach, and the fact that it has provided employment to several people. Subrata Roy in fact is treated as a father figure by his employees, and is a man with confidence and unparalleled persona. Tamal also provides the outlook of SEBI and RBI towards Sahara, and how they created problems for Roy, questioning him and his actions time and again. What I really found interesting was the interview with Roy, the man with a mysterious aura surrounding him. Was Tamal able to resolve the mystery? Yes, and no. In times to come, we will certainly hear a lot about Sahara and Roy, and the detailed analysis provided to us will help in forming our own judgment. 'Sahara - The Untold Story' is a good material for study, and throws light at several corners of the Indian financial system.
And why should you?
Tamal Bandyopadhyay, the author, clearly mentions that this book is not a work of fiction, and shouldn't be considered as a creative product. Rather, it's a journalistic work that has been conceived and brought forth after intensive research, and that shows, very vividly, in the way this book has been documented, unearthing 'facts' and demystifying several conceptions relating to this giant conglomerate, in turn posing several questions, some answered, and a few that are still awaiting apt responses.
Subrata Roy founded Sahara India in 1978, headquartered in Lucknow, and gradually the organizational group rose to epic proportions, carving a niche for itself in the Indian and International market. With investments in diverse fields such as real estate, sports, retail, media, finance, entertainment, hotels, health care, power and airlines, Sahara made sure they were way ahead of the competitors, earning profits as well as goodwill from all quarters. Things looked good and well in line. However, the tremendous success wasn't short of its share of controversies.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India ordered the arrest of Subrata Roy on the basis of evidences that suggested Sahara India had not been playing a clean game over the years. Sahara's continuous rift with SEBI, and it's different approach to KYC policy have often led to bitter disputes with the Government bodies. Also, it was alleged that several thousand crores that were deposited had not been refunded to investors. Allegations. Proofs. Allegations. Proofs. An entity that soared high into the realms of success, Sahara soon found itself burdened with controversies that it wouldn't have preferred.
While the authorities of Sahara India, Subrata Roy included, have come up with justifications over time and again, there still were loopholes that crept up regarding their handling of finances. How they have been generating bulk of money, investing in avenues and properties, and how they have maintained their accounts have always been a topic of keen interest among the avid debaters. Tamal Bandyopadhyay puts forward the case, with all it's aspects visible to the readers.
'Sahara - The Untold Story' traces the various facets of the conglomerate. It applauds its charitable approach, and the fact that it has provided employment to several people. Subrata Roy in fact is treated as a father figure by his employees, and is a man with confidence and unparalleled persona. Tamal also provides the outlook of SEBI and RBI towards Sahara, and how they created problems for Roy, questioning him and his actions time and again. What I really found interesting was the interview with Roy, the man with a mysterious aura surrounding him. Was Tamal able to resolve the mystery? Yes, and no. In times to come, we will certainly hear a lot about Sahara and Roy, and the detailed analysis provided to us will help in forming our own judgment. 'Sahara - The Untold Story' is a good material for study, and throws light at several corners of the Indian financial system.
July 28, 2014
I read Sahara, the book is deeply researched, the author documents expertly the problem that Sahara faced with RBI and SEBI, It sheds light on its business model, and some of its shady business practices.The author does his best to provide the Sahara point of view, at all times, He is unscrupulously fair to them and as objective as possible in his analysis. His understanding of the banking, capital markets environment and regulators is deep, however the book suffers from poor editing. There is a lot of repetition, the structure is poor, this could have been a terrific 2 or 3 part investigative story but the material for a book is a little thin, the chapter on peerless, though interesting is not really connected to the main story, also the chapter number 8: a short profile of the judges, regulators who brought Sahara down is actually unnecessary. With better editing it would have been a sharper,crisper and better read
July 19, 2014
Sadly, there are very few books written about the successes, failures and the scoundrels of corporate and business India. Tamal Bandopadhyay has made a brave attempt -- and could have written a much better book given his insight into the inner workings of the RBI. Unfortunately, this author has NO style whatsoever. His previous book had a bunch of anecdotes about HDFC Bank -- a great subject but was equally dry because this author can't write! Some editors and journalists can't make the crossover to authors -- this is one of them.
There are multiple subjects that could be covered -- how the money from the OFCDs was diverted to Aamby Valley in the form of debentures and NCDs, how that was further funnelled to purchase the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, all of this while the SEBI case was on, etc. Regardless, a brave attempt to expose the shenanigans at Sahara!
There are multiple subjects that could be covered -- how the money from the OFCDs was diverted to Aamby Valley in the form of debentures and NCDs, how that was further funnelled to purchase the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, all of this while the SEBI case was on, etc. Regardless, a brave attempt to expose the shenanigans at Sahara!
June 7, 2014
I just completed "The Untold Story", its an amazing piece of work by the author. Though this is my first book of author Tamal BandyoPadhyay, but it has touched my heart because of the facts revealed by him about the Great Indian Sahara family.
It is because of the author I got to know the reality of the family and the story behind their success. His(Subrata Roy) hardwork and his intelligence has lead the family reach the skies. An interesting work of ART by the author, just loved it.
A must read who wants to know everything about Mr. Subrata Roy & his company Sahara Indian Pariwar.
It is because of the author I got to know the reality of the family and the story behind their success. His(Subrata Roy) hardwork and his intelligence has lead the family reach the skies. An interesting work of ART by the author, just loved it.
A must read who wants to know everything about Mr. Subrata Roy & his company Sahara Indian Pariwar.
October 26, 2014
If you ever had questions like - How did Sahara own an airline? How did they buy those big hotels in UK? Where does the money flow from? Are the depositors real or is it a front for the black money of the politicians? - this book is for you.
Explains in detail about how Sahara managed and continues to manage the money of poor depositors, by shifting from one regulator to the other? Some of the details get repeated multiple times at different points in the book. A recommended read to know about Shadow banking.
Explains in detail about how Sahara managed and continues to manage the money of poor depositors, by shifting from one regulator to the other? Some of the details get repeated multiple times at different points in the book. A recommended read to know about Shadow banking.
June 27, 2020
Subrata Roy Sahara is everything what a Page 3 would like in him. His grip over politicians, Bollywood and people made him Indian czar like no one ever saw before. Termed as the 2nd Largest Employer in India in 2004, he had everything going right for him. However, he committed two grave mistakes: 1) Messing with the authorities and 2) Robbing the poor and that’s how his downfall started. In Gujarati, there are proverbs saying ‘Satta jode shanpan nai karvanu’ which means ‘Never mess with the one in power’ and ‘Garib ni hay vinash nautre’ which means ‘Don’t seek the curse of the poor. It is devastating’
It briefly touches upon the life of Subrata Roy, who used to sell biscuits on a cycle, joined Sahara company at a young age and took over the very company he worked at and made it reach new heights. If you are looking for an inspiration of rags to riches story, this is not the book for you. If you are interested in understanding a new finance model besides Banking and NBFCs, then this is the book for you.
The book describes a third model called RNBC – Residue Non-Banking Companies. Most of us wouldn’t be aware as it was prevalent before this millennial generation was born. By the time we could know how money is deposited and withdrawn, we already had formal banking system in place. Thankfully, we never had to go through this vicious trap of RNBC. If you ever wonder about the Saradha Chit Scam and host of other such scams, then this is the book. It delves into the business model of RNBCs and how the poor and the marginalized were dependent on it. Before Sahara, it was Peerless finance who used to champion the cause of RNBCs. The book explains their model very well. In fact, so much so, it looks like a book on Peerless finance, than Sahara group. So intrusive and powerful their grip was, they financed governments. Yes, the West Bengal Government was financed by the Peerless Finance.
Just to get an idea of Sahara’s scale, here are some startling facts:
1) Sahara had close to 30 Million (3 Crore Depositors) as of 2005
2) Sahara had close to 1.2 Million (12 Lakh Workforce) as of 2005
3) Sahara owned 20000+ Acres of land in India ( out of which 500 Acres in Mumbai with 150+ Acres in Versova)
4) When asked for the KYC documents of each customer of Sahara by RBI, it had sent over documents in 1000+ Trucks.
This book is the closest to what a ‘Finance + Marketing’ course could be.
Read this book to understand How a person ‘should be’ and ‘shouldn’t be’.
It briefly touches upon the life of Subrata Roy, who used to sell biscuits on a cycle, joined Sahara company at a young age and took over the very company he worked at and made it reach new heights. If you are looking for an inspiration of rags to riches story, this is not the book for you. If you are interested in understanding a new finance model besides Banking and NBFCs, then this is the book for you.
The book describes a third model called RNBC – Residue Non-Banking Companies. Most of us wouldn’t be aware as it was prevalent before this millennial generation was born. By the time we could know how money is deposited and withdrawn, we already had formal banking system in place. Thankfully, we never had to go through this vicious trap of RNBC. If you ever wonder about the Saradha Chit Scam and host of other such scams, then this is the book. It delves into the business model of RNBCs and how the poor and the marginalized were dependent on it. Before Sahara, it was Peerless finance who used to champion the cause of RNBCs. The book explains their model very well. In fact, so much so, it looks like a book on Peerless finance, than Sahara group. So intrusive and powerful their grip was, they financed governments. Yes, the West Bengal Government was financed by the Peerless Finance.
Just to get an idea of Sahara’s scale, here are some startling facts:
1) Sahara had close to 30 Million (3 Crore Depositors) as of 2005
2) Sahara had close to 1.2 Million (12 Lakh Workforce) as of 2005
3) Sahara owned 20000+ Acres of land in India ( out of which 500 Acres in Mumbai with 150+ Acres in Versova)
4) When asked for the KYC documents of each customer of Sahara by RBI, it had sent over documents in 1000+ Trucks.
This book is the closest to what a ‘Finance + Marketing’ course could be.
Read this book to understand How a person ‘should be’ and ‘shouldn’t be’.
June 25, 2023
I read this book after I had read HDFC Bank 2.0 by the author. I found that book informative &!interesting which prompted me to pick the Sahara one.
However, it turned out to be a damp squib. The book is by & large about the war between Sahara and the RBI & the SEBI with lot of Finance mumbo-jumbo thrown in a boring style. I expected the book to be about the journey of Sahara in details with lot of management lessons and interesting characters. However, it failed on that count completely and turned out to be a big bore.
Perhaps, I should avoid books written by journalists as advised by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
June 28, 2017
Ok and a light read. Gives insights into the unique business model which shadow banking operates on. But mostly about regulatory battle of the group with RBI and SEBI.
April 23, 2019
I respect this man because he is represened as enterpenural of indian busuness man people follow their principal.
September 11, 2019
This book has a lot of financial information, but it has not been presented in a great manner. With a little better editorial work, this could have turned out to be a very well presented book.
August 16, 2020
Someone stands up to the most violent gang in the land, the one that has tanks, nuclear weapons and now a space program. Bandyopadhyay is here to show boss his love and obedience.
February 9, 2023
Majority info is available in public domain...zero in terms of investigative journalism...
Can be a avoided.
Can be a avoided.
January 21, 2020
Not so interesting
April 30, 2016
History does not repeat but it rhymes. This book by the noted writer and present Mint Banking editor Tamal da, gives the history of RNBFC(residuary non banking financial companies) in India, and how Peerless and Sahara benefited from regulatory arbitrage to carve out empires which subsequently were collapsed by SEBI/RBI. The Sahara saga made headlines years back with its open fight with SEBI-culminating in caustic orders by KM Abraham and CB Bhave-possibly a reason for them not getting extensions. The tale of Sahara made me wonder about whether Patanjali is on a simillar road to peridition-common features are political proximity, interest in real estate/retail, and detification of the main promoter
June 8, 2014
I've read only half of the book & it is written in a very friendly language. The quality & the choice of words are good. It gives you total overview of Mr. Subrata Roy & his company Sahara. How he overcome the obstacles to make Sahara, one of the reputed company in recent times. It shows how passion, hard work and dedication can help you realize your dreams instead of all the hardships. A book to be read before you die.
June 21, 2014
When the title of a book says that, it will tell the untold story of a big business conglomerate Like the Shahra India Pariwar, it immediately perks up the readers interest. When the said book starts with a disclaimer by the Business it raises expectations further. Sahara: The Untold Story by Tamal Bandyopadhyay, is one such book.
Read the Full Review here http://jaibalarao.com/2014/06/21/tell...
Read the Full Review here http://jaibalarao.com/2014/06/21/tell...
December 5, 2014
This book is dry listing of events related to Sahara, that someone with patience would have been able to get from various news sources. Important topics like how things were done are missing. I felt investigation on part of the author was missing. Characters are introduced haphazardly and many times things have been repeated. Also the book has typos and grammatical errors.
If you want to just know the events related to Sahara group, you can read this book, otherwise give it a miss.
If you want to just know the events related to Sahara group, you can read this book, otherwise give it a miss.
September 13, 2015
A very interesting read. There are a lot of details about Finance, Accounts, and laws which were too technical for me. But I was able to get a broader view on things.
I focused more on the outline and got to know some interesting facts about the Sahara corporation and how there have been suspicions that it's being used for money laundering.
I focused more on the outline and got to know some interesting facts about the Sahara corporation and how there have been suspicions that it's being used for money laundering.
September 4, 2016
“Don’t read success stories, you will only get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success” -Abdul Kalam
June 17, 2014
The book is very interesting,
It gives us insight of the Sahara India Pariwar
and also of all the illegal activities carried out by them.
The author has done a great work of bringing this insight of Sahara Group.
The book is a must read.
It gives us insight of the Sahara India Pariwar
and also of all the illegal activities carried out by them.
The author has done a great work of bringing this insight of Sahara Group.
The book is a must read.
May 11, 2015
A rambling narrative that could have been far more cogent. Would have been gripping had the style not been so journalistic and had the content been better ordered. Mr Bandhyopadhyay should have chosen a better publisher.
Bottom line: it's sensationalistic, just like our media.
Bottom line: it's sensationalistic, just like our media.
October 28, 2015
In-depth and unbiased analysis of Sahara
Fantastically written book. Covers the Sahara story thru facts and not opinion. In-depth analysis of the company as well as the entire RNBC institutions
Fantastically written book. Covers the Sahara story thru facts and not opinion. In-depth analysis of the company as well as the entire RNBC institutions
July 4, 2014
I got the book, and finding it interesting. so far so good. thanks for the book.
October 3, 2014
Decently interesting book... bogged down by poor editing though.
October 26, 2015
I won't rate it very high. But still a good read on a company of which we know very little about
November 21, 2015
I believe the Author has done good study and presented facts for the reader. I always wanted to know about Sahara and Roy and the book gives a good insight on it.
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