Subrata Roy

Founder and Chairman of the Sahara India

Net worth: US$0.45 billion

Subrata Roy (born 10 June 1948) is an Indian businessman. He is the founder and chairman of the Sahara India, an Indian conglomerate with diversified businesses and ownership interests that include London's Grosvenor House, New York's Plaza Hotel, Aamby Valley City and Force India. Roy founded the company in 1978.

He was named among the 10 Most Powerful People of India in 2012 by India Today. In 2004, the group was termed by the Time magazine as ‘the second largest employer in India' after the Indian Railways. He has been in Tihar Jail since 2014.

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

In the 1990s, Roy moved to Lucknow which became the base of his empire. His Sahara City project covering 170 acres was launched in the 1990s. 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 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).

In 2010, Sahara purchased the iconic Grosvenor House Hotel in London, and 2012 the historic Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Sahara claims to have a workforce of more than a million, including salaried employees and field workers. In 2013, 121,653 of its employees gathered in Lucknow to sing India's national anthem, setting a world record

Sahara is said to have 29.6 million investors, representing about 8.5% of all households in India.

Humanitarian efforts

In 2013, Sahara contributed to the relief efforts in flood hit Uttarakhand region wherein one lakh bottles of drinking water, juice bottles 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.

Post Kargil War, the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee quoted Sahara India led by him for providing financial support to the 127 families of martyrs.

Awards and honors

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

He also received the Business Icon of the Year award at the Powerbrands Hall of Fame Awards in London in 2011. He has been the ITA – TV Icon of the Year 2007. He has received the Global Leadership Award in 2004. He received Businessmen of the Year Award in 2002, the Best Industrialist Award in 2002, Vishisht Rashtriya Udaan Samman (2010) by a daily from India’s top most publication house, 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. He has been also awarded with honorary degree of D. Litt. by Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga. Moreover, he has been featured regularly in the India Today list of 50 Most Powerful People of India, since 2003.

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

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