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Sahara set to bag Rs 80,000 crore new Bangladeshcapital project

Piyush Pandey & Shubham Mukherjee , TNN | Feb 24, 2012, 06.29AM ISTHe may have broken up with his most romantic girlfriend but his romance with the aviation

business continues.Subrata Roy, managing worker and chairmanSahara India Parivar, who

describes theairline businessas his idea of a romantic girlfriend is still passionate about the

sector but is equally letting his vision fly into distant lands in search of greener pastures.

The group, which has been in the news more for issues relating to cricket and acquisition of

an iconic London hotel, has silently created a bigger game plan, which includes getting into

diverse areas like education, retail, mining, oil exploration and banking. Besides, it also

includes entering newer geographies such asBangladeshand Africa. But at the centre of it

all is a Rs 80,000-crore project to create a new capital of Bangladesh-New Dhaka-and areal

estatedevelopment project spanning five different locations in that country, land for part of

which it has already acquired.

But even after selling off his airline-Air Sahara-toJet Airwaysfor Rs 2,000 crore six years

ago, it's aviation that he wants to talk about the most. Roy believes aviation cannot be just a

fancy of the rich and flamboyant but it should also make abundant business sense. "We

should understand the importance of air transport in the economy of a country and what it

stands for-connectivity."

He also underscores the need for lower navigation charges, lower cost of fuel, besides

concession and subsidy if the airline business is to survive.

Fresh into a new bonhomie withKingfisherbossVijay Mallya(they are partners in the F1

team Sahara Force India), Roy is in favour of the government bailing out the ailing airline

because of the same economic necessity-connectivity. "There will be chaos if it is allowed to

fail," he said and added quite radically that the government should also regulate the sector

more to ensure that there are less players in the sector, so that they do not bleed to compete.

An opponent of the open skies policy, which brought flying closer to the common man, he

does not see reason in the argument that competition actually helps consumers bring downprices.

Roy by his own admission is most passionate about the media business (he is also launching

tablets) but he beams as we change direction towards Dhaka. "We are going into Bangladesh

in a big way. I have finalized work of Rs 80,000 crore. It is a country, where we have lots to

do. I have sent the proposal to the Bangladesh PM for the New Dhaka project and hope to

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meet her next month." He is not asking much from the government either . "Give us a

sovereign guarantee and we will not need money. We have selected 40 sq km of land, 50 km

from Dhaka and it is available to us. We will get the land, build our own structures and sell

it," he said. Sahara, which has real estate assets worth Rs 85,000 crore (according to the

Sahara web site), also built a hill station in Maharashtra from scratch--Amby Valley.

Apart from Bangladesh, Sahara is also scouting for mining and exploration assets in Africa.

Roy says that since most industrialists have to spend 50% of their productive time managing

the system and chasing clearances, most of them are ofthe viewthat it's easier to do

business outside India. Quizzed if he wants to opt out of the country he maintained a stoic

defence: "I will stay and fight the system."

Banking is something strategic for the group as it has experience in dealing with deposits of

people and naturally wants a licence. "We are the only company to have dealt with 5 crore

people where no bank reaches. We have sent a proposal to the Reserve Bank of India

seeking a licence", he said.

The action on retail will begin in March where it plans to invest Rs 17,000 crore. "We plan

to set up one lakh organized distribution centres and the first such centre will come up in

Rajasthan next month. They will work as modern kirana stores," he said.

This would be followed by an entry into the education sector, sometime in 2013. "We will

enter in a big way by setting up universities, distance education centres but at the centre of

it would be a project to take English to our villages. "Only 2-3 % of population know English,

and is a big opportunity to bring people from all strata into the mainstream ," he said

without providing any other details.

For most of its proposed businesses in India, it plans toleverageon its field staff earlier

involved in para banking and its network of 4800 offices all over the country.

Despite his conflicts with regulators-Sebi and RBI-over various issues recently and ongoing

court cases, Roy is in a zone of his own. He is writing a book, which he describes as a

philosophical , cultural and emotional experience.

To be released later this year, its named quite simply--Life is too Beautiful, Learn it to Love

it.

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