abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
SAHARA DEVELOPMENT.
The pariwar gets bigger and bigger
ENTERPRISE / The Rs 32,000 crore Sahara Group has carefully chalked out its expansion plans be it finance or real estate, based on a management philosophy of ‘emotional integration of employees with the organisation’, writes ADITYA RAJ DAS
THE success story of Subrata Roy, the Chief of Sahara Group — the fast emerging star on the horizon of India’s corporate sector — is a fascinating story for numerous reasons. Twenty five years ago, Subrata Roy as a young man of 30s plunged into a small savings venture entirely on his own.
He still remembers the day when he ventured into an unknown future from a one-room office at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in 1978 with two colleagues, one clerk and a runner boy, a scooter and an asset base of just Rs 2,000.
The small saving venture, which initially started with just 42 depositors, gradually and steadily flourished into the largest deposit mobilisation company in the country in the private sector giving way to a number of other major business ventures.
Today, powered by a nation-wide six lakh workforce and an asset base of Rs 32,000 crore the Sahara Group has blossomed into a multi-product and multi-service business conglomerate.
Diversifying from its core area of non-banking financial services, the Sahara Group has forayed into other businesses which include housing, media, entertainment, aviation, consumer products and the upcoming venture of information technology.
One of the most spectacular projects being taken up by the Sahara Group is the setting up of the 24-hour online satellite connectivity across the country to promote IT-related services and e-commerce. This is planned to be the largest network in the Asia-Pacific region.
On the tourism front, the Sahara Group has big plans. For instance, the Rs 1,000 crore project for the development of Sundarbans, Teesta Valley and Tiger Hill areas of West Bengal as a major world class tourist attractions is in the offing.
The other area, in which the Sahara Group is taking keen interest, is housing. Sahara Housing is developing projects of thousands of crore of rupees in 16 cities across the country. It has acquired thousands of acres of company owned land on which it is developing mini-townships, residential and commercial complexes.
One ambitious housing project is Amby Valley, Sahara Lake City, a world class hill city at Lonavla near Mumbai. It is India’s first ever planned hill city and is meant to be one of the five top tourist destinations of the world on completion.
The other major area engaging the attention of Sahara Group is media and entertainment. Many feel Sahara Group’s “Rashtriya Sahara” happens to be one of the most successful Hindi dailies in the post-independence India.
The story does not end here. The Group aims to become one of the largest media house of the country with new editions of its dailies, new English monthly magazines and a planned state-of-the-art studio, media institute and media club. The Group has already launched 24 hour Satellite TV channel “Sahara TV” last year.
In the aviation sector, Air Sahara has already made its presence felt. But as Subrata Roy says Sahara Group’s core area of business would be financial services sector. The group is planning to enter into mutual funds, banking and insurance. It also plans to enter into lottery business.
Given the size and dimension of Sahara Group, the one question that comes to one’s mind is: How does Subrata Roy manage this ever expanding corporate conglomerate? Roy, who is affectionately addressed as Saharasri by his employees, says the answer is simple.
The entire Sahara Goup is treated as an united pariwar (family) — Sahara India Pariwar. Each and every employee of the Group is considered as a part of the family.
As Roy, who is addressed in official parlance as “Managing Worker and Chairman” of the Group, says Sahara India Pariwar takes pride in being not just a business organisation but an emotionally integrated family.
Roy’s unique style of human management, which primarily focuses on emotional integration of employees with the organisation, has drawn the attention of a Japanese research institution to make detailed studies on the subject.
The pariwar gets bigger and bigger
ENTERPRISE / The Rs 32,000 crore Sahara Group has carefully chalked out its expansion plans be it finance or real estate, based on a management philosophy of ‘emotional integration of employees with the organisation’, writes ADITYA RAJ DAS
THE success story of Subrata Roy, the Chief of Sahara Group — the fast emerging star on the horizon of India’s corporate sector — is a fascinating story for numerous reasons. Twenty five years ago, Subrata Roy as a young man of 30s plunged into a small savings venture entirely on his own.
He still remembers the day when he ventured into an unknown future from a one-room office at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in 1978 with two colleagues, one clerk and a runner boy, a scooter and an asset base of just Rs 2,000.
The small saving venture, which initially started with just 42 depositors, gradually and steadily flourished into the largest deposit mobilisation company in the country in the private sector giving way to a number of other major business ventures.
Today, powered by a nation-wide six lakh workforce and an asset base of Rs 32,000 crore the Sahara Group has blossomed into a multi-product and multi-service business conglomerate.
Diversifying from its core area of non-banking financial services, the Sahara Group has forayed into other businesses which include housing, media, entertainment, aviation, consumer products and the upcoming venture of information technology.
One of the most spectacular projects being taken up by the Sahara Group is the setting up of the 24-hour online satellite connectivity across the country to promote IT-related services and e-commerce. This is planned to be the largest network in the Asia-Pacific region.
On the tourism front, the Sahara Group has big plans. For instance, the Rs 1,000 crore project for the development of Sundarbans, Teesta Valley and Tiger Hill areas of West Bengal as a major world class tourist attractions is in the offing.
The other area, in which the Sahara Group is taking keen interest, is housing. Sahara Housing is developing projects of thousands of crore of rupees in 16 cities across the country. It has acquired thousands of acres of company owned land on which it is developing mini-townships, residential and commercial complexes.
One ambitious housing project is Amby Valley, Sahara Lake City, a world class hill city at Lonavla near Mumbai. It is India’s first ever planned hill city and is meant to be one of the five top tourist destinations of the world on completion.
The other major area engaging the attention of Sahara Group is media and entertainment. Many feel Sahara Group’s “Rashtriya Sahara” happens to be one of the most successful Hindi dailies in the post-independence India.
The story does not end here. The Group aims to become one of the largest media house of the country with new editions of its dailies, new English monthly magazines and a planned state-of-the-art studio, media institute and media club. The Group has already launched 24 hour Satellite TV channel “Sahara TV” last year.
In the aviation sector, Air Sahara has already made its presence felt. But as Subrata Roy says Sahara Group’s core area of business would be financial services sector. The group is planning to enter into mutual funds, banking and insurance. It also plans to enter into lottery business.
Given the size and dimension of Sahara Group, the one question that comes to one’s mind is: How does Subrata Roy manage this ever expanding corporate conglomerate? Roy, who is affectionately addressed as Saharasri by his employees, says the answer is simple.
The entire Sahara Goup is treated as an united pariwar (family) — Sahara India Pariwar. Each and every employee of the Group is considered as a part of the family.
As Roy, who is addressed in official parlance as “Managing Worker and Chairman” of the Group, says Sahara India Pariwar takes pride in being not just a business organisation but an emotionally integrated family.
Roy’s unique style of human management, which primarily focuses on emotional integration of employees with the organisation, has drawn the attention of a Japanese research institution to make detailed studies on the subject.