Subrata Roy Sahara

Subrata Roy Sahara (born 10 June 1948) also known as Saharasri is an Indian businessman who is the founder and chairman of the Sahara India Pariwar. He also owns Pune Warriors India, London's Grosvenor House, Newyork's Plaza Hotel, Aamby Valley City and has 42.5% stake in Force India.

He is named among the 10 Most Powerful People of India by India Today. His residence is in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Subrata Roy Sahara founded Sahara India Pariwar in 1978. In 2004, the group was termed by the Time magazine as ‘the second largest employer in India' after the Indian Railways.

Early life

Subrata Roy was born in Bihar in 1948 to Sudhir Chandra Roy and Srimati Chhabi Roy. Subrata Roy studied at Holy Child School in Kolkata and later studied diploma in mechanical engineering from Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur. Sahara started his first business in Gorakhpur.

Philosophy of work

He has propounded the corporate philosophy of ‘Collective Materialism’, that advocates collective growth through collective sharing and caring. Roy promotes sports at international to regional level. The Sahara group is a sponsor of Indian Cricket Team, Indian Hockey Team, Bangladesh Cricket Team and has adopted 91 sportsmen belonging to the four Indian Olympic disciplines of Boxing, Wrestling, Archery, Shooting and Track & Field. The Group also organizes ‘Sahara India Sports Awards' to felicitate the achievement and efforts of Indian sportspersons in their respective fields and provide recognition to the upcoming young talents.

Business career

His career with the Sahara Group began in 1978 with an initial asset base of just USD 43. From there, it went on to become the largest conglomerate of India with a diversified range of business interests. Before Subrata Roy founded the Sahara Group, he had already gathered 32 years of experience in business development along with 18 years of experience in real estate business.

Real Estate

The flagship real estate project Sahara City Homes chain of townships is proposed to be across 217 cities in India. Recently it has launched Sahara Grace brand Phase II which is an outcome of the success achieved by Phase I its of residential complex at Kochi. After Sahara Grace at Gurgaon and Lucknow, the Kochi project is the third under this brand which is to provide a mix of apartments and penthouses. Other ventures of Sahara real estate business are Sahara States – Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Hyderabad and Bhopal, Brand malls – Sahara Ganj, Lucknow and Sahara Mall, Gurgaon.

Sahara is constructing an eco-friendly self-contained residential city called Aamby Valley City in Maharashtra near Mumbai Pune Expressway. The city is spread over 10000 acres of land.

Media

Subrata Roy Sahara owns the national Hindi News Channel Samay, 36 city specific regional news channels Sahara Samay, Sahara One- general entertainment channel and a Hindi movie channel Filmy. Sahara has recently launched Firangi channel which is in Hindi.

Subrata Roy Sahara owns one national weekly magazine in English, 7 editions of Hindi Daily Newspaper Rashtriya Sahara, nine editions of Urdu Daily Newspaper Roznama Rashtriya Sahara and one International Urdu Weekly, Rashtriya Sahara.

Film

Subrata Roy Sahara is engaged in business of producing, marketing and distribution of motion pictures in Hindi and other regional Indian languages. Its successes include Bewafaa, Page 3, Sarkar, No Entry, Wanted. In September 2010, the company was in talks to acquire MGM Studios, but the deal collapsed. Sahara is willing to try again to take over MGM.

Subrata Roy Sahara is creating a Film City to provide film-makers with everything they need to make films, television software and commercials. The existing infrastructure of Film City will be renovated and equipped with the latest technologies and facilities.

Health care

Subrata Roy Sahara owns a hospital in Lucknow. The hospital was opened in 2009. This hospital got operational in February 2009 and is currently operating with approximately 350 beds, including 120 bed in critical care infrastructure and expandable to 554 beds. It is spread over 31 acres of land. 

Hospitality

Subrata Roy Sahara owns the hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai, a 5-star hotel spread over 7.42 acres, adjacent to the Mumbai domestic airport. Currently it has 210 guest rooms, 13 suites and 9 restaurants.  world's first hemisphere-shaped glass elevators, The group also owns the Grosvenor House Hotel, London (UK) and New York's landmark Plaza Hotel.

Awards and honors

Subrata Roy Sahara recently got Indian Business Icon of the Year Award at Powerbrands Hall of Fame Awards function at London for his entrepreneurship and achievements in various fields. The award was jointly presented to him by Ruby Dhalla, Priti Patel and Arindam Chaudhuri. He has been also rewarded with Lakshya-2010 Business Visionary Award for his excellence in managing his organization with proficiency. He has been the ITA – TV Icon of the Year 2007. He has received the Global Leadership Award in 2004. He was also awarded with Businessmen of the Year Award in the year 2002, the Best Industrialist Award in the year 2002 and the National Citizen Award in the year 2001 for his entrepreneurship skills. He won the Academy Award in Indian Television Academy Awards for his contribution to Indian Television. Recently he has been awarded with honorary degree of D. Litt. by Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga.