In the annals of India's financial history, few scandals rival the magnitude and audacity of the Sahara India scam, a colossal swindle amounting to a staggering ₹2400 crores. Once a symbol of promise and prosperity, Sahara India's downfall embodies the stark reality of unchecked ambition and corporate deceit.

From its genesis in the allure of opulence to the devastation wrought upon trusting investors and employees, the ramifications of this deception are far-reaching. As we delve into the intricacies of this saga, we confront not only the egregious misconduct that fueled it but also the urgent need for systemic reforms to prevent such betrayals of trust from recurring.

Subrata Roy's family was originally from Dhaka, but they later migrarted to west Bengal then to Gorakhpur, UP for Subrata Roy's further studies. He did Engineering but later dropped out to look after his family. He started selling namkeen and chips on his scooter. His day to day life included meetings with daily wage workers. He then got to know about a major problem of daily wage workers. They were not able to manage their money. People didn't even had bank accounts so no scope of investments.

He started telling people to invest their money. Later asked them to give their money to him and he'll return it with intrest after a certain amount of time. His USP was that:

1. No bank account needed
2. Transaction with full cash
3. Investment starting from 1 Rs.

In 1978 he registered this company ' Sahara India Pariwar'. Later he started hiring people, some were full-time, others were agents. But with the condition that first they have to become investor then they can become agent/employee. Later these agents visit villages and encourage people to invest. Agents also gets a huge commissions on these investments.

Gradually they were able to get a large number of costumers and were handling multiple crore rupees of wealth.

The whole business model was to take money from one costumer and give it to other who has matured its investment. This was not a sustainable as they were offering very high returns but in reality it was only a give and take model.

In 1991 Subrata Roy ventured into the airline business and started 'Sahara Airlines'. They started operations in 1993 with multiple Boeing aircrafts. Till 1996 they were into Hotels, Real estate, Airlines etc businesses with over 1 lakh employees and multie crore investors. Now Sahara had gained trust and had a good reputation in the market.

Few questions were raised by multiple income tax officers about the whereabouts of the cash flow but they were supressed by politicians as they were associated with the Sahara Group.

Sahara was on new heights and everyone knew the name Sahara. They sponsored Indian Cricket team and also hockey team for almost a decade. Sahara also bought an IPL team of Pune warriors India. Started developing new Sahara cities which offered top-notch real estate. The title of most expensive and lavish wedding is also held by Sahara when Shushanto Roy and Seemanto Roy got married in Lucknow. It is reported that almost 550 crore rupees were spent on this wedding.

The total depositers reached over 10cr , 12 lakh plus employees. But now they were saturated. They were not able to get new costumers and investors. So Subrata Roy decided to go public with two companies to raise money from the market. SEBI gave the approval but were also investigating the Sahara group. But in 2009 they started getting complaints that depositers were not able to get their money.

SEBI filed multiple cases against Sahara in the court. Sahara didn't had answers. Supreme Court found that Sahara had no information of their almost 3 crore investors which was almost 24000 crore rupees. Supreme court ordered Sahara to pay their costumers this money asap. Few months later Sahara informed SEBI and court that they have paid 20000 crore rupees to their costumers in cash. Court ordered to inform this SEBI with proof. Sahara sent documents to Mumbai. SEBI randomly picked 20000 investors and sent a letter asking that did they got their money back or were they even a costumer of Sahara. SEBI got answers only from less then 70 customers.

Eventually the scam got exposed, Subrata Roy gets arrested, all the accounts of Sahara India got froze and all the operations were shut down. Investors till date haven't received their 24000 crore rupees back.

But recently some development has been made. In July 2023 a portal 'Sahara India Refund' was made by the home ministry. Investors have to fill in the details and proof of their investment and then they'll be eligible to get their refund.

Subrata Roy died on 14 nov 2023 due a reported cardiac arrest. But the name and legacy still remains the same and will have a deep impact on millions of people.

In conclusion, the Sahara India scam, orchestrated by Subrata Roy, stands as a stark reminder of the consequences of unchecked corporate malpractice and financial mismanagement. Roy's manipulation of investor funds, coupled with his disregard for regulatory oversight, not only tarnished the reputation of Sahara India but also inflicted significant financial harm on countless investors. The aftermath of this scandal underscores the urgent need for stringent regulatory reforms and heightened transparency within the corporate sector to prevent similar instances of fraud and protect the interests of investors and stakeholders.