The Rise and Fall of Amrapali Group

Amrapali Group is a major player in real estate activity long back. Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the brand ambassador for the group, which implemented projects worth several thousands of crores. The group emerged on the real estate scene as a top company. In sharp contrast, the company was mired in severe debts and finding it difficult to wriggle itself out of the mounting debts. The group CMD was imprisoned and projects remained suspended for want of pumping funds, the investors in the projects have been doing rounds to courts, predicting a bleak future for the group. None other than the Supreme Court remarked that it is not able comprehend how to render justice to the victims. It made it clear that it is better for the Amrapali former CMD Anil Sharma to remain in prison going by the scale of the fraud he had perpetrated. The court turned down his bail plea as he is not eligible for the court to show any leniency towards him. What is the story behind the Amrapali Group’s collapse? How did it fell to disgrace from the top position? Amrapali Group founder and chairman-cum-managing director Dr Anil Sarma was an IITian from Bihar. He worked as an employee of the NTPC in Bihar prior to diversifying into real estate. He went to Delhi and in 2003 he launched his first project in Noida. Over a period of time, the group emerged as a top real estate player. He also worked as CREDAI-NCR chairman. He diversified into FMCG sector by floating the group’s food brand Mum’s. He also produced the Hindi film titled Gandhi to Hitler, which was premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival. He also entered the entertainment sector with his company Media Vision. He contested Lok Sabha elections in 2014 on JD (U) ticket from Jehanabad constituency but was defeated. The total value of the assets of Amrapali in 2011 was Rs 30.4 crore. They reached Rs 299 crore as on 2015. The team India Captain Dhoni was appointed brand ambassdor of the group to promote the products. In fact, Dhoni’s wife Sakshi owned 25% share in one of the projects floated by the group. However, the project could not be launched subsequently.

Fall from grace

Promising to build flats in Greater Noida of UP, the Amrapali group collected money from 42,000 persons. As the group failed to build the flats over a long period of time, 2500 victims approached the Supreme Court. They demanded the group to complete the pending construction work in Saffire Project of the group in Noida. Under severe pressure from the victims, Dhoni quit as brand ambassador of the group in 2016. It has compounded the tension among the victims. In 2017, the Corporation Bank announced to auction the Amrapali office building at Sector 62 in Noida to recover the dues from it. It has augmented the tension among the customers of the group further. As the Noida Authority has failed to recover dues to it to the tune of Rs 3100 crore, the customers felt that the Amrapali Group is embezzling their funds. The National Company Law Tribute has admitted the insolvency petition filed by Bank of Baroda against the Amrapali Group in September 2017. A group of 107 buyers of flats in the group moved the Supreme Court on the issue. The UP Electricity department cut off power supply to the group’s Silicon City, Platinum, Zodiac and Princey Estate projects in March 2018 citing that the company owed Rs 5 crore to it by way of electricity charges. On the other hand, Dhoni also moved court stating that the group owed him Rs 150 crore. Thus, the group was caught in a series of problems. The SC probing into the case, ordered forensic audit of the companies accounts. It found out that the company diverted Rs 5,619 crore into various affiliated companies. On the basis of it, the CMD Dr Anil Sarma and company directors were arrested. They are languishing in jail since 2018. However, some others feel that not only did the Amrapali group is alone responsible for its sorry state of affairs, but also the Noida Authority. The main problem was land acquisition. Noida Authority has been accused of acquiring the land not following the guidelines properly or not in accordance with the government rules. It is accused of acquiring the land as it liked and handed it over to the developers. Because of this reason, the project works remained suspended for two years. The funds of Amrapali got evaporated due to its ‘economic affairs’ and problems with banks, leading to fall of the group to the disgrace.