The three Kapoor sisters who said ‘no’ to banking are now in the dock with Yes Bank crisis

• The founder of Yes Bank — which was taken over by the RBI — was arrested on Sunday (March 8). In addition, the CBI has named his wife, Bindu and their three daughters — Roshini, Radha and Rakhee — as co-accused in a case of money laundering.
  
• This is one of those rare cases where a scam-hit person’s family is also into the dock.
  
• The Kapoor sisters had one thing in common — the ‘no’ to a banking career.

Tainted billionaire Rana Kapoor is taking his fortunes and family down with him. The founder of Yes Bank — which was taken over by the RBI — was arrested on Sunday (March 8). In addition, the CBI has named his wife, Bindu and their three daughters — Roshini, Radha and Rakhee — as co-accused in a case of money laundering.

The company founded by his three daughters was charged a vehicle for kickbacks.

This is one of those rare cases where a scam-hit person’s family is also into the dock. The government issued a lookout notice of Kapoor and his family and his daughter Roshini was stopped from flying out of the country, to London on March 8.

Apart from bad credit decisions that led to crisis at the bank, Kapoor is being investigated for graver crimes like aiding the scam-hit Deewan Housing FInance (DHFL).

ED also seized the family properties and is searching across seven locations in Mumbai.

The start of the scam

It all started in April 2018, when Yes Bank invested ₹3,700 crore in Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL). In return, Kapil Wadhavan of DHFL gave ₹600 crore fund as loan to DoIT Urban Ventures, a company held by the three Kapoor sisters. DoIT Urban Ventures was formed in March 2012, listed as “limited by shares” company.

"Rana Kapoor obtained undue pecuniary advantage from DHFL in the matter of investment in the debentures of DHFL by Yes Bank, through the companies held by his wife and daughters," the FIR alleged.

The sisters who said ‘no’ to banking

The Kapoor sisters had one thing in common — the ‘no’ to a banking career. Rakhee, Kapoor’s second daughter studied finance and even started her career with JP Morgan. She however could not continue with it and took up a creative stint.

His youngest daughter Roshini had always looked up to her father and his entrepreneurial spirit. “My dad has always been my role model. His dedication and commitment towards his work and his passion as an entrepreneur and leader has fired up an entrepreneurial spirit in me. He has taught my sisters and me to dream big and not settle for mediocrity,” Roshini had once said in an interview.

The Three Sisters Institutional Office

This entrepreneurial spirit led to the foundation of the finance company — The Three Sisters Institutional Office — to manage the family wealth of Rana Kapoor, identifying areas of investment of personal wealth across sectors like tourism and logistics.

The first thing Radha Kapoor did after studying communication at Parsons in New York, she created her own company DoIt Creations in 2009. Since then, Radha Kapoor invested in an array of businesses — starting with the laundry business Pressto, followed by interiors-design company Brand Canvas and the Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI), which offers courses in media and design.

“During our research, we also found that a lot of people wait till they travel abroad to get some of their more expensive clothes cleaned, or send them to hotels. With the retail boom in India, we felt there was a market for a good dry cleaning service,” Radha Kapoor said.

The absence of high street dry cleaners who understand textiles, embellishments such as embroidery and delicate garment pieces, convinced me of Presto's potential, she added.

According to reports, the Kapoor sisters invested nearly ₹965 crore to incubate the new business, which was founded by the eldest daughter Radha Kapoor in 2013.

Talking about his family business, Rana Kapoor had once said in an interview, “Typically, families have a tendency of starting a business. They came up with an idea: Let us not call it the Rana Kapoor family office. We will call it TTS:IO — The Three Sisters Institutional Office,” Kapoor said in a start plus programme on father-daughter relationships.

However, the very relationship has landed them all in trouble who will have to face questioning by the CBI. The investigation agencies is upping its ante and has raided and searched seven locations in connection with the case. This was after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the RBI to look into the reasons behind the many troubles at Yes Bank, on which a moratorium had to be issued by the banking regulator.

See also:
The fall of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor from a billion dollars to facing a ₹4300 crore investigation
A timeline of troubles at YES Bank
Phonepe logs ₹4,000 crore transactions a day after it shifts from Yes Bank to ICICI