Subhash Chandra the man who started TV revolution in India now bows out after piling on $1.6 billion debt

Essel also sold 11% in Zee Entertainment to Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund for ₹4,224 crore earlier this year. The sale proceeds however was not enough to pay back the debt. The group then struck a deal to sell another 15% in Zee, reducing promoter stake to 5%.

As of September 2019, Chandra and his son Goenka had to repay about ₹11,000 crore to the Essel Group. While almost half the debt is paid, Chandra has time till March 31, 2020 to pay the other half.

His debt was so huge that rumours started doing the rounds that Chandra will leave India just like Kingfisher’s Mallya.

The 69-year-old Chandra is still the 916th richest person in the world with a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. In 2019 though, he was one of the seven billionaires in India who exited from Forbes India rich list 2019 after his net worth tanked furiously.

His net worth was at $5 billion in March 2018 which reduced by half in 2019. This is after the massive sell off and consequent value erosion.

All of Chandra’s other businesses that failed also depleted his personal wealth, and his crown jewel. “In Chandra’s case, loans were taken to fund education, green energy and financial services ventures, among others. Eventually, the loan covenants forced him to seek a moratorium on payouts and sell a part of his family silver Zee Entertainment to Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund,” explained Forbes why Subhash Chandra lost his wealth.

Investors who were worried of promoter stake sale did not take to Chandra’s exit nicely either. All of Zee stocks tanked 9% to hit its intraday low of ₹312.5 apiece on the day his exit announcement was made.

Few investors took note of the fact that promoters’ problems had not affected the Essel group’s performance. Essel’s consolidated net profit rose 7.40% to ₹2,122 crore in Q2FY20 as compared to ₹1,975.90 crore in Q2FY19.