Counted as one of the most influential businessmen, Subrata Roy was a name which doesn’t need any introduction. From a meagre deposit to Rs. 1,50,000 crore assets, this business tycoon was a self-made man. From selling snacks on his Lambretta scooter to building an empire from scratch was more than a nostalgic journey for him. Also known by the name of ‘Sahara Shree’, Subrata Roy’s conglomerate has 4,799 establishments across the world. Everyone knows Subrata Roy’s controversial business life, but very few are aware that he was a doting husband to his wife, Swapna Roy, apart from being a businessman.
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Subrata Roy was born on June 10, 1948, to Chhavi and Sudhir Chandra Roy in Araria, Bihar. After shifting to Gorakhpur, Roy lived in a rented house in the Turkmanpur area with his parents and siblings. He did his schooling at Holy Child and pursued a diploma in Mechanical engineering from the Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur. Being the eldest son, he was forced to start working after his father’s death. Subrata tried his luck at making salted snacks, which he used to sell on his Lambretta scooter under the name of ‘Jaya Products’. In 1978, he laid the foundation of Sahara with a small office in Gorakhpur. And with years of hard work, his humble beginning was turned into the world’s largest business under the name of Sahara India Pariwar.
Behind every successful man, there is a woman, and in Subrata Roy’s case, it was his wife, Swapna Roy. Subrata was an average student and fell in love with the university topper he met through a common friend in Kolkata. It was love at first sight for Subrata as he was besotted with Swapna’s grace and beauty. After falling head-over-heels in love with her, Subrata confessed his feelings to Swapna. She immediately responded, and the two started dating.
In Simi Garewal’s chat show, Rendezvous With Simi Garewal, Swapna said that Subrata was charming and romantic, and she couldn’t help but fall in love with him. The two stayed in different cities and only met once or twice a year, but Subrata used to write long romantic letters to Swapna.
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After a courtship of seven years, the duo got married. At the time of their wedding, Subrata was struggling to establish his business, and his wife, Swapna Roy, had stood like a pillar of strength for him. She even helped him polish his English, and Subrata accepted the same in a media interaction. Subrata was a doting husband, who always praised his wife’s efforts in building his career.
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During the initial phase of his career, when he struggled to establish his business, Subrata Roy had to mortgage his wife, Swapna’s jewellery. He admitted the same on Simi Garewal’s chat show, Rendezvous With Simi Garewal. Talking about the same, he revealed that he could never forget that he had to mortgage his wife’s jewellery to build his business. He also stated that since then, out of repentance, he would gift her gold jewellery on every birthday.
In 2013, Subrata Roy received an honorary doctorate in business and leadership from the University of East London. He also received the Business Icon of the Year award at the London Powerband Hall of Fame Awards in 2011. He was also awarded the Best Industrialist Award in 2002, the Vishisht Rashtriya Udaan Samman in 2010, the Baba-E-Rozgar Award in 1992 and many more. Subrata was featured regularly in India Today’s list of 50 Most Powerful People of India, since 2003. In 2004, Time magazine termed his company, Sahara India, the second-largest employer in India.
Apart from his global achievements, Subrata was also known for his humanitarian work. In 2013, Sahara played a major role in the relief efforts in flood-hit Uttarakhand. One lakh bottles of drinking water, packaged juices, food packets and other necessary items were provided by them. Apart from this, the company's contribution to the Kargil War was also appreciated by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Sahara group had provided financial support to 127 families of the martyrs.
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Subrata Roy and Swapna Roy had two sons, Sushanto Roy and Seemanto Roy. In 2004, Subrata hit the headlines for throwing one of the most expensive weddings of his sons. His sons, Seemanto and Sushanto, married on the same day in the Sahara Auditorium, Lucknow. The Sahara Chief, Subrata Roy, spent a whopping sum of Rs. 552 crores for the wedding. The entire venue was decked up like a royal bride and lit up with traditional torch lights, hundreds of lamps and prism glasses.
The who’s who of the political, glamour and business world graced the occasion. Celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Anil Ambani, and Mulayam Singh Yadav were present to welcome the guests. The menu had spanned across 110 dishes, from across the globe, designed for every kind of palate. Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Rohit Bal designed the wedding outfits. There were dance performances by Shiamak Davar’s troupe, as the British Symphony Orchestra played Indian songs.
Apart from this, Subrata Roy got 101 underprivileged girls married on the auspicious occasion of his son's wedding. Food was also distributed to close to about one and a half lakh beggars.
On November 14, 2023, Subrata Roy left for his heavenly abode after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest. The 75-year-old businessman was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute (KDAH) in Mumbai on November 12, 2023. The Sahara Group issued a statement regarding Subrata Roy's death, which stated that the business tycoon passed away due to cardiorespiratory arrest and was also battling multiple health issues. The statement can be read as:
"It is with profound sadness that Sahara India Pariwar [group] informs the demise of our Hon’ble ‘Saharasri’ Subrata Roy Sahara. Saharasri ji an inspirational leader and visionary, passed away on 14th November 2023 at 10.30 pm due to cardiorespiratory arrest following an extended battle with complications arising from metastatic malignancy, hypertension, and diabetes.”
Subrata Roy’s humbleness was the reason behind the business empire he raised. Even after achieving great heights, Subrata always stayed grounded, and an example of the same is his Lambretta scooter that stands enclosed in a cubicle in Lucknow’s Sahara Shaher. It is kept as a remembrance of how it all started decades ago when he was a nobody.
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