National Herald, the mouthpiece of Indian National Congress, is known for its stupid logical reasoning to justify the political positions of the party. The Gandhi family owned newspaper has repeatedly attacked those who sympathize with the cause of BJP. During the UPA government, the investigation agencies were thrown after the industrialists who were donating money to saffron party, and National Herald justified it with all zeal.
The newspaper has now resorted to ‘vulture journalism’ after chairman of Essel Group- Subhash Chandra sold 16.5 percent of his shares, to payback the loans, and therefore became a minority stakeholder in the company. National Herald used this ‘opportunity’ to take a dig at demonetization, Zee group, Sudhir Chaudhary.
The newspaper, in an article titled ‘Subhash Chandra becomes “minority” in Zee group, demonetisation led to the fall of its fortunes’, argued that the fortunes of the company started falling after demonetization. The newspaper sourced the news of fall of the company due to demonetization from “insiders”.
“According to insiders, the financial health of the company started falling right after the demonetisation in 2016 – a disastrous move by the Modi government which former PM Manmohan Singh described as organised loot and plunder,” wrote the newspaper. But, the newspaper gave no further argument to substantiate the claim; all it has to back the claim of ‘insider sources’.
The article further argued that Subhash Chandra and Sudhir Chaudhary celebrated supported demonetization while the same step caused the fall of the company. “Ironically, Subhash Chandra and the star anchor of his news channel Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary had supported the demonetisation with all their zeal and might,” wrote Herald.
However, contrary to argument placed by National Herald, the 4,000-5,000 crore rupees loss of Zee group was due to its investment in infrastructure projects gone wrong. The loss in infrastructure projects has nothing to do with demonetization. In the very next line, the article accepts that the loss was due to ‘failed attempt in infrastructure projects. “A rice-trader turned media baron cum Rajya Sabha MP, Chandra plunged into financial crisis due to failed attempts on infrastructure projects,” reads the next paragraph of the article.
Chandra himself admitted that he made incorrect bids in infra projects, and this cost him thousands of crores. “As most of the infra companies, even we have made some incorrect bids … My obsession of not walking away from the situation has made me bleed Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore,” said Chandra.
Subhash Chandra, the Chairman of the Essel Group, has been an inspiration for the entrepreneurs of country. Chandra took to his family’s business of trading rice in early 1970s and built a billion dollar empire in last five decades. He came up with the idea to start a television while watching Gulf War on CNN at a Kuwait hotel.
He founded Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) in early 1990s, to make foray into television business. The company has become in pioneer of in private television channels with 19.7 percent of share in all India TV viewership.
The TV business of the Essel Group is performing exceptionally well. It posted revenue of 7,933 crore rupees in FY 19, growing at 12.4 percent annually and profit-after-tax of 1,567 crore rupees. The only competitor to ZEE’s media domination is STAR news with 21.4 percent network share. Subhash Chandra’s venture into media business paid very well and is paying so far. But, infrastructure ventures of the company have not performed very well.
Subhash Chandra saw the future of Indian Television & single-handedly created the country’s first media & entertainment empire. One stumble will not deter him & his entrepreneurial courage has always been admirable. May he steer his ship to safe harbour..https://t.co/7E8zFfdOZs
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) November 22, 2019
The business community and entrepreneurs believe Chandra will not be deterred by this one blow. “Subhash Chandra saw the future of Indian Television single-handedly created the country’s first media entertainment empire. One stumble will not deter him his entrepreneurial courage has always been admirable. May he steer his ship to safe harbor,” said veteran businessman Anand Mahindra. Given the entrepreneurial spirit of Chandra and the faith placed on him by industry leaders, it is probable that he will bounce back with new ventures.
