Hey, Millionaire! We all know that the poorest countries in the world often
have the biggest wealth gap. While most of the population has almost no money,
a handful of lucky people are super-rich. India is definitely one of those countries. Some
people in India can't buy food, while others have billions of dollars and huge mansions.
But it doesn't always last. Many of these Indian millionaires have lost their fortunes,
sometimes in pretty spectacular ways. For this video, we gathered the stories
of how 7 of the richest Indian men went from riches to rags. Let's get to it!
7. Vijay Mallya - was worth $750 million Vijay Mallya was once known as The King of
Good Times, but it looks like those good times are over. He made his fortune when he inherited
his father's company, United Spirits, best known for Kingfisher beer. Mallya turned his father's
business into something much bigger than it used to be, which allowed him to invest in other areas
and grow his wealth. Not only did he invest in a cricket team, he also served as an MP. But there
was one big business decision he made that turned out to be a huge mistake. He started Kingfisher
airlines, hoping it would earn him even more cash. But it definitely didn't. It went bankrupt
before the world realized it even existed. And it went down in a blaze of glory. Even though it
shut down, it still owes an incredible amount of money to 17 different banks - about $1.3 billion,
to be exact. On top of that, Mallya has been investigated for allegedly re-routing the $1.3
billion in loans to purchase stakes in 40 other businesses across the world. In case
you don't know, that's seriously illegal. He's hiding from Indian authorities in his London
home and has been declared a "fugitive economic offender." He should've stuck to making beer.
6. V. G. Siddhartha - was worth $1.1 billion V. G. Siddhartha made his billion when he
inherited his father's coffee plantation and turned it into a coffee empire. In 1996,
he opened the first branch of Cafe Coffee Day, and in just a few years, it became
the largest chain of coffee shops in India, with 15,000 cafes! It was a huge achievement,
and it paid off in a big way - Siddhartha's net worth was estimated at over $1.1 billion. But
then something shocking happened. On July 27, 2019, the Cafe Coffee Day board of directors
received a letter from Siddhartha explaining that he was deep in debt. He said in the letter that
he'd done his best to fix it but that it hadn't worked, and he couldn't take the pressure anymore.
With business assets outweighing debts, he said he hoped they'd be able to fix the problem. Two
days later, he was missing. He'd asked his driver to take him to a bridge where he wanted to walk,
but when he didn't come back, the driver contacted the police. At the same time,
a fisherman claimed to have seen a man jumping from the same bridge. The Coast Guard, Home Guard,
Fire Services, Coastal Police, National Disaster Response Force, and local fishermen all began
a 36-hour-long search to find the Coffee King. Sadly, his body was found on the river bank 3 days
later. We'll never know exactly what happened, but it's a sad end to the story for sure.
5. Nirav Modi - was worth $1.8 billion Nirav Modi made a name for himself as the head
of Firestar Diamonds - a hugely successful jewelry design company. Thanks to his jewelry designs,
his net worth came to an estimated $1.8 billion - which is interesting because that's nearly the
same amount of cash he allegedly stole. Modi is in trouble with people all over the world. The
Punjab National Bank - one of the biggest money lenders in India - was the first to
file a complaint against him. They claim he'd defrauded them out of nearly $2 billion! He's
apparently still hiding out in an apartment in London while authorities wait to find out
if the UK is going to deport him. But they're not the only ones on his tail. He's also being
sued by a California businessman who bought two custom-designed diamond engagement rings from
Modi. He then took them home and somehow discovered that the diamonds were actually
lab-created and shouldn't have been nearly as expensive as they were - Modi had charged him
$4.2 million for them. You've got to wonder how long he's been getting away with that trick.
Think that's a lot of money? Keep watching - the richest broke Indian businessmen are still coming!
4. Mehul Choksi - was worth $2.5 billion You might not have heard of Mehul Choksi,
but he sure has a story to tell. He made his fortune as the owner of the Gitanjali
group - a huge jewelry retailer with over 4,000 stores in India. With that many locations,
maybe it's not so surprising that he claims he had a net worth of $2.5 billion! But he wasn't
satisfied with that. According to authorities, Choksi and his nephew made a little deal with
two employees of Punjab National Bank. They helped them set up a money-laundering scheme
through 41 of Choksi's jewelry stores. And it worked better than you'd expect. The bank and
Indian police claim that Choksi's fraud earned him $1.8 billion at the bank's expense. There's
also talk of lab-created diamonds being sold at the price of natural diamonds and a whole
collection of other schemes. He then bought himself a passport, making himself a citizen
of the beautiful island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. All that so he had somewhere nice to
stay when he fled India. But Choksi has a very different version of what happened. He claims
that he never did anything wrong, and nobody at his company ever did anything wrong either.
He basically says that he's been framed by the bank and Indian authorities. He also says that
he didn't run away - the fact that he flew to the Caribbean with a brand new passport just a
few days before the scam was unearthed was just a coincidence. But the story gets even weirder. He
was nearly deported back to India when Dominica authorities arrested him for illegally being in
their country. They caught him as he was about to flee to Cuba in a boat. Choksi said it wasn't
his fault. His reason? He was kidnapped. According to him, Indian authorities had
collaborated with British mercenaries and human traffickers to capture him. His story goes that
he was befriended by a woman over 6 months, who tricked him into walking straight into the arms
of this trap. They then took him to Dominica so he'd be deported back to India to face charges.
Why didn't they just take him to India? We'll never know. The charges were dropped, and he now
spends his time in Antigua, complaining about his health while resting in his superyacht. Poor guy.
3. Subrata Roy - was worth $10 billion Subrata Roy was, at one time, the most famous
rich Indian on earth, often photographed among celebrities, sports stars, and world leaders.
That's not so surprising - he was often the one throwing lavish parties for them. And he could
afford to do that easily - he's rumored to be worth about $10 billion. At least, he used to
be. His company, the Sahara Group, was involved in just about every money-making sector you can think
of, from property to media, airlines, and sports. It was one of the biggest employers in India,
with over a million employees! But that's not what it's known for these days. Today,
it's famous for one of the biggest corporate scams in the history of India. Apparently,
multiple investigations were launched against the company to try and discover the source of
all the money Sahara was making. Most turned up no results. But there was one thing that turned
Subrata Roy's life upside down. The company had been selling illegal bonds to investors.
If that sounds bad, strap in - it gets way worse. These investors were actually from very poor or
rural Indian communities that normally didn't have access to regular banking services. They
had no idea they were investing in a totally illegal scheme. And the total amount stolen
by Roy and the Sahara group is staggering - added up to a total of $3.5 billion. Roy
was arrested and spent some time in prison, but he's been out on bail since 2016. Sadly,
it looks like the company still hasn't repaid the money to the people they stole from.
What do you think about Roy getting rich by stealing off the poorest people? Tell
us in the comments! And keep watching - if you think Roy was rich, you're in for a surprise!
2. Anil Ambani - was worth $42 billion Anil Ambani and his brother Mukesh inherited
their father's empire - but it wasn't easy. A family feud between the brothers meant their
mum split the company in two. Anil was the one who inherited Reliance Communications,
which he must have been pretty happy about for a while. After all, it made him the 6th richest
man on earth, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $42 billion! With all the success,
Anil and his directors started borrowing money to spread into new business territory. But sibling
rivalries don't just disappear. In 2010, Anil's brother opened Jio - a rival telecommunications
company that took off in a big way. So big, in fact, that it knocked Anil's business off way
down the rankings. Soon, Anil's company was worth just $4 billion, while his brother's
was worth almost $100 billion. Suddenly, Anil's company couldn't repay all his loans,
and his suppliers were asking to be paid for products they'd sent him. Finally, when Anil
was threatened with jail time, he testified that he couldn't pay. Why didn't he just pay it? Well,
he's about $77 million in debt now. You try paying that off - it's not easy, even for a rich person.
And finally, our number one spot goes to...
1. Ramalinga Raju - was worth $71 billion We always expect to know the names of the
richest people in the world. But that's not always true. Some estimates put Ramalinga Raju's
net worth at $71 billion! But that was before the scandal. He got richer than Mark Zuckerberg
thanks to his IT firm, Satyam Computer Services, which he started back in the 90s in the middle of
the IT boom in India. And it was all looking great, right up until 2009. Out of the blue,
Raju wrote a letter to board members, saying he was carrying a burden on his conscience and
wanted to bring some facts to their attention. The rest of the letter outlined years of embezzlement
and accounting fraud totaling an incredible $1.5 billion. It ended with a resignation. This was
a big deal - not just because of the huge amount of money but also because of the large number of
US-based Fortune 500 companies that used Satyam services. When he was finally arrested in 2015,
he pled guilty on all counts, but he and several conspirators got out on bail. The
company was bought by another company later, but I doubt Raju is bouncing back after that.