The biggest controversy about Vikram Kothari, Chairman and Managing Director, Rotomac Group, is not about the Rs 800 crore default - which, when compared to the multi-billion dollar defaults India Inc has gotten used to, is a piffling amount - but whether he's in India or wheels-up to a non-extradition country. Thankfully, Kothari himself put an end to rumours, saying he was very much in India in his home town, Kanpur.Kothari's newsworthiness pertains to two loans of Rs 485 crore and Rs 352 crore from a consortium of five state-owned banks - Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank and Bank of India.
Currently under investigation by the CBI, Kothari was born on October 12, 1949 and is the son of Pan Parag founder, Mansukhbhai Kothari, who launched Pan Parag on August 18, 1973. Kothari, by then married for two years, joined his father and brother Deepak in running the company, which in the 1980s, commanded the largest amount of advertising air time on television.
Kothari diversified into writing instruments when he set up Rotomac in 1992. He also has interests in iron and steel, exports, cineplexes, real estate, foods and fragrances and infrastructure.Fond of the limelight, Kothari hired top actors like Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon during the 1990s to be Rotomac's brand ambassadors.
Kothari is not new to running foul of the banks and financial institutions. Last year, Alllahabad Bank had auctioned four of his residential properties - which were jointly owned by him, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul. The combined reserve price of the four properties - which included three apartments and a 432 sq yard house - was Rs 7.57 crore while the loan default, which included interest payments, amounted to Rs 235.67 crore.
Kotahari had taken objection to Bank of Baroda listing Rotomac Global as a wilful defaulter last year and had successfully challenged it in the Allahabad High Court, which ordered removal of the company's name from the bank's wilful defaulter list.Rotomac's loan default case is currently under hearing at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), with the next hearing slated for February 23, Friday.