Just wondering...

What Abhay Oswal is up to these days. There was a time in the ’80s and early ’90s, when he was regarded as the rising star of India Inc. But Oswal’s sheen has worn off since then. Following a series of highprofile ventures in petrochemicals, chemicals and fertilisers that failed to take off, he sold his principal businesses— a fertliser plant in Shahjahanpur, UP, and a DAP plant in Paradeep, Orissa, in 2005-06 for Rs 4,080 crore.

His flagship company, Oswal Chemicals & Fertilisers, earlier known as Bindal Agro, is now an active player in the real estate market. Along the way, there have been allegations of political pay-offs, bribery and asset stripping, but Oswal has never let this cramp his style. When last heard, his son Pankaj’s Burrup Holdings, which operates the world’s largest ammonia plant in Australia, had twice postponed an IPO that would have valued the company at $2.5 billion (Rs 11,500 crore).

—Manu Kaushik