Subhash Chandra was known for his meteoric rise. After all, he added 59 channels in 25 years to shape his ‘jewel in the crown’. But soon he diversified, prodded probably by his connections with the government. As he rode fast and wide, he burnt rubber.



The troubles started when Chandra decided to enter into infra business and took up endless loans. And this business was built on the back of Zee Entertainment after Chandra family shares in the company were used as a collateral for fresh loans. He could not sustain the capital-heavy business and failed to pay off his debt

By January 2019, Essel failed to keep up with the debt payments. Soon, the lenders took over the founder family shares and sold it in the open market. Unsurprisingly, investors got nervous and Zee stock crashed 30% soon after. And that is how Chandra lost his shares and the value of his crown jewel at one go.

“In usual cases, infra companies have raised their hands and have left their lenders with non-performing assets, but in our case, my obsession of not walking away from the situation, has made me bleed ₹4,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore. Despite the loss making projects, we continued to pay the interest and the principle, by borrowing funds against our shareholdings in Listed Companies,” Chandra said in his emotional plea to investors this January.

The stock crashed on January 25 spread fear as rumours of money laundering spread. Most of its lenders and investors started selling out.