FOR businessmen scrambling to raise money in a bid to stave off bankruptcy, conference rooms can feel like little more than gilded prison cells. Few will feel this more acutely than Subrata Roy, the boss of Sahara, an Indian conglomerate: over the past 23 months he has worked out of a conference suite in a suburban Delhi jail. Held on charges of contempt of court relating to the sale of dodgy small-deposit plans to the masses—which the Supreme Court has ordered to be repaid, and whose proceeds he invested in property and other trophy assets—he has struggled to raise 100 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) in bail despite claiming his business is worth several times that.

The ignominy of having to sell assets—Sahara is reportedly trying to flog the Grosvenor House hotel in London, four aircraft and a stake in a Formula One team, among other things—was once unthinkable for a “promoter”, the Indian term for founders and majority owners of businesses. A class unto themselves, the most flamboyant feature on the same glossy pages as Bollywood stars and cricketers in the national team (which Sahara once sponsored). Not all promoters are rogues, but the term is often used somewhat as “oligarch” is in Russia. Though life can hardly be described as tough for these plutocrats, they no longer enjoy impunity.

Many thrived in industries where political connections mattered. They have found the new climate parching. At the top levels of Narendra Modi’s government, in power since May 2014, there are no longer the chummy relations that helped promoters secure precious permits, concessions and tax breaks. “Planes from Mumbai to Delhi used to be full of these guys heading to see ministers, you don’t see that any more,” says an investment banker.

Political connections also meant access to credit. India’s public-sector banks, which make up 70% of the banking system, have made enough dud loans in recent years to prompt some to worry about financial stability. Most of the soured loans were made by state-bank officials to crony-infested industries such as infrastructure, metals and mining.

In most countries, the banks would clear up the mess by seizing a defaulting company’s assets. India’s overburdened legal system and antiquated business legislation make that impractical. Promoters can credibly threaten to scupper a company before the creditors can get their hands on it, perhaps a decade down the line. With no fear of loans being foreclosed, the bigwigs have been able to flaunt their wealth even as their creditors fume.

Worse, bureaucrat-bankers keen to avoid embarrassment have kept throwing good money after bad to avoid fessing up to earlier mistakes. However, all this looks likely to end. Raghuram Rajan, India’s central-bank chief since 2013, is on a mission to clear the banks of their non-performing loans: at the very least, the flow of money to some promoters will be stemmed. A bankruptcy law is snaking its way through the legislature, which would make it easier to remove over-indebted promoters from their businesses.

Mr Rajan has spoken out against “connected wrongdoers” abusing the system. Throwing subtlety to the wind, he recently railed against promoters who “flaunt [their] birthday bashes even while owing the system a lot of money,” as guests were still recovering from the lavish 60th birthday bash thrown by Vijay Mallya, a drinks baron behind the Kingfisher brand (and a partner of Sahara’s in the Formula One team). Lenders to his group have been warning since 2012 that they are facing multi-billion dollar losses.

In part thanks to the new regime, cracks are starting to appear in the promoters’ finances. Ever more are having to put up their personal assets (not just their shares in the companies they control, but also houses and the like) as collateral to raise fresh financing. Such pledges reached a seven-year high in 2015: 46% of promoters’ equity is tied up in this way, estimates Prime Database, a data provider, up from 27% in 2009.

Whether Mr Roy gets to leave his prison conference room soon is in doubt. The reported value of the assets Sahara is flogging is well below the amount he needs to post bail, and they seem to be heavily borrowed-against anyway. The Indian securities regulator has rejected Sahara’s claim that it has made whole the vast majority of its small-scale creditors; it is after 400 billion rupees. On February 1st Mr Roy brought out a book detailing his life philosophy as seen from prison. A further two tomes are planned, suggesting he may have doubts over his judicial prospects.