Amit Bhatnagar is MD of DPIL, which allegedly cheated a consortium of 11 banks of Rs 2,654 crore. File
Amit Bhatnagar, Managing Director of Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Limited (DPIL), which allegedly cheated a consortium of 11 banks to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore, is known for hobnobbing with people in power. A primary member of the BJP, Bhatnagar, who was the joint managing director of the company since 1993 and its MD since 2010, is a graduate in industrial engineering from Saurashtra University and MBA in Finance & MOP from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila.
Subordinates of his company described him as an “intelligent, shrewd but compassionate boss”, who is also the winner of several academic gold medals. Bhatnagar, the president of Electrical Goods Manufacturers Association of Gujarat, was awarded “Udyog Ratan” for 2007-08 by the Government of India.
Nearly a week after the special CBI court in Ahmedabad refused anticipatory bail to Bhatnagar, his brother Sumit and their father Suresh N Bhatnagar, citing how “scamsters of big economic offences were fleeing the country and justice”, the trio were caught from a hotel in Udaipur where they had checked in as “Vermas”. The trio are under investigation by the CBI and ED in the Rs 2,654 crore bank fraud in collusion with unidentified bank officials, the FIR for which was lodged on March 26. The Bhatnagars are in CBI custody till April 27.
The Bhatnagars established the firm in 1970 as a partnership and converted it into a private limited company on August 26, 1992, with the name Diamond Cables Limited, which changed to its current name in October 2007. The company deals with conductors, cables, transmission towers, and sells its product under the brand name DICABS and DIATRON.
For most industry leaders in Vadodara, the fall of DPIL was “imminent”. An industrialist from the city, who is Bhatnagar’s close associate, said, “He saw Gautam Adani (of Adani Group) as his icon and kept acquiring smaller companies in the power sector and seeking business loans to generate capital. His hobnobbing with top state leaders was an attempt to build a brand of his own, which helped him get bank loans. We can say that his lack of planning and internal political rivalry between those who were supporting him and those who weren’t did him in.”
Businessmen in Vadodara said the downfall of DPIL began after Bhatnagar succeeded his father in 2010, taking over the company’s day-to-day functioning. The company, which reported a steady growth in consolidated sales and profits till 2011-12, reported a loss for the first time in 2015, and the southward trend continued.
The industrialist added, “These losses were not just because of the business failure but also because Bhatnagar had a penchant for extravaganza. Apart from getting funds for extravagant cultural events that Vadodara witnessed between 2014-17, he also diverted a lot of the energy of his management and his liquid resources to the events. He thought he was building his brand, but it was undoing his primary business. He also ventured into real estate but failed. It forced him to resort to unethical practices to recover losses that he could not explain.”
Another industrialist said, “He did not take local leaders along while he was on his rise. He always made it clear that he was on direct dialling terms with Gandhinagar and needed to please no local leader…We believe the letter of complaint to the PMO seeking investigation in his case is from within the party.”