Pandora Papers Part 14: Gautam Singhania acquired two BVI entities, one to hold Swiss bank account

While Singhania is named as a beneficial owner in one of the companies, he is listed as a shareholder in another.

Deras Worldwide Corporation, incorporated in July 2008 was acquired by Gautam Singhania the same month. Documents of BVI-headquartered service provider Trident Trust show him as its beneficial owner with a Mumbai address. The purpose of the acquisition was “to hold an account with UBS, Zurich” with Roland Gysel, UBS, AG, Geneva, Switzerland, as its asset manager.

Trident Trust, which acted as the service provider for Deras Worldwide, appointed three directors on the board of the company in July 2008. Trident Corporate Services raised an invoice of $1,700 for Deras Worldwide on July 10, 2008.

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A detailed set of questions sent to the company did not elicit a response.

The second company associated with Singhania was Lyndonville Holdings Limited. Incorporated on January 2, 2008, in BVI through Alcogal, another global corporate services provider, this company listed Gautam Singhania as one of its shareholders alongside his father Vijaypat Singhania and mother Asha Singhania. The company was, however, liquidated in 2016.

A diversified group with majority business interests in textile and apparel, Raymond Group is led by Gautam Hari Singhania. Its flagship Raymond Ltd is a listed company with a market capitalisation of Rs 2,997 crore as on Friday. In the year-ended March 2021, the company posted a loss of Rs 303 crore on net sales of Rs 3,446 crore. In the previous year, it had posted Rs 201.7 crore in profits on net sales of Rs 6,482 crore.