Meet owner of 2 Islands, 71-Room Palace with Rs 32000 crore net worth, the man is now broke, Aircel was his...
Chinnakannan Sivasankaran- File image
You must have heard many success stories on India.com but here is a story of someone who o nce the owner of two private islands, a lavish 71- room mansion in Chennai, lived a successful life but is now broke. Once the owner of properties in various continents, Chinnakannan Sivasankaran is widely known in business circles as ' Siva'. The tragedy of his life is such that he now describes himself as a broke man . Here is all you need to know about Chinnakannan Sivasankaran and his journey.
The life of Sivasankaran's unfolds like a gripping biopic. Sivasankaran was r aised in a humble household in Tamil Nadu, Sivasankaran and had an extraordinary journey ahead. With his path moving him through India's corporate world, he achieved everything he could but ultimately lost his billion- dollar business empire.
In a recent appearance on The Ranveer Show , the former telecom magnate reflected on his meteoric rise and dramatic fall.
' I'm not poor, I'm just broke for the time being,' he said with a serenity that contrasts the storms he's weathered.
'I had everything – wealth, properties, recognition – and then I watched it all vanish,' he was quoted as saying by a report by News18 about his journey.
'I decided what I had to do next. My story is not over yet,' he declared, he added about his plans. Entrepreneurial rise of Chinnakannan Sivasankaran
The entrepreneurial rise of Chinnakannan Sivasankaran began in the 1980s with Sterling Computers, a key player in India's IT sector by the 1990s. However, the major breakthrough in the career of Chinnakannan Sivasankaran came with the launch of Aircel in 1999.
Aircel, the telecom company quickly gained wide popularity traction due to the consumer likable offers that it used to provide. It became a prominent brand, leading to Siva selling a 74% stake to Malaysia's Maxis Communications in 2006—a deal that later drew scrutiny in the controversial 2G spectrum scandal. Downfall of Chinnakannan Sivasankaran
Though Sivasankaran avoided criminal charges, he was involved in legal battles and got in huge trouble due to the mounting debt. By the year 2018, Aircel filed for bankruptcy, with Siva claiming personal losses of Rs 7,000 crore.
The report also says that his net worth was once over $4 billion, but with the downfall of Aircel, everything changed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
5 minutes ago
- Indian Express
A murder and a viral video: Who is Mamta Pathak, former chemistry professor, convicted of killing her husband by electrocution
In the austere courtroom of the Madhya Pradesh High Court's Jabalpur Bench, a 65-year-old woman, currently serving life imprisonment, stood alone before the judges. Though Mamta Pathak is not a lawyer, the former chemistry professor insisted she didn't need one to argue her own appeal in connection with the 2021 murder of her husband Neeraj Pathak, 63, a senior physician at the Chhatarpur District Hospital. A marital dispute in a small Madhya Pradesh town that culminated in a sensational murder trial in 2022 recently went viral on social media due to a 'rare' courtroom battle being waged by the aged convict. The video shows Justice Vivek Agrawal asking Mamta during a hearing last month, 'The allegations against you are that you murdered your husband through electrocution. The post-mortem doctor has categorically said there were signs of electric shock.' In the video, Mamta begins her defence by stating that it is 'not possible to differentiate between thermal and electric burn marks during a post-mortem (by simply looking at them)'. The convict then proceeded to explain that a burn mark found on a body needs to be removed and treated with chemicals to ascertain its source. 'Are you a chemistry professor?' the judge asks. Replying in the affirmative, Mamta adds, 'I don't know how the post-mortem has said this is an electric burn mark.' On April 29, 2021, Dr Pathak was found dead in his Loknathpuram house in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur town. The cause of death, according to the autopsy, was electrocution. Within days, his wife Mamta, a professor at a local government college, was arrested for his murder and charged under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The trial, conducted at the Chhatarpur district court, was based on circumstantial evidence, including marital discord over Mamta's belief that her husband was having an affair. Besides this, her behaviour the day after his death — leaving the house with her son in the morning without informing anyone about her dead husband, going to Jhansi, over 100 km from Chhatarpur town, for dialysis, and admitting to her driver that she had made a 'big mistake', according to court documents — was also deemed suspicious. The clinching evidence was provided by her husband's relative, the star witness, who testified that Dr Pathak had called him hours before his death and said, 'Mamta is harassing me… she has locked me in the bathroom and hasn't given me food or water.' The district court had found the timeline, witness testimonies, and the recovery of a plug-in wire and sleeping pills from Mamta's residence sufficient to convict her. In his June 26, 2022, verdict, Additional Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar Devaliya had convicted her to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000. Mamta, however, filed an appeal for suspension of sentence before the High Court's Jabalpur Bench, which started hearing her plea from July 19, 2022, onwards. During the first two hearings — on September 6, 2022, and November 28, 2022 — her counsels failed to appear before the court. On January 17, 2023, her counsel appeared for the first time and sought an expedited hearing, citing her age and her responsibilities toward her aged mother. The Bench, then comprising Justices Sujoy Paul and Amar Nath Kesharwani, dismissed her plea, citing the 'gruesome nature' of the crime. On April 16, 2023, Mamta refused legal aid and told the court that she had studied the case for 18 months. She filed another interim application in August, reiterating her desire to self-represent. Rejecting her plea, the court on August 31, 2023, said 'no occasion arises' to permit self-representation at that stage. The turning point came on March 12, 2024, when Mamta presented her own arguments for the first time. The next day, on March 13, she focused on two pleas: suspension of sentence and bail. She argued that the prosecution's case rested solely on circumstantial evidence linking her to her husband's death. There was no direct evidence or eyewitnesses, she told the court, adding that forensic evidence could not prove intent. The former professor also submitted extensive medical records citing her health issues — heart valve disease, kidney dysfunction and suspected bone cancer — and highlighted that she was the sole caregiver for her mentally and physically ill son. Acknowledging the gravity of her ailments and responsibilities, the court granted temporary suspension of sentence and bail for six months. On August 29, 2024, Mamta returned to court to seek an extension. Once again, she chose to self-represent. She informed the court that her treatment had been delayed due to financial hardship and that her son, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was entirely dependent on her. The court extended her bail. On April 16, 2025, Mamta addressed the court once more, during which she confirmed declining the legal aid she had been offered. This time, the Bench observed that she had chosen self-representation consciously and noted it on record. Her arguments, once again, remained inconclusive. The next day, on April 17, she told the court that she wished to be assisted by her former counsel, senior advocate Surendra Singh, to complete the remaining submissions. The judgement in the case is reserved, her legal team says.
Time of India
6 minutes ago
- Time of India
Suzlon Energy shares jump 11% in 3 days on 365% Q4 PAT surge, brokerages eye Rs 83 target
Suzlon Energy shares: The stock rallied after the company reported a 365% year-on-year jump in consolidated PAT, rising to Rs 1,182 crore in Q4FY25 from Rs 254 crore in the same quarter last year. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Segment-Wise Performance Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Wind Turbine Generator (WTG): Revenue stood at Rs 3,142 crore in Q4FY25, compared to Rs 2,336 crore in Q3FY25 and Rs 1,532 crore in Q4FY24. Foundry & Forging: Revenue came in at Rs 168 crore versus Rs 146 crore in Q3 and Rs 158 crore YoY. Operation & Maintenance Services: Revenue reached Rs 591 crore, up from Rs 580 crore in Q3 and Rs 574 crore in Q4FY24. The company also reported other income of Rs 4 crore. Suzlon Energy share target price Motilal Oswal: Buy | Target Price: Rs 83 ICICI Securities: Buy| Target Price: Rs 76 Morgan Stanley: Overweight | Target Price: Rs 77 Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Nuvama: Hold| Target Price: Rs 68 Shares of Suzlon Energy surged 10.7% in the last three trading sessions, to touch a high of Rs 73.44 on the BSE in Monday's trade, fueled by strong Q4FY25 earnings and brokerages setting a target price of as high as Rs 83 for the stock witnessed a rally after last week, the company reported a 365% year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated profit after tax (PAT), reaching Rs 1,182 crore in Q4FY25 as compared to Rs 254 crore in the same quarter last from operations grew 73% YoY to Rs 3,773 crore from Rs 2,179 crore in Q4FY24. Sequentially, PAT rose 205% from Rs 387 crore in Q3FY25, while revenue increased 27% from Rs 2,969 expenses for the quarter stood at Rs 3,274 crore, up from Rs 2,611 crore in Q3FY25 and Rs 1,927 crore in the earnings, several brokerages revised their target prices upward, with the highest at Rs 83, citing strong order execution, margin expansion, and optimistic guidance for Oswal has reiterated a 'Buy' rating on Suzlon Energy with a target price of Rs 83. The brokerage highlighted that Suzlon's deliveries and EBITDA were 15% and 38% ahead of expectations, has maintained its positive outlook, guiding at least 60% YoY improvement in revenue, EBITDA, deliveries, and adjusted PAT for FY26. While no specific FY27 guidance was issued, expected wind installations in India for FY26–FY28 are pegged at 6–9GW annually. Motilal Oswal believes the early implementation of a local content-related draft notification could further benefit the Securities has given a 'Buy' rating on Suzlon Energy with a raised target price of Rs 76, up from the earlier Rs brokerage noted that the company ended FY25 with strong financial performance, including Q4 revenue of Rs 3,773 crore (+73% YoY), EBITDA of Rs 7 billion (+94% YoY), and adjusted PAT of Rs 5.8 billion (2x YoY). The execution of 573MW of wind turbines (2.1x YoY) and an EBITDA margin of 18.3% (+200bps YoY) were seen as key positives. The order book at the end of May 2025 stood at 5.6GW (3.6x FY25 volumes), supporting strong growth visibility in the medium Stanley has maintained an 'Overweight' stance on Suzlon Energy with a target price of Rs brokerage expects 60% YoY growth in WTG volume, revenue, EBITDA, and PAT for FY26. The contribution margin from the WTG segment is guided at 23%, with the company projecting a tax rate of approximately 25% (non-cash expense). FY26 capex is expected in the range of Rs 4,000–Rs 4,500 Institutional Equities has assigned a 'Hold' rating on Suzlon, raising the target price to Rs 68 from Rs firm cited strong operational performance in Q4FY25 with deliveries of 573MW, surpassing the 475MW estimate. The operating profit margin improved to 18.3% from an estimated 14.7% due to a higher contribution from the WTG segment. However, the brokerage noted that a deferred tax asset creation of Rs 6.4 billion significantly boosted PAT for the quarter. For FY27, Nuvama expects 5–7% higher sales and 8–15% better EBITDA and continues to value the stock at 40x FY27 earnings.
Time of India
7 minutes ago
- Time of India
Gold Price Prediction: How to trade ahead of Fed chief Jerome Powell speech
After an overall decline in the last week, Gold August futures contracts at MCX opened higher by Rs 243 or 0.25% at Rs 96,118/10 g after uncertainties around US President Donald Trump's tariffs linger. Supported by safe-haven buying, silver July futures contracts also opened slightly higher by Rs 164 or 0.17% at Rs 97,179/kg. On Friday, gold and silver settled on a weaker note in the domestic and international markets. Gold August futures contract settled at Rs 95,875 per 10 grams with a loss of 0.61%, and silver July futures contract settled at Rs 7,015 per kilogram with a loss of 0.83%. Gold and silver showed very high price volatility and plunged last week amid a rebound in the dollar index and the U.S. President Trump's statements on China, trade tariffs and the Russia-Ukraine war. The dollar index rebounded from 1-month lows last week and pushed gold and silver prices lower. Today, the US Dollar Index, DXY, was hovering near the 99.31 mark, falling 0.02 or 0.02%. Live Events U.S. President Trump said in his tweet that China is violating trade agreements and also issued a threat to the Russian President for their aggression against Ukraine. The Federal court order for blocking Trump's tariff plan was also stayed by a 9-judge bench, which also pressured precious metal prices. 'Investors and traders are also looking cautious amid global uncertainties and ahead of the U.S. Fed Chairman's speech on Monday,' said Manoj Kumar Jain of Prithvifinmart Commodity Research. 'We expect gold and silver prices to remain volatile this week amid volatility in the dollar index, geo-political tensions and ahead of the U.S. Fed Chairman's speech; gold prices could hold its support level of $3,180 per troy ounce and silver prices could also hold $31.80 per troy ounce levels on a weekly closing basis this week,' he added. How to trade gold? Manoj Kumar Jain suggested the following ranges for gold and silver on MCX: Gold has support at Rs 95,440-95,100 and resistance at Rs 96,250-96,660 Silver has support at Rs 96,350-95,500 and resistance at Rs 97,800-98,450 Jain cautioned that he expects very high price volatility in gold and silver in today's session ahead of the Fed Chairman's speech. Gold rates in physical markets Gold Price today in Delhi Standard gold (22 carat) prices in Delhi stand at Rs 57,112/8 grams while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 60,840/8 grams. Gold Price today in Mumbai Standard gold (22 carat) prices in Mumbai stand at Rs 57,880/8 grams while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 61,728/8 grams. Gold Price today in Chennai Standard gold (22 carat) prices in Chennai stand at Rs 57,032/8 grams while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 60,800/8 grams. Gold Price today in Hyderabad Standard gold (22 carat) prices in Hyderabad stand at Rs 56,816/8 grams while pure gold (24 carat) prices stand at Rs 60,608/8 grams. ( Disclaimer : Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
