Latest news with #SterlingComputers
India.com
12-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
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 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.
Time of India
06-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Not learning Hindi was a Rs 1 lakh crore loss: Aircel founder C Sivasankaran's honest confession on Ranveer Allahbadia's podcast
In a rare, no-excuses moment of introspection, Aircel founder C Sivasankaran opened up about the regrets that still weigh on him, not missed deals or market crashes, but two brutally simple things: not learning Hindi and not moving to Delhi, Mumbai or even Chennai. Speaking on the podcast with Ranveer Allahbadia , the telecom veteran admitted that these mistakes early in his career may have cost him the fortune of a lifetime. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack India orders nationwide defence drills as Indo-Pak tensions rise From blackouts to bunkers: Inside India's civil defence mock drills across 244 districts on May 7 A woman spy who helped India defeat Pakistan in 1971 'If I had learned Hindi, I would have attracted all 140 crore Indians,' he said. 'And if I had moved to Delhi or Bombay when I was younger, I would have definitely made Rs 1 lakh crore.' Sivasankaran, who built Aircel at the age of 24, described how he made his first Rs 12,000 from a fabrication job, and never borrowed again in his life. 'I've never taken even Rs 100 in personal capacity,' he said. 'I don't want to take loans, I want to attract money. And when you do that, money flows.' Aircel founder C. Sivasankaran, better known as "Siva," is a serial entrepreneur and one of India's most unconventional business minds, known for spotting market inflection points long before they became mainstream. He began his business journey in 1985 with the acquisition of Sterling Computers from Robert Amritraj. At a time when personal computers were considered luxury items, Siva disrupted the industry by offering PCs at just Rs 33,000—far below the competition, catapulting Sterling into the ranks of India's top three computer firms. But it was in telecom where Siva made his boldest bets. In 1992, he secured a five-year contract with MTNL , then a state-run monopoly in Mumbai and Delhi. His foresight told him that telecom would soon open up to private players. In 1999, Chinnakannan Sivasankaran founded Aircel from his native village of Kovilur in Cheyyar taluk, Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu. Starting with operations in Tamil Nadu, Aircel quickly grew into a dominant player in the region, becoming the market leader in the state. The company also expanded its footprint across key telecom circles in Odisha, Assam, and the North-East, establishing a strong presence in underserved markets. Under Sivasankaran's leadership, Aircel carved out a niche in the competitive telecom space by focusing on regional strength and consumer affordability. However, after failed merger talks with Reliance Communications, the company struggled to sustain operations and eventually, it filed for bankruptcy.
