Read how a 1 table-1 chair firm reached Rs 7,000 crore

If this figure is mind-boggling, hang on for more. According to the company’s annual reports, its net worth rose by a record 37,880 per cent in just five years (Rs 21 crore in 1993-’94 to Rs 7,976 crore in 1998-’99). Their equity capital rose from Rs 9.8 crore in ‘1993-’94 to Rs 7,590 crore in 2000-’01.

In the queue I would see old people, women crying

Andheri-based businessman Sanjay Chugh’s tryst with Vatsa began when he took a safety deposit locker at their Lokhandwala branch for Rs 10,000. ‘‘Their office was very nicely decorated, with marble and all. This is how they built up trust,’’ says Chugh. That trust, combined with the fact that the company was offering 18-24 per cent interest on fixed deposits, led Chugh to invest Rs 2 lakh in 1997-98. The first year went smoothly. In 1999, the company started defaulting on payments. ‘‘I went there eight to 10 times to get my money back. Often, I saw old people and women crying and shouting for their deposits. It eventually dawned that this was a scam. I could see that they would just run away with our money,’’ he adds.

If these figures didn’t raise any regulator’s eyebrows, this little-known Mumbai-based company’s amazing expansion plans should have:

• 1994: Rs 60-crore investment in a bank, an insurance company (this was when private sector was not allowed in this field) and a mutual fund. Plus manufacturing of printed aluminium foil, cold-rolled aluminium sheets, drugs, and a takeover of a food products company.

• 1997: Vatsa Films, an unlisted subsidiary, talked of setting up a film production studio, an entertainment park, ocean and theme parks and multiplexes. They were going to make a film starring Pooja Bhatt, directed by Vikram Bhatt.

Cut to 2001: Zilch.

No production house, no fun world, no healthcare company. What’s more, most of the company’s investment was made in unlisted Vatsa subsidiaries.

These subsidiaries (some say nine, some say 17 or more) are in any field under the sun — hotels, medicine, agro-products, construction, country club, cosmetics, dairy, housing finance and exports. Where their offices are, or what was their output, no one seems to know.

Two of its group companies — Vatsa Music and Vatsa Education — were listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. There is no trace of Vatsa Education or even its promoters but Vatsa Music still sends its ‘board’s agenda’ to the BSE.

In the late 90s, the company came out with pop albums of unknown singers like ‘Mintu,’ ‘Kunika’ and yes, even Kumar Sanu. In its international collection there were albums by (and don’t ask us who they are) Leign Cline, Pizzaman and Detrimental. There was also an instrumental range on ‘Music to Stop Smoking’, ‘Music for Confidence’, ‘Music for Concentration’.

In 1998, Vatsa Music invited fixed deposits from the public at 15-16 per cent interest. This was just months after the Reserve Bank of India issued a warning against investing in Vatsa’s fixed deposits.

When The Indian Express called Vatsa promoter Pradeep Vakil on his mobile phone (9820215660 given to us by the Mumbai police), he said he was at Breach Candy hospital and could not speak.

‘‘I resigned from Vatsa in 1999. I do not have any fax number. You can write whatever you want,’’ said Vakil. At Breach Candy hospital, the doctors told us there was no Pradeep Vakil in their files.