Ex-IAS Sanjay Gupta launches PE Fund; to raise Rs 300 crore to fund SMEs

LIFE has a new meaning now. For former IAS officer Sanjay Gupta, who quit the elite service in 2002 to begin what’s now Rs 2,000-crore Neesa Group, Life means Let India Fly for Ever. That’s the tagline of his new venture called…
Life Fund, a Private Equity fund which has targeted to raise Rs 250 to 300 crore from investors located in India and abroad. And Gupta’s PE will fund small businesses in media and entertainment, hospitality and tourism, healthcare and lifestyle, to begin with.
An engineer-turned IAS of 1985 batch, Gupta was instrumental in reviving the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), which witnessed a remarkable journey from an exploration and production company into an integrated energy company. But when Narendra Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat, Gupta was transferred, and he was assigned an insignificant post. That prompted the officer to quit the service and joined Adani Group as its CEO. Soon after, he began his own venture. But Modi later realized his errors in judgements when he spotted talents in Gupta. Modi surprised many when Gupta was recalled to the state government and was asked to head the flagship metro rail project --- Mega or Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. It upset a few serving IAS officers as “outsider” Gupta was given the job on a contract basis. It was during that time there was an income-tax raid at the premises of Gupta's luxury hotel chain, Cambay Hotels and Resorts.
On Friday, Gupta called it a day as Gujarat’s metro man after leading the venture for two and half years. Gupta wrote in his blog post how India’s business environment had taken an adverse turn leading to distress in virtually every industry. He decided to go back to his business, Neesa Group, as he says he is “committed to the company and its stakeholders, including bankers, investors and employees”.
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