Mother rises in Oswal rough ride

Maybe it was willed that way. After Abhey Oswal (67) died of a heart attack in Moscow on March 29 this year, two things happened simultaneously. His wife Aruna found that Abhey left no will, and that she was to take over the over Rs 2,500-crore business empire, despite her elder son’s stout opposition.

The Punjab-origin Oswal family is into fertilizer & chemicals, power, coal, real estate and broadcasting businesses. Aruna was elevated on April 2 as director & chairperson of two listed firms — Oswal Greentech Ltd (formerly Oswal Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd) and Oswal Agro Mills Ltd. The two companies have market capitalization of Rs. 700 crore. These two companies also own land at various locations in India.

Abhey is survived by his wife Aruna, sons Pankaj and Shael, and daughter Shallu, who is married to industrialist-politician Navin Jindal. His elder son, Pankaj, has set up what is said to be the world's largest ammonia plant in Perth, Australia. The second son, Shael, owns coal mines in Indonesia through a listed form in Singapore and is also into music and movies.

The rift in the family came out in the open two days after Aruna’s elevation. “My son Pankaj and a few of his associates entered the office on April 4 and carried away files that contained sensitive information such as bank statements, records of board meetings and memorandums of association. So complaints were filed with a local police station in New Delhi,” said Aruna.

“My son must have been carried away… but I am very determined to take my husband’s legacy forward; so I need to forget the bitter issue that cropped up last month,” she said in an interview.

Known ‘as the next Ambani’ and also as “King of Oil” by Industry people in the 1980s, Abhey Oswal had tried his luck in many sectors such as sugar, vanaspati, chemicals & fertilisers, real estate and succeeded. People close to him say diversification was in his DNA, so he had ventured into many businesses. 

Born in Ludhiana, his father Lala Vidhyasagar Oswal, was considered a leading light of industrial revolution in hosiery in Ludhiana. He is also a brother of leading industrialists Jawahar Oswal, Jangi Lal Oswal and Neelam Oswal. A branch of the family is a leading player in woolen garments and owns the Monte Carlo brand.

He started his entrepreneurial journey in 1969 at Ludhiana and ventured into agro based industry by setting up a 100 tonnes per day edible oil, hydrogenated edible oils and margarine from oil seeds. In 1983, he expanded the business by forward integration through production of soaps, detergents fatty acids etc. Later on he set up Asia’s largest paddy processing complex in 1986. In 1987, he acquired a large sugar complex ‘Jagatjit Industries’ in Punjab. 

Abhey was an aggressive businessman, proficient at acquisitions and diversifying into new areas. Insiders remember him as a person who was market-savvy and had a knack for taking over businesses and building them stronger. He shifted to Mumbai from Ludhiana in 1989 and diversified into the petrochemical sector by acquiring plants from Union Carbide, Mumbai. 

He also put up the world’s largest grassroots di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) plant in Paradip, Odisha. This plant was sold to IFFCO in one of the largest all-cash deals of that time at Rs 2,180 crore in 2005. Oswal Greentech, the listed firm that originally housed Oswal’s fertiliser and chemicals businesses, also has a stake in news broadcaster NDTV and News Nation. 

Aruna says she is committed to fast-tracking the work undertaken by her husband and devoting time to philanthropic activities. “We are developing a real estate project in Ludhiana which is likely to be completed next year. This is our first residential project in that city. We may take up more such projects in Punjab,” she said.