Business and industry fraternity started buzzing after at least 35 teams of Income Tax (IT) department carried out raids at multiple locations liked to Trident Group including in Ludhiana. The IT raid started on Tuesday in Trident Group's Ludhiana premises, then it took place at multiple locations linked to 'Padmashree' Rajinder Gupta's business empire. It included Cremica Group in Punjab as well. While IT raid at Trident Group premises is still under and likely to continue till 6 days, no one is allowed meet chairperson Rajinder Gupta. Now, the question who is Rajinder Gupta and why he is under the scanner of the Income Tax Department?
Who is Rajinder Gupta?
Rajinder Gupta is the founder and Chairman of Trident Limited, the flagship company of USD 1 Billion enterprise Trident Group. As per reports, Rajinder Gupta was the richest person in Punjab and has a current net worth of over Rs 12,368 crore.
Talking about his early life, Rajinder Gupta was born on January 2nd, 1959. As mentioned above, he is the chairman of the Trident Group, a company with its main offices in Ludhiana, Punjab. Home textiles, paper manufacturing, chemicals, and power are the main industries for Trident Group.
As per reports, Trident is one of India's largest yarn spinners, a top global producer of terry towels, and the largest producer of paper made from wheat straw in the world.
Going by Rajinder's LinkedIn profile, he is "a first generation entrepreneur, he possesses rich & varied exposure of promoting industrial ventures in diverse areas over the last two decades. Under his vision the company (Trident) has scaled greater heights and has become one of the fastest growing companies of India with a compound annual growth rate of more than 30%."
Talking about Rajinder Gupta's Edicational Qualifications, the veteran entrepreneur earned his degrees from Templeton College in Oxford and ISB Hyderabad.
Currently, Rajinder has two children- Abhishek Gupta, who reportedly assumed the role of managing director at the company and is a graduate of the University of Warwick in the UK, and Neha Gupta, who has a master's degree in finance from the Cass Business School in London.
Rajinder Gupta's Early Life
Rajinder Gupta was born in Punjab. His father was a small-time cotton dealer. Due to his unusual upbringing, he was forced to leave school at a young age of 14, when he was only in the ninth grade. Despite of unwillingly leaving school, Rajinder started his career by working odd jobs like producing cement pipes and candles, among other things. Reportedly, the 'Punjab's Ambani' earned a salary of Rs 30 per day during his early days. In 1985, Rajinder made the decision to launch his own business after years of hard labour.
Rajinder Gupta's achievements
Rajinder Gupta was awarded with the 'Padmashree' award in 2007, one of the highest civilian awards bestowed by the Government of India for his exemplary work in the field of Trade and Industry. In 2022, he was named Vice-Chairperson of the Punjab Economic Policy And Planning Board. Rajinder Gupta had also served as the vice-chairperson of the Planning Board previously. After the AAP government came into power, the Planning Board was dissolved and replaced with the State Economic Policy and Planning Board.
Rajinder's LinkedIN profile further says that he is Chairman of Punjab Engineering College as well.