Meet Kapil Dev, Coal Merchant, Oil Consultant

Why do you want to interview me all you journalists know my wife runs the business, chuckles Kapil Dev. Dont be fooled by that self-deprecating remark the 39-year-old businessman has come a long way from his Palmolive da jawaab nahin days. He wears pinstripes, plays golf with a rare 3-handicap and schmoozes with bankers and bureaucrats. His multi-crore business interests span everything from stadium lighting and coal consultancy, to designing golf courses with David Hemstock and Associates. The former cricketer collects Rs 1.5 crore for a Kapil Dev signature golf course.

Dev also has a profound fear of failure and an utter disdain of publicity. But he has allowed himself the indulgence of allying with some controversial figures like Subrata Roy of Sahara and Glencore International. Will this old warhorse, now at the helm of Dev & Dev, be able to bat on such a tricky wicket?

 

Some journalists paint everything I do in a controversial light. I wish they would cross-check facts with me, says Dev in irritation. I am only a coal consultant for Glencore. They believe I can give them backup. I just charge a consultancy fee.

Rumour has it that Dev is helping Switzerland-based Glencore International, the worlds fifth largest trading company, to pitch for a slice of Steel Authority of Indias controversial Rs 2,584 crore coking coal import contract. Glencore has been a spot supplier to SAIL since 1995. It became a short-term supplier under a special dispensation of the SAIL board, when another Dev Santosh Mohan (not a relative of Kapil Dev) was the steel minister.

Kapil Dev may have staged a coup by promoting the mining company as a long-term supplier. But now A Prasad, former ex-officio government nominee on SAILs board, and additional secretary, ministry of steel, is crying foul, alleging lack of transparency in picking coal suppliers.

It is immaterial to us whether Glencore bags the SAIL contract. We only advise them about developments in steel production, says Vinod Dutta, senior vice president, import & export, Dev & Dev. According to sources, the Swiss company used to pay a monthly fee of about Rs 1,80,000 to Dev & Dev. This has now gone up to an annual fee of almost half a crore.

Dev fields questions about Glencore with ease. I am a coal consultant, not a wheeler-dealer, he says. I can bore you to tears with a two-hour lecture on coal. Nearly 25 tomes on the subject line Devs office library.

But does Dev unwittingly tie up with partners whose names carry a tinge of notoriety? The Kapil Dev signature golf course is in Sahara India Housing Limiteds controversial Amby Valley project in Lonavala. According to reports, Sahara group companies had given generous loans to employees to purchase land in Lonavala. J P Upadhyay, whose annual income from his Sahara job is Rs 70,000, received a Rs 85 lakh loan. When questioned by IT officials, Upadhyay said he had never seen the land, nor visited Lonavala. IT officials allege similar loans were given to other employees to circumvent the Land Ceiling Act.

Environmentalists also took Sahara to the Mumbai High Court for allegedly occupying agricultural land. There is now a stay on the Rs 50 crore project and it is waiting for final clearances. Subrata Roy, head of the Rs 5,000 crore Sahara group, may have done Dev more harm than good by appointing him honorary director of Sahara India Housing Limited.

However, Dev remains gung-ho: I am sure it will be finished as scheduled by end-1998. I am delighted that Sahara wants me to create the 18-hole floodlit championship course. I am constantly on my toes because after all, it is my signature course.

Dutta adds, Sahara is the only company that has backed Kapil all out. It is not easy to have bowled your heart out for 17 years Subrata Roy is a big fan of Kapil. And the Lonavala project is the first time an Indian has tried to develop a hill station after the British. Why do people always put spokes into anything good?

Dev-Musco has also bagged the $2 million (Rs 7.2 crore) lighting contract for Lonavala. Two years ago, Dev formed a 50:50 joint venture with American lighting experts Musco and bagged the $1 million lighting contract for the Mohali Stadium. Dev is very pleased with his foray into stadium lighting. He has given Dev-Musco pride of place in his office space allocation and loves giving visitors a guided tour.

His face lights up as he leads the way into Dev-Muscos blue and yellow offices. These are Muscos corporate colours; so we have tried to duplicate them, he explains. We are assembling the kits in India, but I hope to set up a manufacturing unit in Haryana. Across the corridor from the Dev-Musco office sits his coal consultant, poring over project reports, enveloped in a cloud of Classic.

In the basement, Dev peers at a rack of video cassettes. This is all there really is of Dev Features. People instantly connect him with the ill-starred Dev Features, but that chapter is now closed. Admits Dev, The business relationship (with Lokesh Sharma) soured after we suffered losses and people started coming to me for payments. A disenchanted Dev then bought out Sharma.

I have cut back on 80 per cent of Dev Features, says Dev. Its evident, because the businessman has relegated Dev Features and its editing studio to the basement of his plush office in New Delhis Bengali Market. If you ever wondered, thats where Kapils failed ventures finally end up.

Uttara Choudhury