MOSCOW: And in the process, he has overcome many hurdles and challenges, including an assassination attempt. But nothing has managed to deter this dynamic Indian entrepreneur in Russia from dreaming big and going after the dreams with unwavering passion and zeal. Gupta's latest dream - to get his company Amtel Ltd. listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Amtel has become the first Indian company to go public in Russia. The company placed 25 percent of its shares in the Russian stock exchange that sold for 1.6 billion roubles. Russia's leading banks like Alfa Bank, Troika Bank, Mez Prom Bank and top financial corporations like Nikoil purchased shares of the company with a total asset of $300 million and annual turnover of $350 million. Buoyed by the success of the company's listing in Russia, Gupta, who escaped an assassination attempt on his 45th birthday, probably by his business rivals, now plans to take the company to the prestigious American bourse. "I escaped sure death, but I think god saved my life to achieve some thing bigger," Gupta told IANS, sitting in his six-storey sprawling office building in Moscow's prestigious Kutuzovski avenue. "And the only dream that I have today is to put my brainchild into the New York stock market that would bring glory to my nation and to me," he said. "Nothing would deter me from achieving this. If everything goes well according to plan, Amtel would be the first Indian company in Russia whose shares would be traded in the coveted New York stock market by the end of the year." Gupta said the company has already started following international standards of financial accounts, needed for getting listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Gupta, who came to Russia as a student in Moscow's People's Friendship University in 1980s, has managed to build by far the most successful business empire ever by any Indian in Russia. "After defending my doctoral thesis I was planning to go back to India and find a suitable job, but then came Gorbachev's perestroika that opened new opportunities for doing business, including by foreigners," said Gupta. "I seized the opportunity to try my luck in business and plunged into trading. Those were the days when everybody was trading in everything, and I was not an exception." After making his initial capital in trading, Gupta eyed something bigger. "Though I was making good money in trading, it did not give me satisfaction and I decided to venture into the sphere of production," reminisces Gupta. After trying his hand in food and beverage production, Gupta started to dream about achieving something more significant. And finally he settled down in his tyre production business at a time when hardly any Indian company could venture into production in new Russia's chaotic business conditions and legal instability. Gupta today fully controls or holds major stakes in many of Russia's large tyre factories. His Amtel Group has not limited its activities to Russia and succeeded in expanding beyond its borders. The company has today the controlling stakes in Ukraine's largest tyre factory at Belotserkov and has substantial presence in most of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Amtel group of factories produced a total of 11.3 million tyres worth $320 million in the year 2002. Amtel has also entered into agreements with international tyre giants like Nokia and others to expand its production base in Russia and increase sales in the international market.
Source: IANS