As April drew to a close, Captain G.R. Gopinath, the intrepid entrepreneur, realised it was closing time. The aircraft of his company Deccan 360 were grounded. The trucks had stopped running. The IT centres and the service centres were shut down. The Rs. 110 crore that Gopinath raised from Reliance in April 2010 is gone, as is most of his other money. His biggest customers are fuming and many of his franchisees feel betrayed. His key executives with their salaries delayed for two months are demotivated.
Entrepreneurs know adversity. It is what makes their ilk different from the nine to six desk jockeys. Gopinath certainly has seen many tough times but this situation is not pretty. In less than 15 months of operations, two CEOs had left as has the head of sales. Sometime this week, he wants to launch his company in a different and smaller avatar. Yet, resumes from Deccan 360 employees have flooded the market. The much promised Nagpur hub has not taken off.
The company is said to owe Rs. 16 crore to its truckers. Reliance did not respond to a detailed questionnaire, but people close to Mukesh Ambani believe that the way things stand, he is in no mood to invest any more money in this venture.
24/05/11 Mitu Jayashankar, N.S. Ramnath, Ashish K Mishra/Business India
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