Global InformationAnubhav Plantations information
| Company type | Publicly owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Teak plantations, timeshare, agrotechnology |
| Genre | Teak plantation deposit-mobilising company |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Founder | C. Natesan |
| Defunct | December 1998 |
| Fate | Allegations that the consortium of companies is a fraudulent Ponzi scheme |
| Headquarters | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
Area served | India |
Key people | C. Natesan, Chairman and MD S. Shreenivas Rao, Director |
| Services | Teak shares, time share units |
Number of employees | 1,800+ |
| Divisions | Anubhav Agrotech Anubhav Green Farms & Resorts Anubhav Plantations Anubhav Royal Orchards Exports |
Anubhav Plantations was an Indian Chennai-based plantation company founded in 1992.[1] It sold shares in teak plantations on guaranteed interests and later diversified to other schemes through four principal companies: Anubhav Agrotech, Anubhav Green Farms & Resorts, Anubhav Plantations, and Anubhav Royal Orchards Exports.[2]
The company suddenly closed down in 1998 when it could no longer pay its depositors, leaving its thousands of investors in the lurch and unpaid. Its chairman, C. Natesan, went underground and the other directors claimed ignorance and innocence.[3] The incident became a major financial scandal in India. The company was subsequently revealed to have been a scam based on fraud, as teak, being an agriculture-based commodity, could not promise sure returns. Anubhav was found to have defrauded its depositors of nearly ₹400 crore (equivalent to ₹18 billion, US$220 million or €220 million in 2023) through Ponzi schemes.[4] The Anubhav case is often termed by the Indian media as "The Great Plantation Scam of the 1990s".[5]
- ^ Aiyar, VS (2 November 1998). "Now a Green Scam". India Today.
- ^ Balooni, Kulbhushan (IIM Kozhikode). "Teak investment programmes: an Indian perspective". www.fao.org. FAO Forestry department. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ "Case Study - Anubhav scam (Teak plantations scam)". www.icmrindia.org. ICMR India. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ "Case Study - Anubhav Plantations". www.icmrindia.org. ICMR India. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ Muthukrishnan, Daya (20 July 2010). "Planting the dream - Anubhav plantations scam". More Wealth Advisors. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.