Subhash Chandra is the founder of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), India’s first private satellite TV channel. Even after so many years of its inception, Zee continues to make waves in the domestic and international circuit. India’s number one entertainment network, with 50 channels in 11 native languages and 572 million-plus weekly viewers, operates in 120 countries in 7 foreign languages. Apart from ZEEL, Subhash Chandra also took the Essel Group to unprecedented heights.
The iconic conglomerate, Essel Group, deals in multiple industries, including media and entertainment, packaging, and technology. Today, we are going to put the spotlight on the man behind this huge empire, Subhash Chandra. Thus, every budding entrepreneur should take notes from Subhash’s story because it is one of the greatest and purely inspirational stories that can teach much about business, leadership, and perseverance. So, without further ado, let’s get started and learn about one of the most significant figures in India’s business sector.
A look at media mogul, Subhash Chandra’s family background: Dropped out of school, joined family business at 17, founded Zee Limited
Subhash Chandra was born on November 30, 1950, in Adampur, which is in Haryana’s Hisar district. Despite being born into a business-oriented family, things weren’t going smoothly financially for the family. Unfortunately, there came a point when the family went through an extremely rough patch, which caused Subhash to drop out of school, and he was told to help his elders lift their family business. At the age of 17, Subhash quit his studies and joined his family business, Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad, which was involved in procuring and supplying rice to the Food Corporation of India.
The commercial firm, Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad, was founded by Subhash Chandra’s grandfather, Jagannath Goenka, back in 1926 to deal in food grains at Adampur mandi. After joining the family business in the 1970s, Subhash learnt a lot of things about manufacturing and business. In the following years, he took a big decision when he renamed his grandfather’s company from Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad to Essel Group in 1976. It was a huge decision, but the young entrepreneur had immense confidence in his plans, and everything paid off in the latter years.
In the 1980s, Subhash Chandra entered into manufacturing flexible packaging by establishing a brand new subsidiary, Lamina Packers, with a keen focus on packaging fast-moving consumer goods. The idea worked, and as per a 2014 estimate, Essel Group’s valuation by 1982 was over Rs. 100 crore. As he moved forward, Subhash Chandra introduced Essel Packaging, India’s first amusement park, EsselWorld, Zee Telefilms Limited, India’s first Hindi language satellite TV channel, Zee TV, Siti Networks Limited, DishTV India Limited, Zee Learn Limited, and many more ventures.
Subhash Chandra’s journey to building a billion-dollar empire from having just 11 rupees in his pocket and a debt of Rs. 5 lakh on his head
Subhash Chandra penned and published a book titled The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time in January 2016. The book instantly became a hit among aspiring entrepreneurs due to the fact that Subhash Chandra has penned out every single detail of his journey from poverty to leading a billion-dollar empire. As per the book, there was a time in the initial stages of his entrepreneurial journey when he had just 11 rupees in his pocket and a debt of Rs. 50 lakhs on his shoulders.
The way Subhash Chandra revived his family’s grain business as a teenager and moved to Delhi in his twenties with just 11 rupees in his pocket speaks a lot about his character. Of all the business ventures he started, some succeeded, and some failed, but he managed to build a billion-dollar empire. According to a report in Goodreturns, Subhas Chandra had an estimated net worth of 2.50 billion USD in 2019.
A look into Subhash Chandra’s personal life: Meet the wife and children of Asia’s Murdoch and media mogul
Due to everything he has achieved in his career, Subhash Chandra is compared to Rupert Murdoch. For the uninitiated, Murdoch is an American business magnate who is a renowned media mogul. As per some reports, Murdoch wanted to buy out Subhash Chandra’s stake in Zee Limited. Despite the American business magnate’s multiple attempts, Subhash managed to stop Murdoch from acquiring Zee Limited.
Once the matter was resolved, Subhash got the moniker of “Asia’s Murdoch” for his incredible success as a media mogul in India. Moving on to his personal life, Subhash Chandra is married to a woman named Sushila Devi. The couple has two children, Punit Goenka and Amit Goenka. While Punit reportedly works as the managing director and CEO at Zee Limited, not much is known about Amit’s profession. Fast forward to 2025, and Subhash Chandra is currently dealing with NCLT over the repayment case.
When Subhash Chandra revealed he lost Rs. 3 crore after he telecasted a controversy related to late business tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani
During his appearance at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival a few years ago, Subhash Chandra shared an interesting anecdote about late business tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani. The media mogul shared that he had a friend, Mukesh Patel, who was running a school in Mumbai. However, one of the daughters-in-law of the Ambani clan wanted to take over that particular school. Subhash Chandra’s friend, Mukesh Patel, wasn’t interested in selling off the school to the Ambanis, and soon, two parties indulged in a tussle, and Mukesh went to Subhash for help.
In order to stop Ambanis from taking over his school, Mukesh Patel went out, and he recorded some alleged illegal activities Ambanis had done and told the media mogul to air them. Although at the beginning Subhash said “no,” due to their friendship, he broadcasted the report, and soon, the shares of his company crashed on the stock market. Numerous incidents in Subhash Chandra’s life and career clearly define that he never shied away from taking risks for the right things. We hope the future generations can learn much from his inspirational success story.
What are your thoughts on Subhash Chandra’s journey from being a teenager in Haryana’s Hisar to being tagged Asia’s Murdock? Let us know.
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