Subrata Roy (born 10 June 1948) is an Indian businessman who founded Sahara India Pariwar in 1978. Sahara India Pariwar has operated a vast number of businesses such as Aamby Valley City, Sahara Movie Studios, Air Sahara, hockey sports, Filmy, among others. Roy was named among the 10 Most Powerful People of India in 2012 by India Today. In 2004, Sahara group was termed by Time magazine as 'the second largest employer in India after Indian Railways. The group operates through more than 5,000 establishments spread across India and has a workforce of around 1.2 million (both field and office) under the Sahara India umbrella. Early life Subrata Roy was born in Bengali Hindu family in Araria on 10 June 1948 to Sudhir Chandra Roy and Chhabi Roy.His ancestors came from Dhaka Bikrampur East Bengal presidency now Bangladesh from a rich landlord family named " "Vaggokul Jamider". He studied at Holy Child Institute in Kolkata and later studied mechanical engineering from Government Technical Institute, Gorakhpur. Roy started his first business in Gorakhpur. Business career Roy joined Sahara Finance, a struggling company, in 1976, that ran a chit fund and took it over. He changed its financial model in 1978. Sahara is said to have used the financial model of much older Peerless Group. They are termed residuary non-banking companies (RNBCs) that accept deposits of very low amounts. In the 1990s, Roy moved to Lucknow which became the base of his group. From there, it went on to become the largest conglomerate of India with a diversified range of business interests. The company now has interests in financial services, education, real estate, media, entertainment, tourism, healthcare, and hospitality. The Hindi newspaper Rashtriya Sahara was started in 1992. In the late 1990s, the ambitious Aamby Valley City project near Pune was initiated. In 2000, Sahara TV was launched which was later renamed Sahara One. In 2003, Sahara started three weeklies: Sahara Time (English), Sahara Samay (Hindi) and Sahara Aalmi (Urdu). In 2010, Sahara purchased the iconic Grosvenor House Hotel in London, and 2012 the historic Plaza Hotel and Dream Downtown Hotel in New York City. Sahara has a workforce of around 1.2 million including Salaried Employees, Consultants, Field Workers, Agents & Business Associates, etc. In 2004, Sahara group was termed by Time magazine as "the second-largest employer in India" after the Government-run Indian Railways. Sahara is said to have 9 crore plus