Rajya Sabha MP R.K. Sinha is the founder of private security major SIS, and has been associated with politics since the days of the JP movement in Bihar.
New Delhi: Ravindra Kishore Sinha’s name is one of the prominent ones to feature in the Paradise Papers revelations. A BJP member for nearly four decades, Sinha is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, and is most famous as the founder of Security & Intelligence Services (SIS), the ever-expanding private security firm. This has made him among the richest members of Parliament in India.
According to details from the Paradise Papers put out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Sinha is linked to two off-shore entities registered in Malta in 2008 through an SIS subsidiary, SIS Asia Pacific Holding Ltd (SAPHL). Sinha is listed as a minority shareholder who owns one share, while wife Rita Kishore Sinha is a director of SAPHL. This information, however, is not disclosed in the affidavit filed by Sinha in his Rajya Sabha nomination form.
While Sinha is staying mum, keeping a week-long maun vrat, the rest of his life has been quite a story.
Journey to the top
It all started in 1971 when Patna-based newspaper ‘The Searchlight’ sent Sinha, then a trainee reporter, to cover the Indo-Pakistan war with the Bihar regiment. His camaraderie with the regiment led to the birth of a start-up two years later in a 200 square feet garage – a venture to rehabilitate ex-servicemen.
From there, SIS took off, and today, boasts of a revenue of Rs 4,500 crore. It is the second largest cash logistics business in the country, and has a portfolio across sectors.
SIS is now mostly steered by son Rituraj while RK – as he is referred to in political circles – juggles a political role he has finally found by way of a hard-won Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar.
What Sinha observed and imbibed in the 1970s amid the raging student agitations led by Jayaprakash Narayan decided his politics. He gravitated to the Jana Sangh, and thereafter, the BJP.
Over the years, as the SIS footprint expanded beyond Bihar and Jharkhand, so did Sinha’s coffers, as well as his engagement with the Bihar BJP. This culminated in 2014 when he won the Rajya Sabha nomination, and became one of the BJP’s Kayastha faces in Parliament.
‘A generous man’
BJP insiders say Sinha is a generous man with many political friends, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“In 1974, during the JP movement, Sinha provided legal and financial aid to many leaders. He helped many during the Emergency as well — he used to take care of the families and food needs of those who were sent to prison,” recalled a party leader.
Gradually, he also won the favour of the RSS top brass, many of whom would stay at his residence when they visited Bihar. Also among his friends is actor and senior BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, who had heavily pitched for his Rajya Sabha nomination.
The leader added: “He is firm in his commitment to help build Bihar, and insists that SIS stays registered in the state, so that taxes paid are ploughed back into it.”
Rip-roaring growth
Sinha’s Rajya Sabha term is supposed to have brought him even more good fortune.
SIS has been on an accelerated growth path since 2014. The company’s revenue growth over the last five years (CAGR) has averaged 25.9 per cent, as per its annual report. Its revenue increased by 26.8 per cent over the previous year, even amid demonetisation.
SIS, in fact, did rather well through the period, since it played a major role after the note ban was announced by PM Modi in November 2016.
From cash evacuation from ATMs, recalibration of ATMs, and new cash replenishment, the SIS cash logistics team pushed full throttle to meet the demands of the banks, customers, and regulators. The cash logistics business’ revenues, in fact, grew by 7.5 per cent over the previous year for SIS, which now operates over 2,600 cash vans and 58 vaults and strong rooms across the country.
Demonetisation and the slump in sales that followed also helped SIS acquire certain specified business contracts, assets, and employees from Scientific Security Management Services Private Limited, according to the company’s latest annual report.
But this is not all – the Sinha empire spans across sectors from banking and financial services to manufacturing, cement, chemical and industrial gases, construction, educational institutions, FMCG, food and beverages, healthcare, hospitality, real estate and townships, insurance, IT/ ITeS, media, retail and entertainment, telecom, airports, metals, mining and other heavy industries, to even manning the monuments in the country. Sinha is also chairman of Hindustan Samachar, a news agency said to be close to the RSS.
Today, SIS arguably wins more government contracts than any other security provider. Son Rituraj terms the security industry ‘recession-proof’ in a post-9/11 world.
The coincidence is that tax haven providers, like the ones mentioned in the Paradise Papers, are also recession-proof.