Sharad Pawar: India's biggest Venture Capitalist?

Sharad Pawar, India's alleged agriculture and food minister, under whose disastrous rein thousands of farmers committed suicide and food inflation routinely stayed in double digits year-after-year, is many things: mediocre politician, failed minister, past mentor to crooks like Suresh Kalmadi. Now, in the year-end special of Outlook Magazine, respect financial journalist Sucheta Dalal hints at he being India's biggest venture capitalist:

Their inspiration is probably a Maratha heavyweight leader seen as India’s biggest ‘venture capitalist’ (several top companies today were backed by him) and has vast interests in realty, agro industries, media, sports, food, aviation and beverages. He uses the market so effectively that in the run-up to the last election, key party functionaries got stock tips in lieu of cash, with specific instructions on when to book profits. It gave them clean, tax-paid investment income thanks to easy market manipulation.

Read the entire piece.