Vinod Khanna (businessman)

Vinod Kumar Khanna (born 24 July 1934) is an Indian businessman. In his career, Khanna held business interests in various industries through the K Group companies he founded, including mining, railways, real estate, power, infrastructure, steel, agriculture, consultancy, hotels, and electronics. Khanna has been noted for his links to foreign companies and for facilitating contracts for foreign companies in India.
Throughout his career, Khanna faced various controversies, including affiliations with foreign corporations, influencing Government of India contracts, issues surrounding offshore accounts and real estate investments. Born into a Punjabi Hindu family, he is the son of businessman Shanti Lal Khanna and Vidya Khanna, and a member of the Khanna family. Khanna had two older brothers, Ravi and Vipin. Following the Partition of India in 1947, Khanna and his family fled Lahore and subsequently resettled in Delhi, India. He hailed from a prosperous family in Lahore, but due to the Partition, the family lost their wealth and had to start afresh in Delhi.
Khanna attended Hindu College and graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics. He later attended Delhi University and graduated in 1956 with a Master of Arts in political science and international law.
Career
Early career
Khanna began his career in the 1960s by joining Delhi Small Scale Industries, a company founded by his father, Shanti Lal, that was involved in manufacturing and import-export. The inquiry examined concerns that Vinod, alongside his brother Vipin, leveraged political influence, used contacts within the State Trading Corporation of India, and knowingly provided inaccurate information to benefit Amarjyothi and its foreign partners. However, in 1969, the Committee of Privileges found insufficient evidence to support the allegations against Vinod and concluded that Amarjyothi's business dealings were legal and compliant with all regulations. In the automotive industry, he was a consultant for Saab-Scania, a Swedish vehicle company, and Tractoroexport, a Russian tractor manufacturer. In the engineering industry, Khanna was a consultant for Japanese companies Mitsui, Sumitomo and Mitsubishi; Mannesmann, a German company; and Technopromexport, a Russian company. In the 1980s, Concord International facilitated the export of chemicals and engineered products from India. The company also had an office in the World Trade Centre in Mumbai. In 1976, Khanna also became a consultant for businesses seeking to enter Bangladesh and for Bangladeshi companies seeking to do business in India. Indian companies that Khanna assisted in entering and doing business in Bangladesh include RITES and Bank of India. Bangladeshi companies that Khanna assisted in entering and doing business in India include Bank Asia and Bangladeshi government-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation. In 2020, Concord India was acquired by Embassy Group, a real estate company, and was renamed Embassy East Business Park. Khanna's K Group companies also had other real investments and provided real estate consultancy services, real estate financing, and real estate fund management.
Also in the 1970s, Khanna entered the hotels industry. In 1975, Concord International's subsidiary, Concord International (Mauritius) hotel ventures in Mauritius. In 1979, the company set up The Regent of Mauritius hotel, which was built by Jack Bertoli's Swiss company, Jack Vicajee Bertoli, and the hotel was managed by Regent Hotels & Resorts. In 1983, Concord International (Mauritius) entered a bid for a 150 room luxury hotel tender from the Government of Mauritius. In 1988, in collaboration with Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Concord International (Mauritius) opened the 300 room Khanna-Sheraton Hotel. In India, Concord International was one of the companies granted approval by the Government of India to establish hotel business joint ventures. Khanna also entered the agricultural produce trading industry in the 1970s, facilitating the sale of wheat to the Indian government from the Australian Wheat Board, later known as AWB, and in the 1990s, he assisted in opening trade of Indian agricultural commodities to the Government of Bangladesh for the first time.
Through Concord International and Adomatrix, another one of his companies, Khanna maintained interests in the advertising industry from the 1980s until 2002. In 1986, Adomatrix was awarded a contract to supply electronic display boards, linking the communications of India's stock exchanges. One of Khanna's other companies, Multi Impact Electronic Systems, was involved in developing computer electronic display systems.
In the 2000s, Khanna entered the mining and exploration industry through joint ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Brazil and Indonesia. Khanna's K Group companies also had a joint venture entity for uranium mining in Tanzania. Transworld Enterprises collaborated with NTPC and Alstom Power Systems, a French company, for modernising old power plants in India. The company was also involved in turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects for infrastructure, railway tracks, and power plants in Bangladesh.
Khanna, through his company Transworld Enterprises, entered the steel industry in the 2000s. Transworld Enterprises also had a cooperation agreement with Taier Heavy Industry for supplying spare components, including those for steel rolling mills in India. In 2006, Transworld Enterprises entered the cooling industry through its cooperation with Beijing Longyuan Cooling Technology, a subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, and supplied air-cooled condensers and won large air-cooled condenser EPC contracts for companies. Over the course of his career, Khanna served as the Honorary Consul of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in India, was the founding Chairman of the Indo-Zaire Friendship Association, and was the Chairman of the Indo-Kenya Friendship Association. His affiliation with Saab-Scania became controversial in the aftermath of the Bofors scandal in 1987, despite Khanna not being linked to the allegations of corruption in the Indian Government's procurement of the Bofors howitzer that caused the scandal. Although the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched Khanna's Golf Links residence in New Delhi while he was in London, England, it was unclear whether any incriminating evidence was found, and the CBI took no further action against Khanna.
Khanna also faced allegations from the CBI of receiving information regarding the Indian Army's procurement requirements from Nirmal Puri, a retired Lieutenant General, in 1987. Allegedly, Khanna wanted to use the information to help secure military procurement contracts for defence companies that were collaborating with Concord International, a company he owned. During the investigation, Khanna was not present in India as, at the time, he had not been residing in the country since 1986. In 2015, the Indian Army stated that the information Puri had allegedly provided to Khanna consisted merely of handwritten notes by a retired officer, and that the information was not classified and was already part of the public domain. The Supreme Court of India dismissed the CBI's case in 2015.
In 1988, both houses of parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, alleged that Khanna influenced a contract in favour of Sumitomo to supply heavy electrical machinery to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and GAIL for the HVJ Gas Pipeline project, which was India's first interstate gas pipeline. It was also alleged that he received substantial commissions from Sumitomo for winning the contract for the company.
Offshore companies and accounts
In 1988, it was alleged that Khanna channeled commissions from foreign corporations through a front company in Panama. The Swiss authorities were in the process of sharing account details with Indian authorities due to allegations of tax evasion from the latter. In 2020, Embassy Group acquired Concord India and renamed the company Embassy East Business Park.
Personal life
Khanna was married to Nirmal Kumari Khanna. Khanna and Nirmal had two sons, Sundeep and Rajesh, and a daughter, Shalini. Sundeep and Rajesh took control of Khanna's various K Group companies and also started their own separate businesses.<ref name":9" /><ref name":20" />

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