Founder of Nirma Group, Karsanbhai Patel, acquires Rs 40 cr AgustaWestland chopper

AHMEDABAD: He started career by selling home-made detergent on a bicycle. Today, 68-year-old Karsanbhai Patel, founder of Rs 3,000-crore diversified Nirma group, has joined the club of Gujarati businessmen who own private aircraft.

After Adani group chairman Gautam Adani and Zydus group promoter Pankaj Patel, Karsanbhai is the third Ahmedabad-based industrialist to buy a chopper. The detergent king's latest acquisition, an AgustaWestland will help the ageing industrialist fight fatigue travelling to Rajasthan, where the company has set up a cement plant, and Bhavnagar. The Rs 40-crore six-seater chopper has been currently parked at Ahmedabad airport.

Sources close to Patel say he plans to build a helipad at his sprawling bungalow off posh SG Road.

While Adani owns three private jets, including a Beechcraft, Pankaj Patel has bought a Challenger-604. Beside Adani and Patels in Ahmedabad, Chirayu Amin of Alembic Group and Nitin Sandesara of Sandesara Group in Vadodara too own private jets.