Rotomac boss, Vikram Kothari was among top 100 key invites to UP summit

LUCKNOW: Barely a week before he was taken into CBI custody on charges of defaulting on bank loans to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore, Rotomac chairman Vikram Kothari was among the top 100 key invitees to the mega UP investor summit.

Kothari’s name was removed from the list soon after his company’s loan defaults became public.

The initial invitee list prepared by the UP government — TOI has a copy of it — had Kothari's name at the 88th spot, followed by the name of his brother and chairman of Pan Parag group, Deepak Kothari. The list, which began with Mukesh Ambani, comprised 113 top industrialists and corporate heads.


Sources said all the key invitees were supposed to interact with chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior ministers during the investor meet and pledge investments.

Industry minister Satish Mahana said Kothari’s name was included well before the reports of his company defaulting on loan payments came to light.

“We invite industrialists based on their profile not after looking at their balance sheets. Kothari happened to be a noted businessman before the alleged bank fraud case came to light. No one can predict these things,” Mahana to TOI.

Sources said the list was revised to exclude the name of the Kanpur-based industrialist. Even the name of his brother, Deepak Kothari, was removed.

A senior government official in the industry department confirmed that the list of invitees was revised “to avoid any kind of controversy during the summit”.

UP govt dropped Vikram Kothari, brother from list of investor summit invitees soon after the loan default case became public