Before Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned as the prime minister in 2004, a deputy secretary in his office is rumoured to have told him that he didn’t want to work under a Congress prime minister. This bureaucrat would stay on as Vajpayee’s private secretary until 2006. And later go on to be the blue-eyed boy at “new” India’s highest seat of power.
Ashwini Vaishnaw’s dramatic political ascent, from bureaucrat and technocrat to politician, has few precedents in Indian politics (perhaps the closest parallel in recent times is that of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar). From being a promising IAS officer from the Odisha cadre in 1994, he had by 2021 – after stints in corporate India, a degree from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an enterprise – made his way to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
And his entrepreneurial run was, by all accounts, a hit. If money is a parameter of success, a single company he invested Rs 1 lakh in had reaped him shares with a book value of over Rs 113 crore within years. In fact, the revenue of this company rose from Rs 45 lakh to over 323 crore within six years of inception.
Vaishnaw’s political career formally began in 2019 with a surprising move by Odisha’s governing BJD and its rival BJP, who joined hands for the purpose of nominating him to the Rajya Sabha. By this time, Vaishnaw’s connections with Odisha ran deeper than just belonging to its IAS cadre. Links that are usually ignored by paeans to the paradox in Indian politics that Vaishnaw is perceived to be.
He had, after all, largely been away from Odisha between 2003 and 2015, until a small firm brought him back. What had followed was a journey tacked on by the state’s mining baron, and one that would ostensibly fuel his political rise.
Mining his connections
Originally from Rajasthan and belonging to a family that has deep ties with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (once the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), Vaishnaw’s political career formally began in 2019. In a surprising move, Odisha’s governing party Biju Janata Dal and its rival BJP came together to nominate Vaishnaw for the Rajya Sabha. Vaishnaw had initially been named as the BJD nominee, but soon after this announcement, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said there had been some “confusion”.
“The prime minister spoke to me as did the home minister [Amit Shah]. We will support the candidature of Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was the private secretary of Mr Vajpayee when he was the prime minister,” Patnaik had told the media. For the purpose of this one nomination, there was a fleeting alliance between the governing party in the state and its opposition.
Vaishnaw had left Odisha in 2003. After working with Vajpayee and other bureaucratic assignments, he took a break to study MBA at the Wharton School from 2008 to 2010. On his return from the US, he opted for voluntary retirement and worked for corporate firms.
It was in 2015 that he returned to Odisha. This was the year he made his foray into the iron ore mining industry, with his company Adler Industrial Services Private Limited. From the very beginning, Adler had only one client to whom it provided ‘services’: Thriveni Earthmovers, a mining company controlled by B Prabhakaran, also known as ‘Reddy of Barbil’ (the reference being to G Janardhan Reddy, the main accused in illegal mining in Karnataka. The area around the town of Barbil in Odisha has some of the largest deposits of iron and manganese ore in the world).
It was not clear from company documents uploaded on the ministry of corporate affairs website what these ‘services’ were.
With Vaishnaw’s election to Rajya Sabha in 2019, his company Adler also changed its business from services to sales of pellets. Interestingly, it was buying pellets from its own associated company, TPPL, and selling it independently with varying margins – such as 43.56 percent in 2019-20, 39.6 percent in 2020-21, and 9.3 percent in 2021-22. This led to substantial increase in Adler’s revenue, from Rs 1.65 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 48.02 crore in 2019-20 and then to Rs 323.27 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 348.4 crore in 2021-22. Amid all this purchase and sale of pellets, Adler never kept any stocks pending, according to the company’s balance sheets filed at the end of each financial year. The inventory was recorded as nil each year, according to balance sheets.
Between 2004 to 2015, Thriveni Earthmovers became the largest raising contractor, digging out minerals on behalf of holders of mining leases in the state. In 2014, the MB Shah commission mentioned Thriveni Earthmovers many times in its report and concluded that Prabhakaran was not simply a mining contractor, but that his company controlled most of these mines by proxy and appropriated a large chunk of the earnings from both legal and illegal mining.
Many claim Vaishnaw’s connection with Prabhakaran helped him politically. After all, Thriveni had been a big political donor along with its subsidiaries through electoral bonds.
Turning iron into gold
Vaishnaw’s ties with Thriveni Earthmovers deepened in the following years, as the latter established a new company Thriveni Pellets Private Limited (TPPL) in partnership with Vaishnaw’s Adler and even provided financial assistance amounting to Rs 111.50 crore, enabling Adler to offer loans to this newly incorporated entity. This arrangement ultimately positioned Vaishnaw’s company to generate significant profits in the years that followed, by purchasing iron ore pellets from the same company.
In its first year of operation (2015-16) after its incorporation with an investment of Rs 1 lakh, Adler earned Rs 45 lakh in revenue from operations. This increased to Rs 3.79 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 4.51 crore in 2017-18. Until 2019, Adler’s primary expenses were the remuneration paid to its directors – Vaishnaw and his wife, Sunita. Both were directors in the company and drew substantial salaries.
For example, in 2016-17, out of Rs 3.79 crore revenue, Rs 2.46 crore went toward salaries, with Rs 2.26 crore paid to Vaishnaw and Rs 18 lakh to Sunita. Meanwhile, only Rs 1.93 lakh was allocated for the salaries of other employees. Similarly, in 2017-18, out of Rs 4.51 crore revenue, Rs 2.5 crore was spent on salaries, of which Rs 2.09 crore was paid to the directors.
In 2017-18, Adler received a performance guarantee deposit of Rs 111.50 crore from Thriveni Earthmovers. This came despite Adler’s modest revenue of Rs 4.51 crore and a profit of just Rs 73.6 lakh in the same year (all of which came from services provided to Thriveni Earthmovers).
In November 2017, Thriveni Pellets Private Limited (TPPL) was incorporated with three shareholders: Thriveni Earthmovers (51 percent), Dover Properties Private Limited (29 percent), and Adler (20 percent). Corporate filings show that on February 24, 2018, TPPL signed a debt agreement to receive a massive loan of Rs 547.61 crore from its shareholders in proportion to their stakes. Thriveni Earthmovers gave Rs 279.28 crore; Dover Properties gave Rs 158.81 crore; and Adler gave Rs 109.52 crore. Of the total amount, Rs 18 crore was meant to be converted into equity, which was issued on June 27 in proportion to the stakes.
As per balance sheets, Vaishnaw’s Adler extended its loan to TPPL after it received a loan of Rs 111.5 crore, in the form of a performance guarantee, from Prabhakaran’s Thriveni Earthmovers.
So, through this ‘performance guarantee’, Vaishnaw made his fortune. The financial benefit of this venture can be gauged from Vaishnaw’s own affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, according to which the book value of Adler’s shares in 2022-23 stood at Rs 113.9 crore (from Rs 1.04 crore in 2018-19). Of this amount, Vaishnaw’s shares stood at over Rs 91 crore while his wife’s shares were valued at around Rs 22.78 crore.
Weeks after its incorporation, TPPL, along with the JSW Group (led by Sajjan Jindal) and Mitsun Steel, signed a share agreement to acquire Brahmani River Pellets Private Limited (BRPL). As per Financial Express, this deal was to the tune of roughly around Rs 1,100 crore. TTPL paid Rs 547.61 crore in which Rs 495.39 crore was for debt payment and Rs 52.22 crore was for loan and advances assigned to TPPL. This strategic acquisition included a 4.7-mtpa beneficiation plant in Barbil, Odisha, and a 4-mtpa pellet plant in Jajpur, Odisha, connected by a 230-km underground slurry pipeline, significantly reducing freight costs.
Vaishnaw was made a director at TPPL and later appointed managing director of BRPL.
Claims vs reality
Vaishnaw was also associated with another company – Vee Gee Auto Components Private Limited, which manufactures auto components. He held the position of director in this company from 2016 to 2017. He quit as director in May 2017 but retained an 8 percent stake in the company until 2019-20.
Importantly, in 2018, Adler extended loans amounting to Rs 91.14 lakh to Vee Gee Auto Components. This amount increased to Rs 1.06 crore over the next two years.
In February 2023, the parent company of Vee Gee Auto Components was raided by the Income Tax Department for alleged tax evasion. Newslaundry could not verify the status of this matter. When we reached out to the spokesperson of the IT department seeking details of the raid, the spokesperson said they don’t give any “comments or information on specific cases”.
Vaishnaw has not tried to conceal his business links to the mining sector and has instead presented it as an area of expertise. For instance, his very first written question in Rajya Sabha concerned steel production, a sector he’s been involved with since 2015 through his association with Thriveni Earthmovers. In March 2021, while debating the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, he began with the disclaimer that he has interest in a steel sector company which uses the raw materials from various mines like iron ore, limestone and dolomite.
His push for entrepreneurship, especially among the government employees, is evident in his parliamentary activities. To encourage other bureaucrats to try their hand at private enterprise – which is not allowed as per service rules – Vaishnaw moved a special mention in Rajya Sabha demanding “entrepreneur leave” for those in the government who wish to take leave from their regular positions to pursue an entrepreneurial idea.
Vaishnaw has also maintained that his interest in entrepreneurship is rooted in a desire to help others. In 2019, during the controversy surrounding Vaishnaw’s Rajya Sabha nomination, Congress’s Narasingha Mishra had implied Vaishnaw had links with the mining mafia. Mishra said, “Those who loot the mineral resources of the state are sent to represent us in the Rajya Sabha.” Vaishnaw countered that his only interest was in lending support to the less privileged. “My goal was to create an enterprise that could sustain 1,500 families. At the Kalinga Nagar plant, we even provide subsidised food to our contractual employees. I was content achieving this target and working toward the goal of sustaining 5,000 families – until the offer to become an MP came,” Vaishnaw told Hindustan Times while addressing allegations made by Mishra.
Vaishnaw has also maintained that his interest in entrepreneurship is rooted in a desire to help others. In 2019, during the controversy surrounding Vaishnaw’s Rajya Sabha nomination, Congress’s Narasingha Mishra had implied Vaishnaw had links with the mining mafia. Mishra said, “Those who loot the mineral resources of the state are sent to represent us in the Rajya Sabha.” Vaishnaw countered that his only interest was in lending support to the less privileged.
“My goal was to create an enterprise that could sustain 1,500 families. At the Kalinga Nagar plant, we even provide subsidised food to our contractual employees. I was content achieving this target and working toward the goal of sustaining 5,000 families – until the offer to become an MP came,” Vaishnaw told Hindustan Times while addressing allegations made by Mishra.
Similarly, in an interview with The Lallantop in 2024, Vaishnaw stated, “The big thing about entrepreneurship is that you get connected to so many families and provide them with employment.”
However, a closer review of his company’s operations and financial documents suggests the benefits of enterprise seem to have been largely confined to Vaishnaw and his wife. Most of Vaishnaw’s company's expenses were directed toward their remunerations and there is little evidence of a workforce capable of sustaining thousands of families.
Connecting the dots
Vaishnaw’s parliamentary activities between 2019 and July 2021 (when he was inducted into the Cabinet) suggest he was on a path towards the portfolios that would eventually be assigned to him. He served on key committees that aligned closely with his future ministerial responsibilities. For instance, he was a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, among others. From 2021 onwards, he would take charge of ministries related to many of these areas, including Telecommunications, Electronics and IT, and Information and Broadcasting.
Most of the questions raised by Vaishnaw in Parliament have pertained to issues he has some experience and expertise in, thanks to his wide-ranging professional interests. The questions he’s raised have addressed critical issues such as unemployment, the Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme for Electronics and IT, the Know India Programme, tourism, textiles in Odisha, and the Jal Jeevan Mission, among others.
However, this was not true of his first-ever special mention in Parliament. In July 2019, Vaishnaw raised the demand to “ensure freedom of media and dignity of media personnel.” In his speech, he drew the House’s attention to the rights of media employees of a media channel who allegedly faced “mistreatment”, “threats to their safety” and were forced to seek “public attention towards non-payment of salaries and wages”.
Vaishnaw had quit as director of Adler in October 2020, of TPPL in June 2019, and BRPL in July 2021. His daughter, son and wife are still directors in Adler. While his wife was a director since Adler’s inception, his daughter was appointed in May 2017 and son in July 2019.
This was a not-so-oblique reference to Tiranga TV, founded by Promila Sibal, wife of Congress MP Kapil Sibal, which shut down in 2019 amidst controversy over non-payment of salaries, use of musclemen and other issues. Vaishnaw may have been targeting Kapil Sibal with the special mention. But his own company Adler was involved in a financial transaction with media baron Srini Raju with equally, if not more, dubious practices; Raju’s company, which had no revenue since 2005, loaned Rs 26 crore to Adler in 2019-20.
With Vaishnaw’s election to Rajya Sabha in 2019, his company Adler also changed its business from services to sales of pellets. Interestingly, it was buying pellets from its own associated company, TPPL, and selling it independently with varying margins – such as 43.56 percent in 2019-20, 39.6 percent in 2020-21, and 9.3 percent in 2021-22.
This led to substantial increase in Adler’s revenue, from Rs 1.65 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 48.02 crore in 2019-20 and then to Rs 323.27 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 348.4 crore in 2021-22.
Amid all this purchase and sale of pellets, Adler never kept any stocks pending, according to the company’s balance sheets filed at the end of each financial year. The inventory was recorded as nil each year, according to balance sheets.
Vaishnaw had quit as director of Adler in October 2020, of TPPL in June 2019, and BRPL in July 2021. His daughter, son and wife are still directors in Adler. While his wife was a director since Adler’s inception, his daughter was appointed in May 2017 and son in July 2019.
In 2019-20, Adler also paid back its pending Rs 77.39 crore loan from Thriveni Earthmovers, but took a loan of Rs 52.49 crore from three companies associated with the iLabs Group – led by former TV9 promoter Srini Raju. These companies were namely Ivision Media India Private Limited, Skanda Aerospace Private Limited, and Solar Integrations Systems India Private Limited.
Skanda Aerospace was in the business of manufacturing components for the aerospace industry, and Solar Integration Systems was in the business of setting up solar power plants. Ivision, which was projected as a media content company, was earlier used by Raju to channel investment worth Rs 47 crore between 2008 and 2018 – from a Mauritius-based fund to the television network TV9’s holding company, Associated Broadcasting Private Limited (ABCL). In fact, when Ivision granted the loan of Rs 26 crore to Adler in 2019-20, balance sheets showed it had no revenue from operation since 2005 – the company was incorporated in 2003.
Asked about the source of the funds that were given to Adler, Sheshadri, CFO of iLabs Group, told Newslaundry that Ivision had received amounts towards its “interest in ABCL”, the owner of TV9 channel, after iLabs exited TV9 business. “After the exit, the company had only cash and no business. Subsequently, it merged with one of our group companies,” he said.
He also maintained that the loan to Adler was extended after loan arranging consultants approached them. “When we exited underlying assets, these companies had cash. The loan arranging consultants who place short-term loans approached us knowing that we have exited our other assets. We gave a short-term loan and the same has been paid back with interest,” he added.
The Railways man
Despite an extensive network of connections, Vaishnaw has maintained a reserved public profile. He gives few interviews and invariably turns the conversation to the work he has done, rather than his personal connections. For example, when The Lallantop asked Vaishnaw if it was true that he became Vajpayee’s personal secretary because he didn’t want to work under a Congress prime minister, Vaishnaw was carefully vague in his reply, steering clear of any mention of Congress. The most he admitted to was being close enough to Vajpayee to call him “Baapji”. For much of the interview, Vaishnaw spoke about his tenure as the Railways minister and repeatedly showered praise upon Prime Minister Modi.
Recently, Vaishnaw was named Business Reformer of the Year by the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence, which shows he is able to pull off the rare feat of being favoured by both the public and the private sectors.
“As a bureaucrat he was very competent. No doubt about that,” said Bijay Patnaik, a former chief secretary of Odisha and a former Congress leader. “Intelligent, well behaved, nice to talk to, efficient. But after he left Odisha … I think from then on he moved to politics.”
Vaishnaw’s networking skills and aptitude for finding simple ways to appease others became evident after he was appointed minister of Information and Broadcasting in June 2024. “He is a soft talker, very media friendly. So he is doing it very perfectly,” said a journalist who attended a recent Cabinet briefing.
“He also brought back food packet culture after almost 10 years. The Modi government has stopped ‘samosa culture’ once it came to power in 2014. Now he [Vaishnaw] gives journalists with food packets which include hot samosa, jalebi, cake and sometimes even dosa...That attracts more journalists to the Cabinet briefing,” the journalist added.
The pinnacle of Vaishnaw’s career so far has been getting charge of the Railway ministry in 2021.
A senior journalist, who has been covering the railways for a decade, told Newslaundry, “He was also involved in the loading sector and wagon sector. So, he knows where the problem is, why industry people are not getting wagons as per their requirements, and how much corruption is there. So, even before becoming the Railways minister, he was very much aware of the functioning of the Railways.”
Upon taking charge of the ministry, Vaishnaw began with reforms like station redevelopment and the introduction of more Vande Bharat trains. The department, which employs more than 1 million people, also saw senior officials being axed or transferred if they didn’t meet the minister’s standards. For example, in January 2022, the services of Rahul Jain, Railway Board Member (Traction and Rolling Stock) was summarily concluded. The newswire service ANI reported, “According to sources, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had reprimanded Jain and asked [him] to apply for voluntary retirement and he was sent on leave.”
Retired general manager of Indian Railways Sushansu Mani pointed out that so far, Vaishnaw’s tenure has not addressed key issues plaguing the department. “Key indicators for evaluating the national transporter include freight and passenger loading data, both of which show concerning trends. Freight loading in terms of NTKM (net tonne kilometres) has been declining, and passenger numbers have only just returned to pre-Covid levels. The operating ratio remains around 100, indicating that Indian Railways generates virtually no surplus for reinvestment, which is financially unsustainable,” Mani told Newslaundry.
There have also been less laudable moments, like the large number of train accidents in Vaishnaw’s tenure and what the journalist quoted above described as the minister’s “U-turn in relations with railways management service”. Nine services within the Railways were amalgamated into one, but the negative response led to the service being divided into two.
Retired general manager of Indian Railways Sushansu Mani pointed out that so far, Vaishnaw’s tenure has not addressed key issues plaguing the department. “Key indicators for evaluating the national transporter include freight and passenger loading data, both of which show concerning trends. Freight loading in terms of NTKM (net tonne kilometres) has been declining, and passenger numbers have only just returned to pre-Covid levels. The operating ratio remains around 100, indicating that Indian Railways generates virtually no surplus for reinvestment, which is financially unsustainable,” Mani told Newslaundry.
Mani also claimed the introduction of Vande Bharat trains continues to fall short of the targets set in the 2022 Budget and the modernisation agenda is mostly made up of incomplete projects, such as the much-delayed high-speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, slow progress on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and stagnation in the technical development of Vande Bharat trains.
“In summary, despite substantial budget allocations and ambitious goals, Indian Railways faces serious systemic issues and low morale of its officers that hinder the realisation of its modernisation and performance objectives,” Mani said.
“Over the past few years, the number of train accidents or derailments are rapidly growing. Apart from derailment of trains, he also failed in expansion of a dedicated freight corridor. It took almost 10 years of delay. Similarly he failed on the front of the bullet train. So, barring Vande Bharat, his progress is not very encouraging,” the journalist quoted above said.
Vaishnaw’s tenure as a railway minister witnessed around 113 train accidents across the country. Among them, the collision of Coromandel Express with a stationary iron ore-laden goods train in Odisha’s Balasore is considered to be India’s worst railway disaster in three decades that killed 293 passengers and left 1,100 injured. However, none of this is seen as a threat to Vaishnaw’s position.
“He failed to deliver some of the mega projects of the Modi government, but he will never be sacked because sacking him would mean failure of PM Modi himself,” said a journalist who has been covering the Railways for many years.
Newslaundry sent a questionnaire to Vaishnaw as well as Thriveni Earthmovers via email. This report will be updated if a response is received.
Update at 12 pm on Jan 14: The name of a journalist quoted in this report has been removed to protect his identity.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
