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With a dream to venture into a business that is somehow related
to the noble field of education, Mr.Vikram Kothari conceived the idea of Rotomac Pens in
1992. The objective was to provide good quality ball pens at economic price points. Within a
short span of time, this new entrant morphed into a well-known brand.Rotomac was one of
the first writing instruments brand to actively market their products. Rotomac launched its
first campaign with Bollywood’s then reigning queen, Raveena Tandon, with the tagline,
‘Likhte Likhte Love Ho Jaye’. Other print and TV exposures, helped in reinforcing the image
of the brand. But the campaign that made a big impact was the one with Javed Akhtar’s
sublime poetry for the retractable ball pen ‘Fighter’. After this there was no looking
back.Now, Rotomac has a fresh new ambassador, arguably one of Bollywood biggest stars,
Salman Khan. He is endorsing Rotomac in the ‘Write to Information’ campaign.After
experiencing success in the domestic market, Rotomac set its sight on the overseas market.
Years of international business ensured that Rotomac was already entrenched in the market.
Rotomac now exports to more than 50 countries around the globe and stays abreast with the
latest technology and changing consumer trends.Mr. Vikram Kothari has also forayed into
several categories and assortment of products and services such as food and fragrances,
export, entertainment and real estate. While Rotomac Pens Pvt. Ltd. remains the flagship
business under Vikram Kothari Enterprises, all the other establishments are equally
important.
Rotomac Global, the famous pen manufacturing company that was under the
CBI and ED scanner in 2018 for defrauding about 7 banks of Rs 3,695 crore, is
again booked for defrauding Indian Overseas Bank of Rs 750 crore. Here's all
you need to know about the scam.
If you are millenial or a 90s kid, you must have used or mabe seen your parents
or siblings use a Rotomac ball pen. If not, you must have at least seen those ads
of Salman Khan or Raveena Tandon endorsing Rotomac pens.
The brand that would endorse Indians to ''likho India ki nayi pehchan'', has
managed to mark itself on the books, but for frauds.
First some context: In 1999, a certain Vikram Kothari became the Chief of
Rotomac Pens. Over time, Vikram diversified the Rotomac business into
Rotomac Global and ventured into real estate, malls, mouth fresheners, and
agro exports. His export business was said to export rice, wheat, maize, gold,
etc.
Have you ever not used Rotomac pens? Photo: Getty
Now the Rotomac scam: Rotomac took loans from multiple banks for their
export business till 2012. The loans were taken to procure goods and export
agro products. But no export orders were executed. Instead, the loan money
was diverted into related offshore accounts, and then redirected to Rotomac
without executing any export order. Vikram Kothari was also accused of round-
tripping ie selling a company's unused asset to another company and buying it
back at the same price. In addition, Rotomac never repaid the interest and
principal amounts on the crores of loans they took from more than 7 public
banks.
Since this classifies as misuse of funds and violates various banking and forex
rules, the authorities have charged serious cases against Rotomac.
Photo: Rotomac Chief Vikram Kothari

How did it all begin? Though Bank of Baroda had first complained to CBI in
2018 of Rotomac defaulting on Rs 800 crore worth loans, CBI's investigations
eventually found that 7 banks had collectively lent about Rs 2,919 crore to
Rotomac for their export business:
1. Indian Overseas Bank – Rs 771.07 crore
2. Bank of India – Rs 754.77 crore
3. Union Bank of India – Rs 458.95 crore
4. Bank of Baroda – Rs 456.63 crore
5. Allahabad Bank – Rs 330.68 crore
6. Oriental Bank of Commerce – Rs 97.47 crore
7. Bank of Maharashtra – Rs 49.82 crore
In totality, considering the interest component on top of the principal
component of Rs 2919 crore, Rotomac collectively owed Rs 3,695 crore.
CBI. Photo: Getty Images

So where did the money go? Investigations found that Vikram Kothari had
round tripped bank's money. Like:
1. Credit sanctioned for wheat export orders to Singapore was diverted to a
Singapore-based firm Bargadia brothers Pvt ltd. This money was then remitted
back to Rotomac.
2, Many sanctioned loans for export order executions were used for other
purposes.
3. Rotomac made profits from interest rate differentials between foreign and
domestic currencies.
4. Rotomac had submitted forged documents to receive advance money from
banks as many of Rotomac's suppliers and buyers actually operated from virtual
offices.
5. Fraudulent front office companies were set up to facilitate business.
Thus, the CBI has charged promoter Vikram Kothari, his wife and director
Sadhna Kothari, and son Rahul Kothari, who is also a director in the firm of
many charges.
Now apart from this investigation, Rotomac also faced more cases:
September 2022- Rs 94 crore owed to Punjab National Bank: In September

this year, the CBI booked Rotomac Global for cheating Punjab National Bank
(PNB) of over Rs 94 crore through loan default. CBI has booked the directors of
criminal conspiracy, cheating, and corruption. The directors Vikram Kothari and
Rahul Kothari had acted dishonestly and had intentionally defrauded the bank
by presenting wrong and false statements for book debts, stock statements
and other financial papers. They had also frequently indulged in 'hawala'
transactions, knowingly diverted funds, and submitted self-generated 'Bill
of Ladings' from a company having no mention of any address and contact.
November 2022- Rs 750 crore owed to Indian Overseas Bank: Even though
CBI has registered a case against Rotomac for defrauding the consortium,
the CBI has now booked Rotomac again for defrauding the Indian Overseas
Bank (IOB) through misrepresentation and causing monetary losses of Rs
750.54 crore. IOB has alleged that Rotomac was allowed a non-fund-based
limit of Rs 500 crore on June 28, 2012, and had issued 11 Letters of Credit (LC)
to meet the company's foreign trade requirements. But all the letters of
credit got devolved involving an aggregate amount of Rs 743.63 crore, leaving
no security for the bank. Rotomac's account was declared an NPA on June 30,
2016, and the losses were Rs 750.54 crore.
Rotomac also did not produce the complete set of documents for the trade
carried out by it, which therefore raised doubts on the authenticity of the trade
vessel and voyages claimed in the bills of lading. The bank conducted a forensic
audit which pointed out that the books were manipulated, there
were irregularities in sale contracts, bills of lading, corresponding voyages, and
Rotomac's liabilities that came from the Letters of Credit were not disclosed.
In fact, the audit also disclosed that the company carried out no genuine
business transactions since 92% of total sales (ie. about Rs 26,143 crore), were
made to four parties of the same owner and group ie, Bunge Group, and all the
LCs were issued only to two parties.

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Photo: Rotomac Chief Vikram Kothari

CBI. Photo: Getty Images

September 2022- Rs 94 crore owed to Punjab National Bank: In September

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