India, where businesses are built and destroyed with political tides: A case for Jaypee Group

Adani Group is now in the fray to take over Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), the same company that once built half of Noida, India’s finest expressway, and some of the nation’s most ambitious power projects.

This is the same JAL that built the Yamuna Expressway - India’s state-of-the-art access-controlled highway, and imagined Noida as a mirror to Gurgaon with its massive real estate vision. Quite simply, Jaypee did for Noida, what DLF did for Gurgaon. And much better. At its peak, the Jaypee Group had interests in power, roads, cement, hospitality, and real estate, and its ambition was matched only by the scale of its borrowings.

And to be honest, it all worked well.. until it didn't.

You see, JAL was backed by Madam Mayawati-led UP government. It received 5,000+ hectares of land as part of the Yamuna Expressway concession. Land which it turned into townships, golf courses, commercial hubs, and even an F1 race course. But then the government changed in 2012. And with it changed the sentiment. And with it changed how the group was treated.

Soon as the Akhilesh government stepped in, Jaypee's troubles were seeded. Its projects were stalled, and clearances delayed. Enough of that, and the money started drying up. From thereon, everything went south very quickly. Even the homebuyers got sucked into the political crossfire.

By FY2012, the group’s consolidated debt had crossed ₹60,000 Cr. And then came the 2013 Taper Tantrum.

Foreign funds fled. Rupee crashed. Cost of capital soared. And JAL’s foreign loans swelled overnight. To make the matters worse, infrastructure funding also collapsed, just at that critical moment. JAL couldn't roll over the debt to keep the business moving, and courts had to intervene. Suddenly, Jaypee wasn’t “India’s builder” anymore. It was just another over-leveraged firm in freefall. Its dreams to be auctioned off in parts.

And now, a decade later, Adani has showed up. Not as a peer. But as a bidder. Looking to scoop up the remnants. There’s something extremely tragic and humbling about this story.

If you look closely, Adani today is what Jaypee once was. A multi-sector behemoth, scaled at an unnatural speed. Hugely leveraged. And backed, unmistakably, by the full faith of the ruling regime. But what if the political tide had turned? What if the much needed support was lifted? What if 2014 (or 2019, or 2024) had not happened?

Flip the timelines, and Jaypee might have been India’s most powerful conglomerate today. And Adani could have been on the other side of an NCLT bench, watching its life's work get quoted per rupee by a court-appointed RP.

This is India. Here businesses are built and destroyed by the political tides.

It's almost never about who builds better. It’s about when they build. It’s about who lets them build. And for how long. Sometimes in business, you’re not smarter. Or braver. Or more efficient. You’re just - still in favour.

Massive respect for the Jaypee family, though. Exemplary grace althroughout.

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