From just 40 hectares in 1950-51, apple is now grown on nearly 49 per cent of the total area . Apple cultivation supports more than 1.7 lakh families in the state. Addingly, Rs.3,500-crore apple economy provides gainful employment to transporters, carton manufacturers, controlled atmosphere store/cold chain owners, wholesale fruit dealers, fruit processing unit owners etc. from other states as well. Isn't is like money growing on trees.
But, money grown on a tree, not necessarily. sustains for long , Down the memory lanes. remember the plight of gullible investors who were cheated in the name of "Collective Investment Schemes" in eighties and nineties, when plethora of private companies sold " money grows on trees' dreams to gullible investors. Mushrooming of such companies were so fast that Mani Majra market on Shimla-Chandigarh highway in Chandigarh was dotted with such companies and the area was called " green street" (corollary to Dalal street) .
For these companies catch was simple. Indian middle income classes were flush with fund. Bank interests were low but return on fixed assets were high. So, it was a time when investors could be lured to high return. Then came a
hosts of non-banking finance companies and fraudsters who were out to cheat investors by offering attractive returns sometime as high as 16 per cent. As the RBI key rates were much lower and there was hardly any regulatory system in place. The large loopholes in the system provided the "greedy bizmen" the green pastures to fleece the investors.
I had worked for the daily newspaper of Kuber group, once the fast growing Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) but it collapsed overnight after regulators put their foot down. While working with Kuber group, I often wondered how this company could afford to earn nearly 40 piase on a rupee it collected from investors. The company was offering 16 percent return and nearlt 24 percent were the cost of find collections including commission to agents and administrative expenses I came to know that companies were putting its investment in speculative business that was totally banned by the regulator. All, other companies were doing the same trick. Sooner than later, such companies had to be shut down. It came as soon as strict regulations were in place but by that time hundreds of thousand of investors were taken for a ride by these companies.
One wonders despite strict enforcement of regulations, how Pearl Green Forest Ltd was allowed to flourish and cheat the investors after the closure of Golden Forest (GFIL). K. Syal of GFIL and Nirmal Singh Bhangoo heading Pearls Group empire, had put their heads together in the early 1980s chiseling the “land for investment” business for themselves. Both had a meteoric rise rise. Syal was an assistant manager in Chandigarh’s tourism department and Bhangoo was struggling with his dairy farm in the village. Both were working for Peerless, a general finance company, as part time agents then.
Sebi had set its eyes on GFIL and PGF in 1997 insisting on both the companies to follow its guidelines and declare themselves as Collective Investment Schemes. Both companies resisted the move and took the matter to courts to delay the enforcement of Sebi guidelines. However, despite Sebi’s clampdown, Bhangoo continued to expand his empire and by the time he was checked, he had swindled more than 50,000 crore from more than 5.5 crore investors. It was a bigger scam than Golden forests.
A rough count says that more than 30 crore of investors have been cheated by NBFCs (including Sahara India) and Chit Fund companies and by ponzi schemes in India and roughly 3 lakh crore of money has been drained out, So, "money certainly grows on tree in India". Its a different matter that the tree growing ill-legal money withers sooner than later.