From labourer to owner of Rs 1,600 crore empire to bankruptcy: The rise and fall of Sudip Dutta

The story of Ess Dee Aluminum Pvt Ltd founder Sudip Dutta is a good example of rags to riches story as Sudip once used to earn Rs 400 per month and then went on to build a Rs 1600 crore empire.

Sudip hails from Durgapur in West Bengal and he came to Mumbai when he was 17-year-old. Sudip's father was an army man who got martyred during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. Sudip's dream was to become an engineer, but his father's untimely death forced him to abandon his dream to support his family.

There was a time when Sudip used to walk 40 km everyday and live with 20 men in a single room.

When Sudip got to know that the packaging company he was working will shut down, he decided to buy a manufacturing unit, reported Livemint.

Sudip adapted quickly and decided to convert his mid-cap company to a large-cap company. Sudip's competition was giants like India foils, Jindal Ltd. etc.
In November 2008, Sudip bought India foils from Vedanta group. The move was significant because Sudip's company was smaller than India foils.

Slowly, Sudip's company Ess Dee managed to surpass a global giant like Vedanta and Ess Dee went to the top most position in the industry. Ess Dee's wide range of technologically advanced packaging solutions made Sudip the owner of an empire worth Rs 1,685 crore.

Ess Dee Aluminium Ltd,however, failed to capitalise on its success and fell prey to insolvency. The Calcutta Bench of National Company Law Tribunal once  ordered the initiation of a corporate insolvency resolution process against the company.