Videocon's TV empire fell under debt and scandal

The first colour TV in many Indian homes was not just a machine. It was a family event.

For many households in the 1980s and 1990s, Videocon Industries Limited meant Sunday movies, cricket matches, and neighbours gathering in one room. That same brand now sits inside one of India’s biggest bankruptcy stories.

The fall did not happen in one bad quarter. It came slowly, through debt, risky expansion, foreign competition, and a banking scandal that damaged reputations far beyond one company.

From small town to colour TV

Venugopal Dhoot came from a business family in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. His father, Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot, laid the foundation of the Videocon group in 1984.

Before electronics, the family dealt in cotton and ran a Bajaj Auto scooter dealership. That background matters. It shows how Indian business families often moved from trading into manufacturing when the economy opened small windows.

Dhoot set up Videocon International in 1986. Colour television was still a prized purchase then. Doordarshan had begun colour broadcasts, and Indian families wanted a TV that felt modern but was still local.

Videocon read that moment well. The company first aimed to make about 1 lakh TV sets a year. Soon, it became one of the names people associated with colour television itself.

In the 1990s, the company expanded into refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and home entertainment systems. It also tied up with Toshiba for some consumer electronics products.

For a middle-class family, this mattered in very plain terms. Videocon made big-ticket appliances feel more reachable. A fridge or TV was still a major buy, but it no longer felt foreign.

The expansion went too far

The group’s ambition did not stop at home appliances. Videocon entered telecom, oil, and energy. It also built manufacturing units in India and opened plants abroad, including in China, Mexico, Poland, and Italy.

At one point, the group was seen among India’s larger business houses. The source article puts its market value at nearly $5 billion during its peak years.

But expansion works only if cash flows keep pace. In simple words, a company can borrow heavily when business is growing. It gets into trouble when those loans stop producing enough income.

Videocon borrowed from several banks, including State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. The source article places the group’s borrowings from such banks at around ₹40,000 crore.

Dhoot also gave a personal guarantee of ₹8,000 crore for SBI-linked loans, according to the account. A personal guarantee means the promoter promises to repay if the company cannot.

That is where corporate risk becomes personal risk. It also affects banks, depositors, and taxpayers, because large unpaid loans rarely vanish quietly.

Foreign brands changed the game

Videocon’s core business also faced a tougher market. By the late 1990s, Samsung and LG had entered India with better technology, sharper designs, and global supply chains.

This changed the appliance market. Indian buyers, especially in cities, started comparing features, service, and brand image more closely. The old trust alone was no longer enough.

Videocon had built its name in an India of fewer choices. The new India had showrooms full of options. Customers could now compare picture quality, cooling speed, energy use, and after-sales service.

The company’s revenue came under pressure. Its debt burden rose, with the source article placing it at about ₹31,000 crore at one stage.

Then came the bigger bets. The group invested heavily in an oil block in Mozambique. That project did not deliver as expected, according to the article.

Telecom also hurt. Videocon could not keep pace in a sector that later saw giants like Jio change prices and scale. Telecom needs deep pockets, patience, and constant investment. Videocon already carried too much debt.

The ICICI Bank case

The sharpest blow came from the ICICI Bank loan case involving Chanda Kochhar, the bank’s former chief executive.

The CBI alleged that Videocon received loans from ICICI Bank and that money later moved through linked companies to benefit Kochhar’s family. The source article says ₹64 crore was routed into NuPower Renewables, linked to her husband, Deepak Kochhar.

The case also refers to a ₹3,250 crore loan given to Videocon. The CBI alleged that the investment into the Kochhar-linked company came soon after that loan.

These are allegations in a legal case, not a final business obituary by themselves. But they did immense damage. For banks, the question became larger than one account. It became about how big loans were approved.

ICICI Bank later classified many Videocon loans as non-performing assets. A non-performing asset is a loan where repayment has stopped or become deeply uncertain.

For ordinary people, this may sound distant. But bad corporate loans hit the financial system. Banks become more careful. Small businesses then face tougher questions for much smaller loans.

Bankruptcy and the hard lesson

Bankruptcy proceedings against Videocon began in 2018. The group’s total debt is placed at around ₹90,000 crore in the source article.

That number is difficult to picture. Think of it this way. Even a 10 percent recovery gap means thousands of crores lost to banks and lenders.

The article says lenders faced losses of over 90 percent during the insolvency process. That is a brutal haircut. A haircut means lenders recover only a small part of what they are owed.

Dhoot later challenged a tribunal order that allowed separate insolvency proceedings for Videocon Industries Limited and Videocon Oil Ventures Limited. He wanted a combined process for both companies.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear his plea, according to the source. That keeps one part of the legal battle alive, even as the old Videocon empire has already lost its earlier shape.

The larger business lesson is old but still painful. Brands do not fail only because customers leave. They also fail when ambition outruns discipline.

Videocon once understood Indian homes better than many rivals. It knew what a first TV meant, what a first fridge meant, and how pride entered a drawing room through an appliance box.

But debt has no nostalgia. Banks ask for repayment, markets demand upgrades, and competitors punish delay. For Indian consumers, the Videocon story is a reminder that even familiar brands can disappear when management loses grip. For business owners, it is simpler still: growth is exciting, but borrowed growth can turn unforgiving when the cycle turns.