Sahara Force India at a crossroads

This weekend two of the three Mercedes-powered Formula One teams will be at the centre of attention.

McLaren is looking to reverse a recent downswing in form that has seen Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button struggle in the last two races, while Mercedes AMG Petronas will be hoping for home glory for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari in the German Grand Prix.

In contrast, the third Mercedes-powered contender, Sahara Force India has disappeared into the shadows over the last few races.

It has been outpaced by ‘the big four’ as well as mid-field rivals Lotus, Sauber and Williams. 

Meanwhile, in India, an important part of team principal Vijay Mallya’s commercial empire is in trouble. Kingfisher Airlines, once a jewel in his business crown, is fighting for survival.

There are signs that even with the additional financial input from co-owner Subrata Roy, whose Sahara Group last year took a 42.5 percent stake in the team, budget restrictions have been slowing development progress.

It has to be remembered that at the start of the year, the Force India VJM-05 was one of the fastest cars on the track. In pre-season testing, its pace was a match for McLaren and Red Bull.

Since then other teams have clearly overtaken Force India in the development race and as the teams enter the critical mid-season phase, the pressure will become even greater. This is the time of the year when a team has to simultaneously maintain the competitiveness of their current car, while also finalizing the design and development of next year’s machine.

Even teams as big as Red Bull, and Ferrari, have admitted that it is tough to keep the right balance of resources. When the resources are restricted, that balancing act is even harder to maintain.

It should be made clear that there isn’t any doubt about Force India’s future survival. It has a strong driver and engineering line-up, a good portfolio of sponsors and, of course, it is supported by the pride and passion of one of the world’s most powerful nations.

It should also be remembered that it was Mallya who helped catalyze India’s passion for Formula One. It was he who saw the rapidly rising tide of interest in the sport and made the commitment to surf the wave.

Back in 2007, Mallya led a consortium with Michiel Mol to buy the moribund Spyker F1 team for €90m, renaming it Force India.

Since then Mallya has invested in the team’s engineering resources, entered a technology partnership with McLaren and just as importantly, promote the team both in India and around the world. Force India is now a global household name and Formula One an established part of the Indian sporting scene.

This weekend in Hockenheim, there is a stronger motivation than ever for Force India, who need to build on a British Grand Prix which failed to deliver after hopes were raised by fifth and seventh place finishes in Valencia.

Hulkenberg’s race was compromised by a lack of pace in the wet qualifying leaving him 14th on the grid. Paul di Resta at least started in the top 10, but was out of the race early after becoming the latest crash-test target for the errant Pastor Maldonado.

While German local interest will inevitably be on Schumacher and Rosberg, or controversial 2010 Hockenheim winner Fernando Alonso, keep an eye on the two Force India drivers this weekend. Their results may be an important pointer to the team’s future prospects. 

Sahara to build an India Centre in UK

Sahara India Pariwar, Chairman & Managing Worker, Mr. Subrata Roy Sahara along with his team met Honorable Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Mr. David Cameron and his team at his official residence 10 Downing Street, London, according to a media release.

The meeting was on the opportunities of business development within the United Kingdom in view of Sahara India Pariwar's Global business mandate.

The media release also pointed out that amongst various deliberations the iconic 4 acre INDIA CENTRE in East London in association with the Olympic university of East London held the core. The Prime Minister appreciated the fact that this would be the one of a kind endeavor in the world between a corporate and a University.

Sahara Supremo's proposal of creating a "think tank" within the United Kingdom to explore unique and hidden business opportunities and portray it to the world was deeply appreciated by the Prime Minister with a promise to support the initiative. The initiative would also lead in creating a roundtable think tank platform in India as well of leading business houses and present to the Honorable Prime Minister when he would visit India later in the year.

The initiative and enterprising approach of the Prime Minister could be gauged from the fact that he personally enquired from the Chairman about the likelihood of a large business interest and opportunity in South of Wales that the group had only recently been following up.

As the meeting came to the end the Honorable Prime Minister extended a personal invitation to the chairman to be his special guest at the Inaugural ceremony of the Olympics next month in July

Sahara India Pariwar announces the picking up of Lucknow Franchisee of the soon to be launched “Hockey India League”

To become one of the prime franchises of the ‘Hockey India League’

Lucknow, July 23, 2012: Sahara India Pariwar, a major business conglomerate and the prime promoter & patron of sports in India, has created another milestone today by announcing to become one of the prime franchisee of the ‘Hockey India League’ (HIL), which is to be started by Hockey India. The Hockey India League (HIL) will initially comprise of 6 teams which will play amongst each other (both home and away matches). Sahara India Pariwar, the Lucknow based business conglomerate, will be the owner of the Lucknow franchise. Moreover, by taking up this franchisee, Sahara India Pariwar intends to encourage young talents of this great game of skill and energy, thereby giving them a platform to nurture their skills under the supervision of talented sportsmen.

Speaking on the occasion, ‘Saharasri’ Subrata Roy Sahara, Managing Worker & Chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, said “We are proud to associate ourselves with this great game, which has created legends in the past. By taking up this franchise we are sure that fresh talent will be identified at city and regional level, who in turn will bring laurels to our beloved nation. We are also hopeful, that following our efforts to encourage Hockey, other corporate entities will also come forward to support this league which will eventually benefit the game and its exponents”. 

Mr. Narendra Batra, Secretary General, Hockey India, said, “I am grateful to ‘Saharasri’ and Sahara India Pariwar, for again coming forward in support of Hockey. The Group has always come forward and supported the sport of hockey at all times by providing it the much needed support.”

Apart from being sponsor to the Indian Hockey Team, Sahara India Pariwar had also joined hands with Federation Internationale De Hockey (FIH) in 2004, the World’s apex Body for Hockey, and became the 4th Global Partner of the Federation for a period of 3 years. Sahara India Pariwar has felicitated the entire Indian Hockey Team, including both the players and the officials, on numerous occasions when Indian team has registered historic wins including the recent FIH Olympic Qualifiers.