The Income Tax Department has raided two Ahmedabad based companies: Astral Pipes and Ratnamani Metals and Tubes. The I-T department started the search operation on both companies on Tuesday morning. Over 150 I-T officials have been deployed for the operation. The raids are on at over 40 premises of the companies.
Sandeep Engineer, 59, founder of Astral Pipes was featured on the list of Forbes’s World’s Billionaires List in 2019–his net worth is over $ 1.1 billion. The company was established in 1996 with the aim of manufacturing plumbing and drainage systems in India.
Growth over the years
Since 2003, Astral has grown from ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore in a year. In 2007, when Astral had a top line of ₹60 crore, Engineer took the company public. He raised ₹35 crore from the IPO. In 2011, Engineer’s eldest son, Kairav joined the business.
Actor Salman Khan has been the brand ambassador of the brand since 2014. Recently, B-town’s most sought after actor Ranveer Singh came on board and began promoting the brand.
Astral Pipes have sponsored Rajasthan Royals, KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. The Engineers also promoted the brand ResiQuick, the adhesive Astral acquired in 2014. The company has about 5,200 employees, six factories across India and three factories for adhesives, one each in the UK, the US and Kenya. This year Astral is expected to earn ₹2,600-2,700 crore as net revenue
Ratnamani Tubes Metals And Tubes
Prakash Sanghvi is the chairman and managing director of Ratnamani Metals and Tubes company. The company was established in 1983. In 2020, the company had received an order worth Rs 216 crore for supply of carbon steel pipes in the domestic market.
The firm’s manufacturing facilities are located at Chhatral and Indrad (near Ahmedabad) and Bhimasar (near Gandhidham, Kutch), in Gujarat.
Earlier, in another raids The Income Tax Department raided more than 20 premises of a Gujarat-based group engaged in the manufacturing of chemicals and the development of real estate. The search operation was spread over Vapi and Sarigam in Gujarat, Silvassa and also in Mumbai. According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), several pieces of evidence in the form of documents, diary notings and digital data showing the earning of huge unaccounted income by the group and its investment in assets have been found and seized.
