Chairman and managing director of Ashapura Intimates Fashion Limited, Harshad Thakkar has gone missing leaving behind a note stating that he had left his house and work following heavy business losses he had been facing in the recent times. The Dadar police has launched a manhunt to trace Thakkar. Thakkar’s rags to riches entrepreneurship story is that of a small town boy who through his rare grit and gumption made it big in the undergarments industry. Thakkar arrived in Mumbai in 1993 and started working as a sales person in his uncle’s store for an upscale Lingerie Store in Mulund which gave him even more exposure to understanding young aspirational customers, global fashion, and wearable creative designs. His fashion house manufactures, designs, brands, distributes, and retails products. The firm also houses popular brands like Valentine and Tricci. After three years, Thakkar joined a women clothing store at Nepeansea Road where Thakkar learned the nitty-gritties of ladies nightwear and undergarment business. In 1999, he started his own unit in Mulund and called it Ashapura Apparels and had named his brand as Valentine. He started a new unit in 2000 in Santacruz. Till 2006 his Bhiwandi factory was producing 12000 pieces daily. In 2013, Thakkar listed his company Ashapura Intimates Fashions Ltd, at Bombay Stock Exchange. In 2012, AIFL’s yearly turnover was Rs 101 crore, which increased to Rs 131 crore in 2013 and Rs 163 crore in 2014. However, things took an unexpected turn in the last six months. According to the police, the family members of Thakkar have said that he left his house on October 02. “We have registered a missing complaint. Since Thakkar has switched off his phone, tracing him on the basis of Call Detail Records is a challenge but we will find him,” said senior police inspector of Dadar police station, Divakar Shelke. Turn of Fortune

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