Aircel case: How a tycoon's grand India plans turned into a $7-bn nightmare

It was supposed to be the crowning achievement of Malaysian tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan’s five-decade career.

But his $7 billion bet on mobile carrier Aircel Ltd. may instead go down as one of the biggest-ever flops by a foreign investor in India, a stark reminder that doing business in the world’s fastest-growing major economy is often a lot tougher than it looks.

Krishnan’s holding company stands to lose all the money it poured into Aircel over the past 12 years, people with knowledge of the matter said, after the carrier filed to start bankruptcy proceedings this week. Buffeted by intense