Naresh Goyal is the man behind Jet Airways. He started from borrowed money from his mother and ended being the owner of the largest airline company in India. Naresh Goyal's net worth Β went beyond Rs 8,000 crore.
Read ahead to know the story of this man who took it from the scratch to become a millionaire.
Naresh Goyal- Biography
Name | Naresh Goyal |
---|---|
DOB | 29 July, 1949 |
Age | 71 Years |
Nationality | Indian (NRI) |
Occupation | Former Chairman of Jet Airways |
Year Active | 1967β2019 |
Net Worth | Beyond Rs 8,000 crore (2019) |
Spouse | Anita Goyal |
Children | Nivaan Goyal and Namrata Goyal |
Naresh Goyal- Early life and Challenges
Naresh Goyal- Education
Naresh Goyal- Family
Naresh Goyal- Career
Naresh Goyal- Controversy
Naresh Goyal- News
Naresh Goyal- Awards
Naresh Goyal- Early life and Challenges
Naresh Goyal, a 71 year old, was born on 29 July, 1941. He was born in Sangur, Punjab. He along with his family went through a major financial crisis when he was just 11 years old. Their family sustained but lost almost all the property in an action by the government and bank, including their house. His maternal uncle helped him during this time. He paid for his studies till his graduation. He wanted to pursue Chatted Accountancy but instead ended up doing B.Com.

Naresh Goyal- Education
- He passed his high school from Government Raj School, Sangur, Punjab.
- He got his degree of Bachelor's in Commerce from Government Vikram college of Commerce.
Naresh Goyal- Family
Naresh was born into a Punjabi Hindu family, where his mother was a house-maker and his father a gold dealer. He died when he was too young. He also had an elder brother, Surinder Kumsr Goyal. Who is also the co-founder of Jet Airways.
He got married to Anita Goyal, and she has been their with him through out the beginning of Jet Airways. And they have one daughter and a son. Their daughter Namrata Goyal is the Director of production house Filmstock Private limited. And their son Nivaan Goyal is in the Board of directors of Jet Airways.

Naresh Goyal- Career
After his graduation in 1967, he joined his uncle's travel agency as a cashier. He was appointed as the Public Relation Manager of Iraqi Airways in 1969 because of his hard-work and dedication.
He also was the Regional Manager for Royal Jordanian Airlines between 1971 to 1974. During this time, he gained experiences in the areas of ticketing, reservation and sales. He had also worked with Indian officers of Middle Eastern Airlines.
He borrowed some money from his mother in 1974 to start-up his own travel agency along with his brother, and named it Jetair. His agency represented sales and marketing of airlines like Air France, Austrian Airlines and Cathy Pacific.

He was appointed as the Regional Manager of Philippe Airline in 1975 and handled the commercial operations of the airline in India. When the Government of India announced the Open Skies Policy in 1991, Naresh initiated an airline company. And in 1992 he transformed his agency into Jet Airways.
Jet Airways started its operations nationwide in 1993. And by 2004, Jet Airways initiated operations of international flights. By 2010 Jet Airways was the largest air carrier in India after he acquired Air Sahara in 2007.
Naresh Goyal- Controversy
A PIL was filed against him in 2000s, alleging him to have links with the underworld don Dawood Ilbrahim. It was said that Jet Airways was funded by Dawood but was given a clean chit by government along with security clearance.
He was also booked for money laundering by Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Foriegn Exchange Management Act (FEMA). For his involvement in suspicious transaction involving 19 privately held firms associated with him in March of this year. Β
Naresh Goyal- News
Jet Airways flights got grounded on April 2017. It's founder's peers and even aviation experts says his ego brought these set of problems to his airline.
The airline was going through rough times after successive quarters of losses in 2018. They were unable to clear salaries for pilots.
In 2019, the airline delayed payments to banks, following which the company sought $840-million bailout from the shareholders. Then, the shareholders approved the conversion of loan into equity.
Finally, the lenders finalized a resolution plan for the airline. And they agreed to infuse Rs 1,500 crore interim funding for a period of 2 months. Naresh Goyal and Anita Goyal stepped down from the board. And now Jet Airways looking for a new investor.

Naresh Goyal- Awards
He has been the recipient of several awards along his life time.
Awards | Year |
---|---|
Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services from Ernst & Young | September 2010 |
Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 | October 2000 |
Outstanding Asian-Indian award | November 2003 |
Aerospace Laurels for outstanding contribution in the field of Commercial Air Transport | April 2000 and February 2004 |
NDTV Profit Business Award 2006 | 28 July 2006 |
Accorded the prestigious TATA AIG β Lifetime Achievement Award | 8 September 2007 |
Travel Entrepreneur of the Year award at the 19th annual TTG (Travel Trade Gazette) Travel Awards | 25 October 2007 |
Man of the Year Award by the Aviation Press Club (APC) | 9 April 2008 |
Business Person of the Year award by UK Trade & Investment at the India Business Awards 2008 | 9 September 2008 |
CNBC TV18 India Business Leader Awards | 22 January 2009 |
International Entrepreneurs of the Year by the readers of Asian Voice | 27 February 2009 |
Lifetime Achievement Award of the Year by the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) | August 2010 |
Hall of Fame honour from Hotel Investment Forum of India 2011 | January 2011 |
Belgium conferred the Commandeur of the Order of Leopold II, one of the country's highest civilian distinctions | November 2011 |
Amity Leadership Award for Business Excellence | October 2012 |
Naresh as a man started really poor and got up the ladder by himself. His first salary was just Rs 300 per month. He went through some really hard struggle and polished himself to be a fine man. He never gave up and thought big. His story inspires us to have ambition and to create our own destiny.

FAQs
Why did Jet Airways fail?
One of the core reasons for Jet Airways failing is the chairman's management style. The company had only one management team, and this was lead by Naresh Goyal himself.
Who take over Jet Airways?
Jet Airways went into bankruptcy in June 2019 after it failed to repay its mounting debt of $1.2 billion. Vistara acquired 16 aircraft from the fleet of temporarily shut Jet Airways.
Who is the new owner of Jet Airways?
Murari Lal Jalan