Ajay Patel, 61, known for his proximity to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has taken over as the President of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), an apex body of smaller industrialists, businessmen and traders in Gujarat. The GCCI is the seventh organisation that will be headed by Patel, who is one of the three people to have filed defamation suits against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat — in his case, for allegedly defaming Shah by accusing him of money laundering during the 2016 demonetisation.
He took over as the GCCI chief last week in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Zydus Life Sciences president and IIM-A chairman Pankaj Patel, and Brahmvihari Swami of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS).
A civil engineer by profession, Patel was already a senior vice-president at the GCCI. “This year, he automatically becomes the president as senior vice-president is the last post in the GCCI for which elections are held. With Ajay Patel’s influence and connections in political and business circles, we feel the voice of the GCCI will be heard better,” said a senior office-bearer of the industry body that also has Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), a sector that the Centre and states have their focus on.
Known for his strong networking skills, Ajay Patel was last month unanimously selected as Chairman of New-Delhi based Co-operative Bank of India (COBI), an apex body of multi-state urban co-operative banks, national co-operative federations and land development banks.
Patel’s association with the co-operative sector in Gujarat has been closely linked with that of Amit Shah. After Shah in early 2002 stepped down as Chairman of Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank (ADC Bank Ltd) — which attends to the banking needs of farmers in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Botad districts — his successor Ajay Patel continued to occupy the post for over 20 years.
Quoting an RTI reply, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had, in 2018, alleged that the ADC Bank had exchanged demonetised currency worth Rs 748.58 crore within just five days of demonetisation. Surjewala had demanded a probe into these deposits and alleged that the RTI reply had “exposed an attempt to convert black money into white money in the guise of demonetisation”. The following day, NABARD clarified that the average deposit amount in ADC Bank was Rs 46,795 per account holder, which was “lower than the average deposit in 18 district co-operative banks across Gujarat”. Shah was then a director at ADC Bank.
In August 2018, Patel filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi, following a tweet on June 22, 2018, in which Gandhi had written, “Congratulations Amit Shah ji, Director of Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank, on your bank winning first prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. Rs 750 crore in five days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by demonetisation salute your achievement! #ShahZyadaKhaGaya”.
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Patel’s first appointment as managing director was in 1996, at the Ahmedabad-based United Cooperative Bank. At the time, the bank had a deposit of Rs 3 crore and an equal amount of accumulated losses. He is no more directly associated with this bank.
By February 2009, he had taken over as Chairman of Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd (GSC Bank Ltd) that serves credit and financial needs of over 28 lakh farmers in Gujarat through 18 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), which includes ADC Bank. It is under him that the DCCBs implemented ‘core banking solutions’ that allows banks to offer centralised services from any of their bank branches. He continues to head the Gujarat State Co-operative Bank.
In 2010, Ajay Patel and another ADC Bank office bearer, Yashpal Chudasama, were accused by the CBI of destroying evidence in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case, in which the CBI had named Amit Shah as the prime accused. Later, all main accused, including Shah, Patel and Chudasama, were discharged in the case.
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Patel, who served as a swimming coach at the Rajpath Club in Ahmedabad at the age of 18, before he completed his Civil Engineering from LD Engineering College in Ahmedabad, has also headed the Gujarat State Chess Association since 2008. Currently, he is its President Emeritus. He has been vice-president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for over 17 years since 2006. He is also the chairman of Ahmedabad-based infrastructure firm, Devraj Infrastructure Ltd, and the chairman of Indian Red Cross Society, Gujarat state branch.
While the son heads banks and industry bodies, his father Haribhai Patel — who once owned a shop selling electrical goods and used to rent out rickshaws — heads a number of sport bodies. He is the current vice-president of the executive council of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which is headed by former athlete P T Usha.