Abhishek Verma was born on February 23, 1968 into a family that has served Indian politics for more than 50 years. Abhishek’s father, the late Sh. Shrikant Verma, was inducted as a Member of the Indian Parliament of the Indian National Congress by Smt Indira Gandhi in the year 1976 and was among the country’s leading journalists before his association with Indian politics. Later, in the early 1980s, when Smt Indira Gandhi returned as India’s Prime Minister, she recognized Sarikant Verma’s impressive communication skills and was appointed as the official spokesperson for the Indian National Congress, shortly after which she became the General Secretary of the congress party.
His job was tough but immensely challenging, as it involved conducting daily briefings for journalists, brainstorming party policies, and generally helping the party evolve. In addition, he found time to write several books, novels, many of which have been translated into foreign languages. The elderly Verma herself died in New York’s Sloane Kettering Hospital in May 1986, battling cancer. Shrikant Verma’s adoptive mother, Minimata, was a member of parliament for an impressive 24 years, beginning in 1950, until a plane crash ended her life. Abhishek Verma’s mother and Shrikant Verma’s wife, Veena Verma, served 14 years in Parliament as a member of the Congress Party.
Abhishek continued his education at the Hindu College of the University of Delhi and Georgetown University in Washington DC. After his education, he became editor and publisher of India Worldwide, a US-based monthly magazine co-published by the Indian National Congress abroad in 1989. President Kamal Dandona, enabled him to forge close ties with Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, who was ending his five year term as Prime Minister.
After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi when PV Narasimha Rao was appointed Prime Minister of India, Abhishek seized on business opportunities that arose largely from the Indian government’s extensive liberalization measures, which helped his fledgling company ESAM India Limited thrive. . ESAM launched a cargo airline and recently succeeded in acquiring several former Soviet Union cargo planes operating in the Indo-Russia and Indo-Gulf sectors.
With the success of the airline business, ESAM expanded its wings in financial engineering, trade and countertrade with Russia with a wide portfolio of products and services, all of which contributed to an annual turnover of US$400 million, between 1994 and 1999. In the year 1997, Abhishek graced the cover of India Today.
Over the past few years, the global political scene has shifted tectonically, resulting in exponential growth in Indian and Asian fixed and mobile telephony, and the accelerating global convergence between telephony, internet, and television, as well as increasing spending budgets. defense of the Indian Armed Forces. more than 40 billion dollars.
Abhishek’s strategic focus on the defense and telecommunications business gave rise to the Atlas Group of Companies, which is engaged in contracting for the global defense and telecommunications powerhouse. The group offers services in more than 70 countries with a turnover of more than 1.5 billion US dollars. Abhishek is the Chairman of Atlas Defense Systems Ltd and Atlas Interactive India Private Limited and a Group Director of the Atlas Group of Companies
Having been born into a political family with a legacy spanning 6 decades, politics runs in Abhishek’s blood. He grew up in a family with an environment where the presidents, prime ministers and other important leaders of not only India but other countries always surrounded him. At the age of 18, in 1986, Abhishek was appointed Secretary General of the Indian Youth Congress in charge of Chattisgarh state in India. Abhishek was also nominated to contest the Lok Sabha (parliamentary) elections in 1996, however, he withdrew from the contest due to personal reasons, as he was going through a messy divorce. Abhishek campaigned for several parliamentary elections and Congress Party candidates and offered helicopters and planes from his fleet to national leaders to tour the country extensively on election campaigns. He has advised various Congress party leaders on foreign policy and trade issues, as well as defense and strategic matters.
Abhishek is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Verma Foundation, which supports visionary leaders and organizations working on the front lines of social change around the world. The foundation was created with donations and bequests from the late Shrikant Verma and his son, philanthropist Abhishek Verma. The foundation is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization with its own board of directors and is completely separate from the other commercial organizations in the Verma family. Foundation trustees set policy and delegate authority to senior staff for grantmaking and foundation operations. Program officers in India, Asia and Eastern Europe explore opportunities to achieve the foundation’s goals, formulate strategies and recommend funding proposals.
The Verma Foundation was established in 1986, with an initial gift of $10 million from Abhishek Verma. During its early years, the foundation operated in New Delhi under the leadership of members of the Verma family. Since the founding charter stated that the resources were to be used “for scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public good,” the foundation made grants to many types of organizations. Business success enabled Abhishek to undertake civic initiatives in Bilaspur, a city in central India where his family hails from.
He installed more than 150 electric wells to supply the underprivileged community with abundant drinking water, established medical clinics, started lunch schemes for school-age children and, through celebrity charity events, raised funds for cancer treatment teams for the local hospitals and donated funds to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and for earthquake victims and burn victims in India through the Verma Foundation. Verma Foundation, in association with Nehru Bal Samiti, a charity to help underprivileged children, runs 6 schools in Delhi with 4,000 students. Sonia Gandhi, Chairman of the Indian Congress Party, has been the Patron of this organization for several years. The Verma Foundation, headed by Abhishek Verma, remains committed to advancing human well-being and is based in New York.
In 2006, former Indian Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani accused Abhishek of acting as an agent for Thales Defense France and receiving $175 million in bribes for the sale of 6 Scorpene submarines purchased by the Indian Navy for $5,000. millions of dollars. After lengthy investigations spanning 2 years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) proved him innocent of the Delhi High Court allegations in 2008.