The business empire of Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways [Get Quote], includes 18 smaller companies -- 14 of them registered in India and four abroad.

These are in addition to Tail Winds Ltd, a company incorporated in the Isle of Man and wholly owned by Goyal.

Tail Winds owns more than 99.99 per cent of Jet Airways, which has now filed a Red Herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offer of 20 per cent of its fully diluted paid-up equity.

The 14 companies registered in India are listed as promoter group companies in the prospectus and are engaged in a wide range of activities.

Four of them are general sales agents for different airlines including Jet Airways, two are investment companies, two are in trading, two in transport and logistics business, one in real estate, one in courier business, one undertakes tours and one is yet to commence any commercial activity.

All these companies are inter-connected through a complex web of shareholding, the net result of which is that Goyal owns all of them directly or indirectly.

For instance, the shares of Jetair Pvt Ltd, which is a GSA for 15 international airlines in India, and Jet Airways, are held by Goyal, his family members and three other promoter group companies - International Cargo Carriers, France Air and Jet Enterprises, whose shares in turn are held by other promoter group companies, Goyal and his family members.

Jetair was incorporated way back in 1974 and its total income in the financial year ended March 2004 was Rs 113 crore{Rs 1.13 billion (Rs 98 crore in the previous year)}, while its net profit was down to Rs 3.3 crore (Rs 33 million), compared with Rs 3.8 crore (Rs 38 million) in 2002-03. The bulk of its commission income came from Jet Airways --about Rs 85 crore (Rs 850 million) in 2003-04.

Similarly, International Cargo Carriers is a GSA for Kuwait Airways for its cargo services from Mumbai, France Air is a GSA for Air France for passenger services and National Travel Services is a GSA for American Airlines and Kuwait Airways for passenger services.

The combined annual income of these 14 companies for 2003-04 was estimated at a little less than Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) and their net profit at around Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million).

Their income in the previous year was estimated at around the same level, while the net profit was about Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million).

The four promoter group companies registered outside India are Jet Airways LLC, Jet Airways of India Inc, India Jet Airways and Jetair Worldwide AG.

Jet Airways LLC is incorporated in Dubai, UAE, and provides GSA services to Jet Airways. Jet Airways of India and India Jet Airways are wholly owned subsidiaries -- registered in California, US, and South Africa, respectively.

Jetair Worldwide is incorporated in Switzerland is engaged in providing tourism-related services.

The prospectus also reveals, for the first time, that Tail Winds has a total issued and paid-up capital of $20 million and its principal business is investment in Jet Airways. In the financial year ended 2004, Tail Winds incurred a loss of $984,420 (Rs 4.5 crore) on a total income of $1,340 (Rs 61,610).