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Vipin Kumar Khanna (14 December 1930 – 7 November 2019) was an Indian businessman, financier and army officer. Khanna had diverse business interests. He founded Dynamic Sales Service International, a Commodity market and marketing company, which further expanded into Rail transport, oil, infrastructure and additional industries. Khanna also had other business interests, which included interests in the Arms industry, aerospace, software, investment banking, hospitality, and Alcohol industry industries. He was a Indian diaspora based in London, England, and also had a base in Delhi, India.
Khanna was born in Lahore, Punjab Province. During the partition of India in 1947, Khanna and his family fled Lahore, and migrated to Delhi. He was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1950, and eventually reached the rank of Major, before voluntarily retiring from the army in 1965. After his retirement from the army, Khanna began his business career.
Khanna had a controversial business career. His name was frequently associated with numerous controversies, including allegations of arms lobbying, links to Offshore company, and involvement in bribery scandals; however, investigations into these matters found no evidence of wrongdoing, and the allegations were subsequently dropped. Khanna was allegedly one of the largest and most powerful arms dealers in India since the 1980s; however, the allegations against him were never proven. Despite the lack of evidence, Khanna faced persistent allegations of arms dealing, links to foreign defence companies, and involvement in various arms deals throughout his business career. According to statements and claims by the Government of India and Indian investigative agencies, Khanna was reported to be a powerful and influential person both in India and globally. Khanna died on 7 November 2019, in New Delhi.
During his time in the UNEF, Khanna was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General E. L. M. Burns, who was the first Force Commander of the UNEF. While serving with the United Nations (UN), he traveled extensively to foreign countries. During his travels, Khanna established connections with various individuals, which later contributed to the development of his international network in his business career.
When he returned to India, Khanna became an instructor at the College of Combat, Mhow, which is now known as the Army War College, Mhow, for three years. Khanna eventually rose to the rank of Major; however, he voluntarily retired from the Indian Army in 1965. His retirement came into effect on 17 July 1965. Khanna stated that his reasons for seeking premature retirement were that he saw no future prospects for himself within the army and that he had domestic concerns.
The parliamentary inquiry arose from concerns that Khanna and Vinod leveraged their political influence, connections within the State Trading Corporation of India, and provided inaccurate information to parliamentary officials to benefit Amarjyothi and its foreign partners. However, in 1969, the Committee of Privileges found insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations of misconduct or improper influence against both brothers, and concluded that Amarjyothi's business dealings were conducted legally and did not breach any regulations or ethical standards.
DSSI's commodities business expanded to include commodities from the and mining, agriculture, steel, coal, , and Petroleum and Natural gas industries. The company facilitated the import of commodities from foreign multinational companies, which included Cargill, Nova Chemicals and Mobil, before its merger with Exxon. These imports were primarily for PSUs and Indian government , among which were Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, MMTC Ltd and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative. DSSI facilitated both the import and export of commodities for companies which included BHP, Louis Dreyfus Company, Tate & Lyle, Phillips Petroleum, National Aluminium Company and Steel Authority of India.
DSSI, through its engineering support division, facilitated imports from several foreign companies, including STC, Loral Corporation, Harris Corporation, and General Electric. The company's engineering support division supplied products from foreign companies to Indian Railways and the Airports Authority of India. DSSI's engineering support division collaborated with HMT Limited to establish Indian Railways' first Train wheel and axle factory, developed the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation's first subsea production system in collaboration with Engineers India, and set up Power station for National Fertilizer's Bathinda and Panipat facilities as well. The company also entered the shipbroking industry.
By 2002, DSSI was a diversified business group, and the company's annual sales exceeded $800 million. DSSI also had offices in London and Singapore, and Khanna's youngest child, Aditya Khanna, led DSSI's international businesses, which included entering into the oil field exploration and upstream oil production industry in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
In 2009, Khanna entered the software industry through his company V4 Security Service, which was based in Delhi. V4 Security Service sold and marketed cybersecurity, Surveillance, digital forensics and systems integration products from both international and Indian technology companies. The company's clients included the Indian intelligence agencies and Indian Police Service organisations. In 2013, V4 Security Service partnered with Falck, a Denmark emergency services company and private ambulance operator, to provide professional ambulance, roadside assistance, disaster management, travel and safety services.
During his business career, Khanna developed various international connections. In 1985, during a visit to India, United States Senator Richard Lugar met with Khanna to examine US foreign policy in India and South Asia. From 1996 to 2005, he served as the Honorary Consul of the Luxembourg in New Delhi. During his tenure as Honorary Consul, Khanna supported the idea that India would benefit if Luxembourg established banks in the country. In 2006, amid an investigation into Khanna's alleged business dealings, the Indian Government asserted that he was powerful enough to influence global investigative agencies.
Khanna was allegedly an influential figure in the Indian defence industry and reportedly, played an instrumental role in the approval of defence deals. Allegations against Khanna suggested that he could influence deals in the defence procurement process by leveraging his network within the Indian bureaucracy and allegedly paying large bribes to politicians, military officials, and bureaucrats involved in the process. Khanna was allegedly linked to various foreign defence companies and was allegedly involved in various arms deals in India. However, the allegations levelled against him were never proven, and the investigations and cases against Khanna were dropped.
In 2001, Khanna's name appeared in Operation West End, a sting operation that was organised and carried out by Tehelka, an Indian news magazine. During the sting operation, Tehelka met Lieutenant Colonel V.K. Berry, a retired Indian Army officer, and had discussions with him about middlemen in the Indian defence industry. Berry claimed that Khanna was allegedly the arms agent for several defence companies, among which were Elbit Systems, Elisra, Tadiran Communications and Symtech. Berry also claimed that he had worked for Khanna for 3 years and had met these companies during that time. Berry made a further claim that Khanna facilitated a deal in which Tadiran Communications supplied communications equipment to the Cabinet Secretariat and that Khanna received a 12% commission for facilitating the deal. However, Berry later stated that what he had said regarding the communications equipment deal was untrue, and Khanna, under oath, denied that Berry had ever worked for him.
In 2024, it was reported that in 2005, Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace manufacturer, had an agreement with a UK-based company stipulating that Khanna would receive a 9% commission on the total value of defence contracts secured from the Indian Air Force (IAF).
In 2005, Khanna was accused of allegedly facilitating the arms deal that involved the sale of 1,200 anti-materiel rifles from Denel, a aerospace and defence company, to the Indian Army in 2003. The CBI and the ED claimed that Khanna allegedly used Varas Associates, an offshore company with offices in the Isle of Man and , Switzerland, to receive a commission of 12.75% for securing the order for Denel. The CBI also claimed that Khanna allegedly influenced the Price Negotiation Committee of the Ministry of Defence. The CBI and ED eventually dropped the case against Khanna due to lack of evidence.
In 2007, Khanna was accused by the CBI of involvement in the Barak Missile scandal, which stemmed from a 2000 contract in which the Indian Navy agreed to purchase seven Barak anti-missile defence systems and 200 Barak missiles from Israeli defence company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). During the investigations, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Khanna in 2007 for allegedly receiving vast kickbacks for securing the contract for Israel, and the CBI also confiscated his passport. The CBI stated that Khanna was a very influential and highly connected person, who was powerful in both India and internationally. The CBI further claimed that due to these reasons, releasing Khanna's passport would adversely impact the investigation into him. It was also alleged by the CBI that Khanna had routed his payments from the deal through his various businesses and companies based in Mauritius. The case against Khanna was eventually dropped due to lack of evidence.
In 2016, the CBI launched a probe into the purchase of three airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft from Embraer. Khanna was accused of swinging the aircraft deal, which was signed in 2008, in favour of Embraer by influencing the IAF and the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO). The first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI mentioned that Khanna used an offshore company named Interdev Aviation Services Pte Ltd, located in Singapore, to channel payments from Embraer into India to use for kickbacks. Allegedly, the payments were also routed through Austria and Switzerland. In 2023, the CBI dropped the legal proceedings against Khanna due to his death in 2019.
Khanna and Naginder had four children: Vinita, Navin, Arvind Khanna and Aditya. His daughter, Vinita, married Randhir Singh, a sports administrator who was also a member of the International Olympic Committee. Navin is a businessman and investor who has had interests in commodities trading and was also a polo player. Arvind is a politician, businessman, investor and philanthropist, noted for his business interests in the arms and aerospace industries. Aditya is a businessman and financier, who has had interests in various industries, including private equity, venture capital, mining, real estate, technology, logistics, and hospitality, in India and other countries. His brother, Vinod, was a businessman with international and Indian interests in mining, commodities trading, real estate, agriculture, hospitality, infrastructure, and power, and he served as the Honorary Consul for Uruguay in India.
Naginder, born in 1937, was the paternal aunt of Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab. One of her sisters, Amrit Kumari Khanna, was married to Khanna's brother, Ravi, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army's Brigade of the Guards regiment. Through one of her other sisters, Kumudesh Bhandari, she was the sister-in-law of Romesh Bhandari, former Foreign Secretary of India, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, and former Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Through another of her sisters, Kailash Kumari Devi, Naginder was the sister-in-law of Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo, former Chief Minister of Odisha. Naginder died in 2012, at the age of 75, in New Delhi.
Khanna was a Indian diaspora who was based in London and he also had a base in New Delhi. Khanna had set up several inheritance trusts in the British Virgin Islands. His Rakhi sister (a Fictive kinship relationship established through the Hinduism Raksha Bandhan annual rite) was Kamlesh Kumar, a former Indian Foreign Service officer and the wife of former Defence Secretary Ajit Kumar. Khanna died on 7 November 2019, at the age of 88, in New Delhi.
Khanna’s his alleged business activities in the Indian defence industry continued to be reported on and scrutinized even after his death in 2019. His son, Arvind, has also been the subject of reports regarding his defence businesses and alleged activities of being a key figure in the Indian defence industry. Khanna’s grandsons and Arvind’s sons, Adhiraj Khanna and Suryaveer Khanna, have joint business interests in the defence industry through various companies and joint ventures with international defence companies.
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