Aircel Founder C Sivasankaran said he "lost" his telecom company after "politicians intervened". "I just made a paltry sum of ₹3,400 crore [out of Aircel's sale]. If I would've sold it to AT&T, I would've gotten 8 billion (sic)," Sivasankaran said. He was pressurised to sell the firm to Malaysian entrepreneur Ananda Krishnan, who later lost "4-5 billion", he added.