Gadkari has registered himself as an agriculturist for tax purposes. He also started a fruit export company under the banner of "Ketaki overseas Trading Company". He owns a total of 17 sugar plantations in Vidarbha under the banner of the Purti group. Nitin Gadkari floated the Purti Power and Sugar Ltd (now Purti Group) in 1995, when he started as PWD minister in Maharashtra. In 2012, the companies came into the media glare based on irregularities unearthed by RTI activist Anjali Damania, the Income Tax department investigated a number of firms that had invested in Purti, and found more than a dozen of these to be bogus addresses. Another three investing firms were found co-located with the Somani Group, but no one knew of these firms.