He moved to Dubai in 1973, to run Jumbo Electronics, a sales agency owned by his family trading in the same products as in Mumbai.
Chhabria leveraged this money and his contacts through the Sindhi community to which he belonged, to make some spectacular takeovers of undervalued or ailing but fundamentally sound corporates in India.
They were targeted by him for takeover based on market undervaluation and weaknesses in the share-holding pattern, and it was speculated in the press at that time that his intention was not to run any of the companies but to strip them of their assets and then abandon them.
Recognizing the fundamental deficiency in his own profile, Chhabria spent a few weeks attending a short-term course at Harvard Business School, but no miracle emerged from this initiative either.
His takeover tactics had left him with numerous powerful enemies in industry and a trust deficit in government and the money markets.
This takeover also spawned litigation between Chhabria and his brother Kishore whom he had sent back to India to run the business and who it was alleged had many of the Shaw Wallace brands transferred to his own interests.
In less than a decade after the heady days of 1984, Chhabria found that not one of his acquisitions was doing well; all were embroiled in serious litigation; and his name and credit were reviled universally.
At Mather & Platt, the workers' union petitioned the Company Law Board (CLB) to remove Chhabria from the driving seat and this was done.