Business and Economy

Business & Economy

India's top business gurus, industrialists and economists… you will find them all in this section.

1.Dhirubhai Ambani :

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on 28 December 1932, at Chorwad, Junagadh in Gujarat, When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden,Yemen. Initially, Dhirubhai worked as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Married to Kokilaben. Dhirubhai also worked in Dubai for sometime. He returned to India and founded the Reliance Commercial Corporation with an initial capital of Rs 15000. Dhirubhai set up the business in partnership with Champaklal Damani from whom he parted ways in 1965. Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad in 1966 and started the brand "Vimal". Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with having started the equity cult in India. With the passage of time, Dhirubhai diversified into petrochemicals and sectors like telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. Dhirubhai courted controversy all throughout his life. Many a times, he has been accused of unethical business practices and has been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own needs. He was involved in an open spat with Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing. The end to this tussle came only after Dhirubhai Ambani suffered a stroke. While Dhirubhai Ambani was recovering in San Diego, his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani managed the affairs. The Indian Express had turned the guns against Reliance and was directly blaming the government for not doing enough to penalize Reliance Industries. The battle between Wadia - Goenka and the Ambanis took a new direction and became a national crisis. Gurumurthy and another journalist, Mulgaokar consorted with President Giani Zail Singh and ghost-wrote a hostile letter to the Prime Minister on his behalf. The Indian Express published a draft of the President's letter as a scoop, not realizing that Zail Singh had made changes to the letter before sending it to Rajiv Gandhi. Ambani had won the battle at this point. Now, while the tussle was directly between the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Ramnath Goenka, Ambani made a quiet exit. The government then raided the Express guest house in Delhi's Sunder Nagar and found the original draft with corrections in Mulgaokar's handwriting. By 1988-89, Rajiv's government retaliated with a series of prosecutions against the Indian Express. Even then, Goenka retained his iconic stature because, to many people, he seemed to be replaying his heroic defiance during the Emergency regime. Dhirubhai Ambani won many words and accolades during his life. In November 2000, he was conferred the 'Man of the Century' award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World for his contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India. In June 1998, he was awarded the Dean's Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani was also named the "Man of 20th Century" by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Dhirubhai Ambani suffered a "brain stroke: on June 24, 2002 and was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. He had suffered another stroke in February 1986 which had paralyzed his right hand. He passed away on July 6, 2002. On Dhirubhai Ambani's first death anniversary, the Union Government released a postage stamp in his memory.

2.B.M. Munjal:
Brij Mohan Lall Munjal, founder of the world-famous Hero Group was born in 1924, at Kamalia in Pakistan. In 1944, at the age of 20, he went to Amritsar along with his brothers to earn a living. His two elder brothers Dayanand and Satyanand and younger brother Om Prakash were struggling to establish their business. Their journey began as the motor component supplier to the local market. In 1947, at the time of partition, like many others, they were forced to shift to Ludhiana which during those times was already a vital center for Indian motor cycle business. soon they started expanding their business within the country as a motor-parts distributor. From 1952 onwards, the Munjal brothers decided to be a full-time manufacturers, moving over from being mere distributors. Henceforth, they started making motor-parts like, handlebars, front forks, and chains of their own and founded the Hero Group. In 1984 Japan's largest Motorcycle manufacturers Honda, teamed up with the Hero Group. B.M.Munjal, the Chairman of Hero Group is a first generation entrepreneur who started with nothing, and today his company is a leading name in the automobile industry. He won the Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the year award in 2001.

3.Bhai Mohan Singh:
Bhai Mohan Singh was born at Rawalpindi on the 30th of December in the year 1917. His father Bhai Gyan Chand was a Hindu whereas his mother Sunder Dai was a Sikh. Bhai Mohan Singh began his business career during the Second World War with a construction business. After the partition of India and Pakistan he settled down in New Delhi. While in Delhi he started business as a moneylender. His cousins, Ranjit Singh and Gurbax Singh started Ranbaxy. Then Ranbaxy worked as the distributor for a Japanese pharmaceutical company, A. Shionogi, manufacturing vitamins and anti-TB drugs. When Ranbaxy failed to pay a loan, Bhai Mohan Singh bought the company for Rs. 2.5 lakh. He bought the company on 1st of August, 1952. He joined hands with Italian pharma company Lapetit Spa and later on bought this company too. In the late 1960's with the launch of his super brand, Calmpose he made his mark in the pharmaceutical industry. In early 1970s when Indian adopted a system of process patents, Bhai Mohan Singh quickly realized the possibility of manufacturing any product in the world through reverse engineering. Thus, he established an R&D facility at Mohali. By the year 1973, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd became a recognized brand of India. The same year, his eldest son Parviner Singh joined the company. In 1982, he became the Managing Director of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Bhai Mohan Singh had another son Analjeet Singh. He along with Analjeet laid the foundation of a new company Max.

Bhai Mohan Singh was the ex- vice president of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). For his contribution in civic matters he was awarded the Padma Shri. For his contribution to the industrial development of Punjab, the Punjab Goverment named an Industrial Township near Ropar after him. Padma Shri Bhai Mohan Singh died on March 27, 2006.

4.Ghanshyam Das Birla:
One of the icons of Indian industry, Ghanshyam Das Birla is remembered as the man who laid the foundation of the Birla Empire. He was a very close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and used to advise him on economic matters. The founder of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), G.D. Birla was born on April 10, 1894 in Pilani. He entered the world of business during the First World War. He established the Keshoram Cotton mills and then shifted his base to Calcutta or present-day Kolkata, where he established the Birla Jute Mills. This was not liked by the European merchants who tried out all means, fair as well as foul to have his business shut, but a resolute G.D. Birla stood his ground. His business boomed during World War I, when there was a great demand for his products. He then went ahead to establish the Birla Brothers Limited in 1919. In the post-independence period, Birla diversified into tea, textiles, cement, chemicals, rayon, steel tubes and other areas. Along with his business activities, G.D. Birla is remembered for founding several educational institutions including the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS), Pilani, which ranks in the forefront of engineering institutions in the country. He was also instrumental in founding many temples, planetariums, and hospitals. He was awarded the Padma Vibhusan by the Government of India in 1957. The G.D. Birla award for scientific research has been established in his honour to encourage and reward scientists for their contribution to scientific research. This modern-day legend of India passed away on January 11, 1983

5.J.R.D. TATA:
One of the pioneering industrialists of India, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy(J.R.D Tata ) was born in Paris on July 29, 1904. He became the chairman of the Tata Group in 1938. He saw the assets of the Tata Group climbing from Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) in 1939 to over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in 1990. Under him, the Tata Group diversified into a large number of sectors from airlines to hotels, trucks to locomotives, soda ash, heavy chemicals to pharmaceuticals, financial services, tea, air-conditioning etc. He was not only an industrialist, but was a pioneering aviator too and brought commercial aviation to India, besides being a patron of the arts and philanthropist.

He formed the Tata Administrative Service and the Tata Management Training Centre , the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and was the longest serving member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He passed away in Geneva on November 29, 1993.

6. Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw:
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has entered the elite ranks of the Indian business world as India's richest woman. Born on 23 March, 1953, she is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. She did her schooling from Bangalore and graduated in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, after which she moved on to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia. She became India's first woman Brew Master and started off as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974, following which she worked in various positions in Kolkata and Vadodara. She collaborated with Biocon Biochemicals Limited, Ireland, to found Biocon India in 1978. Initially, she faced many problems, but she was not the one to give up. Her firm has grown to be the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India today. Though her business interests keep her occupied, she has found time to write a book titled 'Ale and Arty'. She tied the knot with John Shaw, in 1998, who was working as the managing director of Madura Coats. After their marriage, John Shaw quit Madura Coat and joined Biocon. A very active social activist, she has been involved in various projects like the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF). She was awarded the MV Memorial Award, given in honour of the great engineer and visionary Sir M Vishwesharaiah. Apart from this, she was awarded the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award in 2006, the Padma Bhushan in 2005, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Chamber of Commerce in 2005, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Healthcare & Life Sciences Category in 2002 besides the Padma Shri in 1989. Dr. Kiran Majumdar-Shaw has held several honorary and advisory positions. Among them, she was the Chairperson and Mission Leader of the Confederation of Indian Industry's National Task Force on Biotechnology, a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry in India, Member, Board of Science Foundation, Ireland , Member, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore and many others. In doing so, she has set an example for other Indian women to follow.

7. Rahul Bajaj :
Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Bajaj group, which has been named amongst India's top ten business groups. He is one of India's renowned industrialists and is internationally respected for his business expertise and entrepreneurial character. Rahul Bajaj comes from the family of Jaman Lal Bajaj. Rahul is the grandson of Jaman Lal Bajaj, who founded the Bajaj Group. Shishir Bajaj is the brother of Rahul Bajaj. Rahul Bajaj has two sons, Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv Bajaj, and daughter Sunaina Kejriwal. His sons Rajiv and Sanjiv Bajaj manage his companies. Rahul Bajaj completed his schooling from Cathedral, a school in Bombay. Then he further pursed his studies from St Stephen's College, Delhi and Harvard University, USA. He took over control of the Bajaj Group in 1965 and successfully established one of India's best companies. He established factories at Akurdi and Waluj. In 1980s Bajaj Auto was India's topmost scooter making company. After ten years of Bajaj Auto's success Chetak was launched. Bajaj Auto had to face many challenges with the liberalization of the Indian economy. The slump in the sale of scooters and the downfall of the stock market of 2001 hit the company hard. It was forecast by some business analysts that Bajaj industries would have to shut down soon. But without losing hope Rahul Bajaj with his business expertise re-established the battered company. He established another factory in Chakan, invested in R&D and came up with Bajaj Pulsar Motorcycle. Bajaj Pulsar is presently a leader in its sector.