Kasturbhai Lalbhai
| Kasturbhai Lalbhai | |
|---|---|
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| Born | December 19, 1894 |
| Died | January 20, 1980 (aged 85) |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Website | |
| www.arvindmills.com | |
Kasturbhai Lalbhai (19 December 1894 – 20 January 1980) was an Indian industrialist. He was widely perceived as a nationalist businessman akin to G. D. Birla.
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[edit] Early life
Kasturbhai was born in a Jain family that owned textile mills in Ahmedabad located in current-day Gujarat. His school education took place in Ahmedabad and he matriculated in 1911. In 1912, when he was studying in college, his father died and being the second son, he was asked to discontinue his studies so as to help in the family business. His father Lalbhai had divided property among his brothers only in the recent past; as his and his sons’ share, Lalbhai had received Raipur mills, a new establishment. By the time of Lalbhai's death, the operations of the mill had not yet stabilised; hence, Kasturbhai had to take care of operations closely. He started off as a timekeeper in the mill, but fed up with the repetitive nature of the job, he started working with suppliers of the mill and travelled far and wide to understand the supplier market. The boom in demand during and post-World War I helped him in stabilising the operations of the firm.
[edit] As a nationalist businessman
[edit] Post-independence
In 1952, he started Atul Limited (literally, 'beyond compare') which is located in the Atul township in Gujarat. Atul Limited was India’s first modern dyestuff manufacturer, in collaboration with American Cyanamid. It was inaugurated by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. With time, Kasturbhai started handing over the operations of his businesses to his family. He devoted more time to public activities. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour in 1968 by the Government of India. He retired from business in 1977 and died in 1980 in Ahmedabad.
[edit] Legacy as a businessman
Kasturbhai was known for ethics despite being a stalwart of the cotton mills industry, which was notorious for underhand dealings in those days. In 1948, his business group was named in the list of business houses indulging in black-marketing. R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, the finance minister and a friend of Kasturbhai had to resign for reportedly suggesting that its name be dropped from the list. The Income Tax department followed its allegations with a spate of inquiries and after almost ten years, absolved the group of any wrongdoing. This lent authenticity to the ethical stature of Kasturbhai. At the same time, he was known to be a hard bargainer, especially, in purchase of capital-intensive equipment such as machinery. However, he always ensured that he bought only state-of-the-art machinery in terms of technological advancement. Despite the scale and scope of enterprises he established, the wealth of experience he had amassed over the years and more importantly, the friendly relations he had with the leaders of the Indian government, he remained a regional entrepreneur with all his projects located in Gujarat and most of them within Ahmedabad.
[edit] Legacy as a builder of institutions
One of the most important roles played by Kasturbhai was in promoting institutions that would serve the country and the industry well. As a youth, he had to drop mid-way out of college to help in his family business, and this unfulfilled desire for higher education found expression in his institute building. As a director of the Reserve Bank of India from 1937 to 1949, he ensured that Indian employees were groomed well to run operations in an Independent India. He along with Sheth Shri Amrutlal Hargovindas, Shri Ganesh Mavlankar started the Ahmedabad Education Society in 1936, which later evolved into the Gujarat University. The society also donated land for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA). Kasturbhai, along with Vikram Sarabhai, was the driving force behind IIMA. He was on the board of IIMA but declined to accept the position of its chairman[citation needed]. Today, IIMA sports a Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre and has a Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship. He commissioned world-renowned architects such as Louis Kahn and Charles Correa to design some of these institutes. He promoted ATIRA – The Ahmedabad Textile and Industries’ Research Association before independence, which proved to be effective in increasing the competitiveness of the mills in Ahmedabad. To promote engineering and technology in India he built an engineering college in 1947 just adjacent to Gujarat university on his father's name Lalbhai Dalpatbhai college of engineering. He also established the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology in 1962. Thus, he was not only known as a businessman but also an institute-builder.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Business Legends by Gita Piramal (1998) - Published by Viking Penguin India.
- A brief note on institute building
- A brief bio and Padma Bhushan information
- Official website of IIM Ahmedabad
