Ramkrishna Dalmia

Ramkrishna Dalmia (7 April 1893 – 26 September 1978) was a pioneer industrialist and founder of the Dalmia-Jain Group. Starting with a bullion business, he built several sugar mills, and went on to acquire Bennett and Coleman, (the Times of India group). The name is also written Ram Kishan Dalmia.

At the time of India's independence, he was among the wealthiest and most powerful men in India, with good contacts with most political leaders. At one point his name was being considered for India's finance minister. However, in December 1956 the firebrand socialist Feroze Gandhi exposed in parliament how Dalmia, as chairman of a publicly traded bank and an insurance company, had illegally transferred nearly a crore rupees to his mill in order to fund the Bennett and Coleman acquisition. In 1956 he was sentenced to two years in jail.

Life

Born in relative poverty in the small village of Chirawa in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, the Dalmia family shifted to Calcutta at an early age. His father died when he was only 18 years old, leaving behind no property. Ramkrishna had to support his mother, grandmother, wife and his younger brother Jaidayal Dalmia.

His maternal uncle, Motilal Jhunjhunwala, gave him a job in his bullion business, which enabled him to earn just enough to support his whole family. At one point, he started speculating on silver and following the advice of an astrologer, at one point he quickly made one lakh rupees. This was the beginning of what would soon become India’s third-largest business empire.

Beginning with a sugar factory in what is now known as Dalmianagar in the state of Bihar, Dalmia went on to set up many industries with the assistance of his younger brother, the late Jaidayal Dalmia and his son-in-law, the late Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.

In the years leading up to Indian independence, Dalmia supported both Gandhi and Jinnah. Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience movement, started in 1930 with the salt satyagraha, was, in fact, financed almost entirely by him, a fact to which national leaders like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Shri Syed Hasan Imam alluded in the future.

Shortly before independence, the Dalmia empire was divided between himself, Jaidayal Dalmia, and son-in-law Shanti Prasad Jain, who had once been a tutor to his daughter Ruma. Later, when he was facing imprisonment and needed to repay 2.5 crores, he sold Bennett and Coleman to Shanti Prasad Jain to recover his monies.

Dalmia had contacts with persons in all walks of life. Among national leaders, he had direct contact with Gandhi, Jamuna Lal Bajaj, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Jinnah. He set up cement factories in the kingdoms of Jind and Jaipur at the invitation of their ruling princes. However, he did not get along well with Nehru, who had once said of him: "He’s an ugly man with an ugly face and an ugly mind and an ugly heart. Just because he owns a few newspapers, he claims to be an expert on foreign affairs.".

Dalmia was also a philanthropist and presided over a number of religious, educational and social conferences. He formed the Anti Cow-Slaughter League. He began a worldwide campaign promoting the idea of “One-World Government”.

Bennett and Coleman and Tihar Jail

In 1947, Dalmia engineered the acquisition of Bennett and Coleman by transferring moneys from a bank and an insurance company, of which he was the chairman. The Gwalior bank was to go bankrupt within a year. The auditors did not approve of these transactions and noted this in their report. In 1955, this came to the attention of the socialist parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi who, was part of the ruling Congress party headed by his estranged father in law Jawaharlal Nehru. In December 1955, he raised the matter in parliament, documenting extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries through which the acquisition had been financed. The case was investigated by the Vivian Bose Commission of Inquiry, and he was held liable for repaying Bharat Insurance nearly 2.5 crore Rupees.

He did not have this fund, and in the end he mortgaged Bennett and Coleman to his son-in-law to secure the money.

In the following court case, despite hiring the British attorney Sir Dinglefoot, he was sentenced to two years in jail. However, most of the jail term he was in hospital. Recent Supreme court records allege that he "was known for his generosity to jail authorities, and one doctor received a car as a gift.

Family life: Six wives

Dalmia married six times, with five wives simultaneously in different households. His first two wives were village women, but his four later wives were all well-educated. In addition to his wives, he also had a number of other liaisons.

Dalmia had eighteen children.

Dalmia died on the 26th of September 1978 at the age of 85 after a prolonged illness.