Ghanshyam Das Birla (1894 – 1983)
Inheriting his family’s money-lending business, Birla diversified into manufacturing. He moved to Calcutta to establish a textiles business, much to the displeasure of European and British merchants in the area, who did their best to shut Birla’s business down. Birla had to overcome not only resistance from established players but also the biased policies of the British government which discriminated against Bengali traders.
In the 1940s, Birla purchased Hindustan Motors and continued to diversify his business, investing in tea, cement, chemicals, and rayon. He was also the first Indian to found a commercial bank, the United Commercial Bank Limited. Now Aditya Birla group operates in more than 33 countries, employs over 133,000 people and has annual revenues of over $35 billion.
Birla also founded the Birla Engineering College - now the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, which is now one of the nation’s best engineering schools.
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