Ghanshyam Das Birla | |
|---|---|
 Birla in September 1980 | |
| Born | 2 April 1894 |
| Died | 11 June 1983(1983-06-11) (aged 89) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Spouses |
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| Children | Lakshmi Nivas Birla Krishna Kumar Birla Basant Kumar Birla |
| Father | Baldeo Das Birla |
| Relatives | seeBirla family |
Ghanshyam Das Birla (10 April 1894 – 11 June 1983) was an Indian businessman and member of theBirla Family.
Ghanshyam Das Birla was born on 10 April 1894 atPilani town in Jhunjhunu district, in the region known asRajputana, as a member of theMarwariRajasthani community.[1] His father wasRaja Baldevdas Birla. In 1884, Baldeo Das Birla went toBombay in search of new avenues of trade. He established his firm Shiv Narian Baldeo Das in Bombay in 1884 and Baldeo Das Jugal Kishore in 1897 inCalcutta. The firms started business in silver, cotton, grain and other commodities. He was succeeded by 4 sons, Jugal Kishore, Rameshwar Das, Ghanshyam Das and Braj Mohan. Ghanshyam Das was the most successful of the four brothers.
G. D. Birla inherited thefamily business and moved to further diversify them into other areas. Of these, at least three contemporary family business groups existing in India today can trace their ancestry to him. Of these businesses, he wanted to turn the moneylending business into manufacturing. So he left forCalcutta inBengal Presidency, the world's largestjute producing region. There, he began "[i]ndependently as a jute broker".[2] In 1918, he established Birla Jute Mills, much to the consternation of established European merchants, whom the biased policies of the British government favoured other than the localBengali merchants. He had to scale a number of obstacles as the British and Scottish merchants tried to shut his business by unethical and monopolistic methods,[citation needed] but he was able to persevere. WhenWorld War I resulted in supply problems throughout the British Empire, Birla's business skyrocketed.
With an investment of₹5 million[citation needed] in 1919, the Birla Brothers Limited was formed. A mill was set up inGwalior in the same year.
In 1926, he was elected to theCentral Legislative Assembly ofBritish India.[1] He became the founding president ofHarijan Sevak Sangh founded byMahatma Gandhi in Delhi in 1932.[3]
In the 1940s, he ventured into the territory of cars and establishedHindustan Motors. After independence, Birla invested in tea and textiles through a series of acquisitions of erstwhile European companies. He also expanded and diversified into cement, chemicals, rayon and steel tubes. Ghanshyam Das Birla during theQuit India Movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organising a commercial bank with Indian capital and management, and the United Commercial Bank Limited was incorporated to give shape to that idea.UCO Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial bank of India.
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Envisioning infrastructural development in his hometown, Birla founded theBirla Engineering College (rechristened asBirla Institute of Technology and Science in 1964) inPilani and theTechnological Institute of Textile & Sciences inBhiwani among other educational institutions in 1943. Now Pilani also houses Birla Public School, a famous residential public school named after Birla's family and a number of polytechnic colleges. The town ofPilani and the local population enjoy a highly symbiotic relationship with these institutions, thereby stepping towards realising Birla's dream. TIT&S also evolved as the Center of Excellence in Textile based education and training. Moreover, G.D. Birla Memorial School,Ranikhet, a premier residential school has also been established in his honour by his sonB.K. Birla and The Birla School inKalyan, India was founded by his efforts with the collaboration of Kalyan Citizens' Education Society (KCES).
In 1957, he was awardedIndia's second-highest civilian honour, thePadma Vibhushan by theGovernment of India.
Birla was avegetarian.[4] He died in London on 11 June 1983 at the age of 89. There is a memorial to him inGolders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane,London. It comprises a large statue overlooking the gardens with an inscription.
Birla was a close associate and a steady supporter ofMahatma Gandhi, whom he met for the first time in 1916. Gandhi stayed at Birla's home inNew Delhi during the last four months of his life.
TheBengal famine of 1943 was a devastating event that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2-3 million people in the Bengal region of British India (present-day Bangladesh and West Bengal). The famine was caused by a complex interplay of factors, including wartime policies, economic mismanagement, and food distribution failures, rather than a significant crop shortage.
During this crisis, prominent industrialists like GD Birla played a controversial role. According to Janam Mukherjee's Hungry Bengal,[5] Birla and other industrialists like Benthall andNalini Ranjan Sarkar actively purchased large quantities of rice from rural Bengal at inflated prices. This ensured a steady food supply for their industrial interests in Calcutta, even as millions in rural areas faced starvation. These actions contributed to escalating food prices and exacerbated the food scarcity in rural areas. The industrialists' close ties to the colonial government, with Sarkar holding the Food portfolio and Benthall controlling war transport, allowed them to prioritize feeding industrial Calcutta at the expense of the rural population. Birla reportedly used the profits generated during this crisis to purchase British industrial interests in India following independence, further consolidating his economic influence in the post-colonial era. This stark contrast between the industrialists' actions and Gandhi's public stance on fasting for the "privations of the poor millions" highlights the complex and often conflicting interests at play during this tragic period in Bengal's history.
G. D. Birla had remarried after the death of his first wife. He had three sons, Lakshmi Nivas (son of his first wife Durga Devi),Krishna Kumar andBasant Kumar, (both sons of his second wife Mahadevi Birla).Kumar Mangalam Birla is his great grandson. Lakshmi Nivas was technically adopted by his older brother Jugal Kishor.
His writings are mainly collections of memoirs, letters, essays and lectures.
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