ENTREPRENEURS

History of various entrepreneurs along with their success stories.

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Kiran Mazumdar Shaw by Sushmita Bhowmik 2

Hina Shah by Pallavi Bramha 4

Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal.by Himani Garg 8

Narayan Murthy by Rohit Ratan 10

Y K Modi by Sayantan Sen 12

Deepinder Goyal by Neha Bhattacharyya 14

V.G Siddhartha by Salvi 16

Ghanshyam Das Birla by Soumishree Chottopadhay 19

M.S. Oberoi by Ranjeeta Sen 21

Nirma Limited by Niin Nitesh Ranjn 24

1 THE BIOCON LADY:

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the chairman and managing director of Biocon India Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore (Bengaluru), India[4] and the current chairperson of IIM-Bangalore.[5] In 2014, she was awarded the Othmer Gold Medal, for outstanding contributions to the progress of science and chemistry. She is on the Financial Times’ top 50 women in business list. As of 2014, she is listed as the 92nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

Early life and education

Kiran Mazumdar was born to Gujarati parents in Bangalore, India. She went to school at Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Girl's High School, graduating in 1968.

She then attended Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, a women's college offering pre-university courses as an affiliate of Bangalore University.

She studied biology and zoology, graduating from Bangalore University with a B.Sc. in Zoology in 1973.

Mazumdar hoped to go to medical school, but did not obtain a scholarship.

Her father, Rasendra Mazumdar, was the head brewmaster at United Breweries. He suggested that Kiran study fermentation science, and train to be a brewmaster, a very nontraditional field for a woman.[16] Mazumdar went to Ballarat College of Advanced Education in Australia to study Malting and Brewing. In 1974 she was the only woman enrolled in the brewing course, and the top of her class. She earned the degree of Master Brewer in 1975.

Work Life:

She worked as a trainee brewer in Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne and as a trainee maltster at Barrett Brothers and Burston, Australia.

She also worked for some time as a technical consultant at Jupiter Breweries Limited, Calcutta and as a technical manager at Standard Maltings Corporation, Baroda between 1975 and 1977.

However, when she investigated the possibility of further work in Bangalore or , she was told that she would not be hired as a master brewer in India because "It's a man's work."

2 She began to look abroad, and was offered a position in Scotland.

BIOCON:

Before Kiran could move, she met Leslie Auchincloss, founder of Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland. Auchincloss's company produced enzymes for use in the brewing, food- packaging and textile industries. Auchincloss was looking for an Indian entrepreneur to help establish an Indian subsidiary. Mazumdar agreed to undertake the job on the condition that if she did not wish to continue after six months she would be guaranteed a brewmaster's position comparable to the one she was giving up.

After a brief period as a Trainee Manager at Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland, to learn more about the business, Kiran Mazumdar returned to India. She started Biocon India in 1978 in the garage of her rented house in Bangalore with a seed capital of Rs. 10,000. Although it was a joint venture, Indian laws restricted foreign ownership to 30% of the company. The remaining 70% belonged to Kiran Mazumdar. Now Kiran Mazumder is an owner of Net worth of US$ 655MILLION as on October 13.

The company's initial projects were the extraction of papain (an enzyme from papaya used to tenderize meat) and isinglass (obtained from tropical catfish and used to clarify beer). Within a year of its inception, Biocon India was able to manufacture enzymes and to export them to the United States and Europe, the first Indian company to do so. At the end of her first year, Kiran Mazumdar used her earnings to buy a 20-acre property, dreaming of future expansion.

3 Hina Shah is an Indian entrepreneur. Hina Shah, Founder, ICECD, is a Master of Science specializing in Human Resource Development areas. Born and brought up in Jamshedpur, she studied her MSc. at the Maharaja Sayajirao University – Vadodara. She grew up to learn classical dance at Ravidra Parishad. At that time, society (be it parents, husbands, in laws, relatives, neighbours, banks or even market) was not prepared to see women being independent. Resistance from society, friction at emotional and economic levels, along with financial institutions refusing to give loans made it all the more difficult for her to initially take the plunge towards better career prospect.

However, with determination and grit to achieve her goal she emerged a successful entrepreneur in the field of plastic packaging, while effectively balancing various other roles of a mother, a wife and a daughter. She began her career in 1976 in the plastic packaging industry.

Having experienced problems and constraints herself, when she came across deprived, poor and helpless women suffering due to economic deprivations, She decided to take up the mission to lead them towards self - employment and entrepreneurship.

She pioneered. “Women Entrepreneurship Development Programmes” in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India - in 1982, with 25 women participants of which 16 established their non - traditional businesses. Encouraged by the success she refined the model and implemented it in other districts of Gujarat and various states of India. These women entrepreneurs were recognized as "economic contributors” by the financial /support institutions and the policy makers, and specialized women development policies were formulated by the government to support women in rural areas. Her concern for these women suffering translated into a dream to expand this movement to the disadvantaged and poor women in nook and corner of the rural areas of the country.

She felt the need to build up a specific national / international level organization, with no limitations or defined boundaries to work for these women. In 1986, she transformed her own entrepreneurial experience into a developmental initiative and started ICECD.

ICECD is a unique institute for entrepreneurship perhaps the only one of it is kind that has facilitated thousands of disadvantaged women and youth to become entrepreneurs not only in India but all over the

4 developing world. It came to be recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the United National ESCAP Thailand in the year 2000. Hina Shah has helped the organization to grow and transform by her vision, mission oriented responsive leadership, which has led to an equally focused and motivated team of capable human resource.

ICECD has been the vanguard of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development amongst varying target groups and has worked extensively around the globe keeping gender issues in sharp focus. It has consistently striven to increase access/control of the poor on productive resources and facilities. The centre's activities revolve around income generation through self-employment/entrepreneurial activities, encompassing a wide cross section of the society. With special focus on gender issues, the centre have developed models and strategies that include awareness building/capacity building training/linkages to develop women of various strata (rural/tribal/urban) of society into mainstream economic partners. Information at ICECD is disseminated through seminars, workshops, conferences, technology transfer, publications, policy planning, research on related aspects, and training of trainers and facilitators, consultancy and extension services like institutional capacity building of development agencies. “Institution is an NGO, registered under Trust and Society Act. The sources of finance are Government grants, international funds as well as self-generated funds received by charging fees to clients. The accounts are regularly audited as per the requirements.”

ICECD took up the challenge to change the dismal face of Iyava Vasna, and with great difficulty, slowly transformed the village into a model village by involving 90 of the 130 households, especially women, in small and micro enterprises. They have implemented specialised Women Entrepreneurship Model in the village and formed 17 Self Help Groups (SHGs) with 233 women joining these groups. Initially, it was difficult to run these groups as women refused to break free from the traditional moulds.

ICECD trained these women to start their own micro business. Based on the village infrastructure and resources, about 70 women were trained by ICECD to start the milk cooperative. They were imparted technical and scientific knowledge and were provided resources for cattle-breeding, milk testing and storage. With the help of the micro-credit from ICECD, they started the dairy business. Their lives have taken a new turn. It is a matter of pride

5 for ICECD that the dairy business which is the key to the turnaround in the village, both socially and economically, is taking a further leap. The dairy, which until now was operating at a small rented premise, is now going to have a more stable base.

Today, at Iyava Vasna, one can see a group of women working at a measured and contended pace in the tropical heat who are also involved in other businesses like manufacturing garments, spices, snack food, Rexene bags and boxes in their free time. From no income to receiving an income between Rs. 2000- Rs. 10,000 per month is a substantial sum for their financial independence and a significant turning point for them. Through the ICECD Federation, these women’s groups in Iyava Vasana have been federated and have evolved as Community Based Organizations (CBOs). These CBOs work in close co-ordination with ICECD and a variety of socio-economic activities have been implemented by them.

The transformation from “Housewife” to “Entrepreneur“ has brought about a major change in their thinking patterns, and now, even the next generation of children are aspiring to become entrepreneurs. These women will no longer engage in labour, nor will their children.

The successful stories of Women Economic Empowerment became an inspiration to other developing nations, and the team at ICECD became instrumental in initiating and institutionalizing Women Entrepreneurship Development in countries like Zambia, Bangladesh, Lesotho, Botswana, Cameroon, Malaysia,

6 Philippines, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Guyana, lvory coast, St. Kitts, and many others spanning the continents of Asia, Africa, Pacific and the Caribbean. The multiplier effect of ICECD's endeavours has reached more than 60 developed/developing countries of Asia, Africa, Caribbean and Pacific regions, with over 1150 organizations and 5500 plus trainers having been trained in the international arena.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

 ICECD’s MSME creation initiatives have developed

- Over 35,000 enterprises directly in India

- Investment creation in India – Rs.140 million (Us $350 million)

- Over 2, 00,000 enterprises through trainers and facilitators in India and in Asian, African, Pacific and Caribbean countries.

- Investment creation worth Rs.2000 Cr. (US $2 billion)  Created 2, 00,000 Women Entrepreneurs - Their investments range from Rs.2, 500 to Rs.50, 00,000 - Development of 4,00,000 Deprived Women  Entrepreneurial Hubs Called Village Service Centres created to Cater to Business requirements of 75 Villages  Economic and Social rehabilitation in 36 earthquake hit villages of Gujarat, and worked for Tsunami affected areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

AWARDS:

 Recognition of the services rendered to humanity by un-Agnos 2001.  Entrepreneurs international award for global contribution in women entrepreneurship development- 2001 & 2002.  National bank for agriculture and rural development award” for “outstanding performance” under self-help groups (poor women) bank linkage programme- 2004.  The president's award in the year 2010 -Stree Shakti Puraskar for outstanding contribution in social development.  The project management institute award for the project-socio-economic rehabilitation of widows.

7 is an Indian E-Commerce company established in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. It operates exclusively in India, with headquarters at Bangalore, Karnataka.

HISTORY

 Flipkart (Company) was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.  Both are from . They both passed out of St. Anne's Convent School, Chandigarh and coincidentally both were students of computer science engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. In 2006, they joined .com India as Senior Software Engineer. They initially thought of starting a comparison search engine, but realized that the market for e-commerce in India was very small. Hence, after leaving Amazon.com in 2007, they founded Flipkart as an e-commerce company.  During its initial years, Flipkart focused only on books, and soon as it expanded, it started offering other products like electronic goods, air conditioners, air coolers, stationery supplies and life style products and e-books. The first product sold by them was the book Leaving Microsoft To Change The World, bought by VVK Chandra from Andhra Pradesh. Flipkart now employs more than 15000 people. Flipkart allows payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit or debit card transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher and card swipe on delivery.

ACCQUISITION

 2010: WeRead, a social book discovery tool.  2011: Mime360, a digital content platform company.  2011: Chakpak.com, a Bollywood news site that offers updates news, photos and videos.  2012: Letsbuy.com, an Indian e-retailer in electronics. Flipkart has bought the company for an estimated US$25 million  2014: Acquired Myntra.com in an estimated INR 2,000 crore deal.

8 FINANCE

 Initially, the founders had spent Rs. 400,000 only for making website to set up the business.  Flipkart has later raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India (US$1 million in 2009) and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 and US$20 million in June 2011).  Flipkart's reported sales were Rs. 40 million in FY 2008–2009, Rs. 200 million in FY 2009–2010 and Rs. 750 million for FY 2010–2011

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

 Co-Founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, got Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2012-2013 from Economic Times, leading Indian Economic Daily

 Flipkart.com was awarded Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18's 'India Business Leader Awards 2012' (IBLA).

 Flipkart.com- got Nominated for IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011.

9 Narayan Murthy

He is one of the Top 10 entrepreneur in india which come under 3rd position in rank of entrepreneur in india.He is more commonly known as the father of Indian Industry his full name is Nagvara Ramarao Narayana Murthy was born on 20th aug 1946 in Bangalore Karnataka India,.Narayan Murthy worked with Indian Institute Of Management Ahemdabad as Chief System Programer and Patni Computer.

He is an IT Industrialist and one of six co- founder of Infosys a MNC that provides service in BPO,Operation,Business consulting,Engineering And Technology.He is an electrical engineering at National Institute Of Engineering,University of Mysore.He Founded Infosis in 1981 severd as a CEO from 1981 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011.2011 he stepped down from the board and became chairman Emeritus.On 1st june 2013 Murthy was appointed as Addditional Director and Executive Chairman of the board from period 5 years.

He described a father of IT sector by Time Magzine due to his contribution to outsourcing in india.Murthy is also been hounerd with Padama Vibhusan And also Padma Sri award.

About his Carrier

 He worked as India’s first time sharing computer system and designed and implemented a basic interpreter for Electronics Corporation Of India Limited.  He started company name Softronics when that company failed about a year he joined Patni.  Murthy and six software professionals founded Infosys in 1981 with an intial capital 10,000 which was provided by his wife.  Current Chairman of Infosys is K V Kamath and CEO,MD is Vishal Sikka.

About Infosys

 The company known as Infosys Technology Limited.  Third largest company in India bassed on IT service company by 2014.  5th largest employer of H-1B Visa Professtionals in the United States FY-2013.  On 31st march 2014 its market capitalisation was Rs 188510 cr($31.11Billion) trade company.

10  On 31st march 2014 Infosys had 890 clients across 50 countries.Having 72 office and 94 development center in US,India,China,Australia,Japan,Middle East And Europe.

11 Y K Modi

Mr. YK Modi is the promoter and Director of YKM Holdings International Limited and is also

Chairman and Managing Director of GEECL. He is the son of Rai Bahadur was a renowned industrialist and philanthropist, who co-established the Modi Group of companies and the industrial city of in 1933, along with his brother Kedar Nath Modi. A sugar mill in Modinagar marked the beginning of the Modi Group conglomerate, which later diversified into varied fields. Gujarmal Modi is also grandfather of Lalit modi the founder of the (IPL), who transformed the game of cricket and made IPL the hottest sports property in the world. In the course of his illustrious career, Mr Y.K. Modi has conceived, implemented and operated several large projects in industrial chemicals, cement, textiles, electronics and the auto components business.

Yogendra Kr Modi is a member of the Dean's Council at John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. He is a prominent industry spokesperson in India and has held office in many national level business bodies.

He is a past President of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), a body responsible for business enterprise in India with over 1500 corporate members and 500 Chamber of Commerce and business associations. He held the post of its president in 2004.

Mr YK Modi was appointed to the board of the International Chamber of Commerce ( India ) (ICC India) in 1992. Prior to being appointed to the board, he was a member of its Executive Committee and Standing Advisory Committee.

He pioneered YKM Holdings International Limited which is an investment company holding investments on behalf of the YK Modi family, a leading Indian family with a range of mainly industrial assets.

Investments by the family include a substantial holding in Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL), an Indian based company that was listed on AIM on the Stock Exchange in 2005. GEECL is involved in the exploration, development & production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas in the Raniganj coalfields, West Bengal, India.

12 Yogendra Kumar Modi is Chairman & Managing Director of GEECL and also Company’s Ex- President & Chief Operating Officer; Later his son Prashant Modi became the COO & joint CFO of the company. He is involved in GEECL primarily on the operational and development side of the Company.

The Company is a fully integrated gas production, development and exploration company in India (first of its kind in Asia), providing gas to the growing industrial region of West Bengal, where there is a structural shortage of gas. Gas is being produced (Coal-Bed Methane gas) from the Raniganj (South) licence area, which covers 210 sq. km, with 2.44 TCF of Gas-in-Place. The Company's second asset is the Mannargudi license situated in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, which covers an area of 667 sq. km and 0.98 TCF Gas-in-Place. In the six months to 30th September 2014, the Company increased its turnover by 21% to US$19.45m, EBITDA by 14% to US$12.97m and cash generation by 23% to US$10.77m.

13 Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO, Zomato.

Deepinder Goyal graduated with a Mathematics and Computing degree from IIT Delhi in 2005 and hails from Muktsar in Punjab.

Prior to starting Zomato, during his college days Deepinder Goyal started an online food ordering portal but failed in the venture. Deepinder then worked as a management consultant with Bain and Company in . It was at Bain that Deepinder conceived the idea of an online restaurant information service after seeing the demand for menu cards among his colleagues. He left Bain in 2008 to start Zomato (then foodiebay) out of his apartment and has since overseen strategy and product development. In Bain he met Pankaj Chaddah (Co-founder). He is also from IIT Delhi, Mechanical Engineer.

The IDEA

While he was working at Bain & Company, a leading management consulting firm, he noticed that a lot of his colleagues were queuing up in the office cafeteria to have a look through the stack of menu cards to order food. Most of these people were young, affluent bachelors who did not have access to home-cooked food. Deepinder came up with the idea that “What if these menus were available online?” That was how Zomato, then Foodiebay, was born. Pankaj and Deepinder then went on to build the database and soon had gone live with menus for 1,200 restaurants in Delhi NCR in July 2008, which expanded to 2,000 restaurants by the end of the year.

The USP of Zomato

Deepinder Goyal believes that they are not different from other online restaurant directory portals but they are much better. Zomato’s key focus area is coverage and depth. It lists almost twice the number of restaurants than any other restaurant directory portal in India. Also, the content is much richer. For instance, Zomato have scanned menu cards for 96% restaurants in their database. Also, ratings and reviews are available for most of the restaurants listed at Zomato. No other portal even comes close to what Zomato have.

14 Global Converge

Zomato covers over 331,200 restaurants in 19 countries

India, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, New- Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. Zomato recently acquired Urbanspoon for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash deal, marking its entry into the US.

Zomato had acquired Italian search service Cibando. According to the company, Zomato will invest $6 million in Italy over the next two years to build the team and the business in the country. Zomato made four other acquisitions recently, including MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in the Czech Republic, Obedovat in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland.

Funding

 The first round funding of US$ 1 Million (4.7Crores) from InfoEdge (India) in Aug 2010.  2nd round funding US$ 3.5 million (13.5crores), InfoEdge (India) in September 2011.  Followed by funding of US$ 2.5 million & US$ 10Million in 2012 & 2013 respectively from InfoEdge.  In Nov 2013 Zomato received another round of funding of US$37 Million from Sequoia Capital and InfoEdge.  Lastly in Nov 2014 Zomato received US$60 million from InfoEdge, Vy Capital and Sequoia Cap.

15 V.G Siddhartha: Former of CC

Born: Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka, India

Residence: Bangalore, Karnataka, India

V.G Siddhartha is an Indian businessman from Karnataka. He is best known as the founder- owner of the chain of café coffee Day outlets.

Siddhartha obtained his masters degree in economics from Mangalore University Karnataka. After his master he went to and joined JM Financial Services as a management intern on the Indian stock market, leaving out his family business of growing coffee.

After 2 year when he returned his father gave him money to start a business of his choice. Siddhartha bought a stock market card of Rs. 30,000 along with a company called sivan securities in 1984, which was renamed in 2000 as way2wealth securities in 2000 as with a vision to set “new standards in the retail financial services in India.” Its venture capital division came to be known as Global Technology Venture and turned it into a highly successful investment banking and stock broking company.

After 15 yr. later Siddhartha established a successful coffee business in Karnataka. When he looked into his family business he was not happy with the size of the ambition. He consolidated holding of 400 acres of coffee plantation to 10,000 acres.

And when he looked into the basic part of the coffee business he founded trhat the world grew 120 million of coffee every year which cost $7 million approx. but when retailed value of coffee become $100 billion. He wanted to chase for $100 billion not $ 7million.

He started exporting in 1993 because he didn’t want to go through middle man. He exports about 28,000 tonnes of coffee annually and sells another 2,000 tonnes locally for about Rs 350 million each year. His coffee growing and trading company, Amalgamated Bean Company (ABC), has an annual turnover of Rs 25 billion. Siddhartha now has 200 exclusive retail outlets selling his brand of Coffee Day powder all over South India. ABC is India's largest exporter of green coffee.

He owns 12,000 acres (4047 ha) of coffee plantations.

16 He started his coffee trading company ABC in 1993, with a Rs 60 million turnover. His company grew gradually. He bought an ailing coffee curing unit in Hassan for Rs 40 million and turned it around. Now, his company has a curing capacity of 75,000 tonnes, which is the largest in the country.

He was the first entrepreneur in Karnataka to set up a cyber café in 1996 (Café Coffee Day, a chain of youth hangout coffee parlors). The first CCD outlet was opened at Bangalore with a tagline “ A lot can happen over a cup of coffee”.

Now, he has 1,407 Coffee Day Cafes in India. Siddhartha also hopes to win the contract to take his chain to all the airports of Karnataka and then to the rest of the country. His cyber cafes attract at least 40,000 to 50,000 visitors a week.

Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd. today is the largest exporter of green coffee from India and perhaps one of the two fully integrated coffee companies of Asia, involved in all sectors of coffee from plantations to retailing to exports. Coffee Day Group today is the only fully integrated and the largest coffee conglomerate in India and is credited with creating the "coffee revolution" in India - acknowledged by the Coffee Board of India Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd.. From a handful of cafés in six cities in the first five years, Café Coffee Day has become India's largest and premier retail chain of cafes with 1,438 cafes in 135 cities.

Siddhartha was awarded the Entrepreneur of the year title in 2003 by The Economic Times for "crafting a successful pan Indian brand for a commodity business and giving Indian consumers a new lifestyle experience that is within reach of the common man".

Other business:

 He has planted banana trees on 3,000 acres (1,214 ha) and plans to export bananas.  He owns a furniture company called The Dark Forest Furniture Company, named after Kathale Kaad Estate (Black Forrest), his estate in Chickamagalur, which is venturing into furniture by building a 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2) factory in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, which will use timber from his coffee plantations in India and a rainforest in Guyana. It initially plans to supply furniture to Cafe Coffee Day outlets. V G Siddhartha

17 has taken 1.85 million hectares of Amazonian forestland on a 30-year lease from the Republic of Guyana in South America to start a furniture business in India.

Now Siddhartha is planning to ramp up his furniture business in India and will soon float a new company called Dark Forest Furniture Company that will represent all segments of furniture including modern, classic, ethnic for home, retail, office, lounges and life-style and entertainment furniture. While there are a number of players in furniture, including Godrej, Wipro, Featherlite, Reliance, Zuari, and Durian, the focus for many is office furniture, and for others, there is a great deal of dependence on imported furniture. The Coffee Day Group has been on a major expansion drive, particularly following a $200 million (about Rs 1,000 crore) private equity investment in April last year from New Silk Route, KKR and StanChart PE. It took a controlling stake in logistics company Sical for Rs 200 crore in November last year. The Café Coffee Day chain, already 1,100 outlet strong, plans to take it to 2,000 by 2014, and has just started a new lounge format. According to sources, the Guyanese government is in the process of rectifying a non-functional woodcutting and log-sizing unit at the leased forest area and shipping of logs will start once that unit becomes functional.

18 Ghanshyam Das Birla

Born – April 10, 1894

He laid the foundation of Birla Empire. He was also the founder of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

G.D Birla is considered as a doyen of Indian Industry

About him it has been known that he was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and advised Gandhi Ji on economic policies.

He was also the most important pre-independence contributor to the .

(G.D Birla) He was a native of Pilani.

His grandfather Shiv Narayan Birla was a traditional Marwari money lender.

G.D Birla entered the business arena during the time of IST world war.

He established a cotton mill in Sabji Mandi, later established keshoram cotton mills.

He then further diversified his business to jute and shifted his based to Calcutta.

When he started business career the Birla’s were worth Rs 20, 00,000 in 1914.

In 1919 with investment of Rs 5 millions the Birla Brother Limited was formed and a mill was set up in Gwalior.

1930’s G.D Birla set up sugar and paper mills

1940’s he established Hindustan motors.

After independence G.D Birla invested in tea and textile industry.

He also expanded and diversified into cement, chemical and steel tubes.

He also founded several educational institutes (Birla Institute of Technology) Pilani, one of the best engineering schools.

He established many temple, planetariums, and hospitals.

G.D Birla’s 2 sons – Krishna Kumar Birla and Basant Kumar Birla

19 In 1957 he was awarded India’s second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan by the government of India.

G D built Birla group into India’s second largest business dynasty after the Tata’s.

Ghanshyam Birla died in 1983 at the age of 90’s.

20 M. S. Oberoi - Founder of the Oberoi Group of Hotels; Honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2001.

M.S. Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of the Indian hotel industry. Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was among the first to recognize the potential of the tourism industry, its ability to contribute to India's economic growth and generate direct and indirect employment. He worked tirelessly to put Indian hotel industry on global tourism map.

M.S. Oberoi was born on August 15, 1898, in the erstwhile undivided Punjab, now in Pakistan. He did his early schooling in Rawalpindi and completed his graduation from Lahore. In 1922, to escape the epidemic of Plague, he came to , and got a job of front desk clerk, at The Cecil Hotel at a salary of Rs 50 per month.

M.S. Oberoi was a quick learner and shouldered many additional responsibilities along with the job of desk clerk. M. S. Oberoi's diligence prompted Mr. Clarke to request Mohan Singh Oberoi to assist him when he acquired Clarkes Hotel. At the Clarkes Hotel, M.S. Oberoi gained firsthand experience in all aspects of hotel operations.

In 1934, M.S. Oberoi acquired The Clarkes Hotel from his mentor, by mortgaging his wife's jewellery and all his assets. In 1938, he signed a lease to take over operations of the five hundred rooms Grand Hotel in Calcutta, which was up for sale following a cholera epidemic. In 1943, Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, acquired the controlling interest in the Associated Hotels of India (AHI) which owned the Cecil, and Corstophans in Shimla, the Maidens and the Imperial in Delhi, and a hotel each in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He thus became the first Indian to run the largest and finest hotel chain.

In 1959, The Oberoi Group became the first group to start flight catering operations in India. In 1965, M.S. Oberoi opened the first modern, five star international hotel in the country, The Oberoi Intercontinental, in Delhi. In 1966 he established the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management, recognized by the International Hotel Association in Paris. In 1973, The Oberoi Group opened the 35 storey Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai. Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi was the first to employ women in the hospitality sector.

Today, The Oberoi Group owns or manages 37 luxury and first class international hotels in seven countries.

21 M.S. Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and in 1972. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in 1968. M.S. Oberoi was recipient of many awards and honours. In 1943, he was conferred the title of Rai Bahadur by the British Government. Other honours include admission to the Hall of Fame by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA); Man of The World by the International Hotel Association (IHA) New York; named by Newsweek as one of the "Elite Winners of 1978" and the PHDCCI Millennium award in 2000. M.S. Oberoi was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2001. M.S. Oberoi passed away on May 3, 2002 at the age of 103.

THE OBEROI HOTELS PROFILE

The Oberoi Group, founded in 1934, operates 30 hotels, a Nile Cruiser and a Motor Vessel in the backwaters of . The Group has presence in six countries under the luxury 'Oberoi' and five-star 'Trident' brand. The Group is also engaged in flight catering, airport restaurants, travel and tour services, car rentals, project management and corporate air charters.

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts is synonymous the world over with providing the right blend of service, luxury and quiet efficiency. Internationally acclaimed for all-round excellence and unparalleled levels of service, Oberoi hotels and resorts have received innumerable awards and accolades.

A distinctive feature of The Group's hotels is their highly motivated and well trained staff who provide exceptionally attentive, personalised and warm service. The Group's luxury hotels have established a reputation for redefining the paradigm of luxury and excellence in service amongst leisure hotels around the world.

Trident hotels are five-star hotels that have established a reputation for excellence and are acknowledged for offering quality and value. These hotels combine state of the art facilities with dependable service in a caring environment, presenting the ideal choice for business and leisure travellers.

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23 Nirma Limited

Type Private

Industry Fast-moving consumer goods

Founded 1969

Headquarters Ahmedabad, India

Key people Karsanbhai Patel (CMD)

Products Nirma detergent, Nima soaps

Revenue Rs. 5008 crores

US$ 1.12 Billion (2011 consolidated)

Number employees 14000

Website www.nirma.co.in

24 ABOUT NIRMA

Nirma is a group of companies based in the city of Ahmedabad in western India that manufactures products ranging from cosmetics, soaps, detergents, salt, soda ash, LAB and Injectable. Karsanbhai Patel, a well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist of Gujarat, started Nirma as a one-man operation. Today Nirma has over 15000 employees and a turnover of over Rs. 3550 crores. In 2004, Nirma's detergent approached 800,000 tones – one of the largest volumes sold in the world – under a single brand 'NIRMA'.

History

In 1969, Dr. Karsanbhai Patel, a chemist at the Gujarat Government's Department of Mining and Geology manufactured phosphate free Synthetic Detergent Powder, and started selling it locally. The new yellow powder was priced at Rs. 3.50 per kg, at a time when HUL's Surf was priced at Rs 15. Soon, there was a huge demand for Nirma in Ruppur (Gujarat), Patel's hometown. He started packing the formulation in a 10x10ft room in his house. Patel named the powder as Nirma, after his daughter Nirupama. Patel was able to sell about 15-20 packets a day on his way to the office on bicycle, some 15 km away. By 1985, Nirma washing powder had become one of the most popular, household detergents in many parts of the country.

By 1999, Nirma was a major consumer brand – offering a range of detergents, soaps and personal care products. In keeping with its philosophy of providing quality products at the best possible prices, Nirma brought in the latest technology for its manufacturing facilities at six locations in India. Nirma's success in the highly competitive soap and detergent market was attributed to its brand promotion efforts, which was complemented by its distribution, reach and market penetration. Nirma's network consisted of about 400 distributors and over 2 million retail outlets across the country. This huge network enabled Nirma to make its products available to the smallest village.

In November, 2007, Nirma purchased the American raw materials company Searles Valley Minerals Inc. - making it among Top-7 Soda Ash manufacturer in the world.

Overview

Starting as a one-product, one-man outfit from a 100 sq. ft. (9.3 m2) room in 1969, Nirma became a very successful company within three decades. The company had multi-locational

25 manufacturing facilities, and a broad product portfolio under an umbrella brand – Nirma. The company's mission to provide, "Better Products, Better Value, Better Living" contributed a great deal to its success. Nirma successfully countered competition from HUL and carved a niche for itself in the lower-end of the detergents and toilet soap market. The brand name became alm ost synonymous with low-priced detergents and toilet soaps. However, Nirma realized that it would have to launch products for the upper end of the market to retain its middle class consumers who would graduate to the upper end. The company launched toilet soaps for the premium segment. However, analysts felt that Nirma would not be able to repeat its success story in the premium segment.

In 2000, Nirma had a 15% share in the toilet soap segment and more than 30% share in the detergent market. Aided by growth in volumes and commissioning of backward integration projects, Nirma's turnover for the year ended March 2000 increased by 17% over the previous fiscal, to Rs. 12.17 bn and They are started business in different institutional sectors these are given bellow:

 Institute of Management  Institute of Technology  Institute of Diploma Studies

 Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Nirma Memorial Trust and Nirma Foundation - Nirma Memorial Trust looks after deprived women in Gujarat. It builds Ashrams and guesthouses for pilgrims and the elderly. The Nirma Foundation, set up in 1979, contributes towards the running of schools, colleges, temples and social institutions, within the state and outside.

Chanasma Ruppur Gram Vikas Trust in Mehsana of which Mr. K. K. Patel is the founder trustee and President provides education, maintenance of public health and related facilities in rural areas. The trust has started several institutions in Ruppur, including the Arts & Commerce College, and an ITI training institute and a ladies hostel.

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