Section 34
Ghanshyam Das Birla
Set up the first Indian-owned jute mill and co-founded FICCI to give Indian business a voice. (Birla group (Birla Jute, Hindustan Motors, Hindalco and others))
- life
- 1894–1983
- era
- Before Independence
- ₹25 lakh
- Gift to Birla Vishwakarma Mahavidyalaya, Baroda (1940s) · 1940s
The story
G D Birla was born in Pilani in 1894 into a Marwari trading family whose cotton trade went back to 1857.
In 1919 he set up Birla Jute Manufacturing Company, entering a jute industry then dominated by British firms. He then worked to give Indian business an organised voice: the Indian Chamber of Commerce in 1925 and, with Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) from 1926.
He was close to Mahatma Gandhi and funded many of his causes. He represented India at the Round Table Conferences in London and co-authored the Bombay Plan of 1945, a blueprint for industry after independence. Gandhi spent his last days at Birla House in Delhi.
He built schools and colleges, including BITS Pilani. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 1957 and died on 11 June 1983.
Timeline
- 1919Sets up Birla Jute Manufacturing Company.
- 1925Helps set up the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
- 1926Co-founds FICCI with Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas.
- 1929Birla Education Trust opens a primary school in Rajasthan.
- 1945Co-authors the Bombay Plan.
- 1957Receives the Padma Vibhushan.