BASANT KUMAR BIRLA

From Sampath’s Desk:

 






   

BASANT KUMAR BIRLA

(12 January 1921-3 July 2019)


An Indian Industry doyen is no more! A long real success story of an exemplary and outstanding industrial stalwart that started at age 15 which saw many a milestone achievement to his credit has come to an end.

 

Yes, Basant Kumar Birla (BK Birla), the Birla Group patriarch, a towering  Indian business magnet, Good Samaritan, noble philanthropist, patron of arts, active promoter and supporter of the rich artistic and cultural traditions of India - all rolled into one - has passed away at the ripe age of 98. The youngest son of a yesteryear philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla, he was actively associated with a number of companies and eventually became the Chairman of KESORAM Industries. He focused on industries such as cotton, viscose, polyester and nylon yarns, refractory, paper, shipping, tyrecord, transparent paper, spun pipe, cement, tea, coffee, cardamom, chemicals, plywood and MDF Board.

 

His departure has flattened one of the highest Himalayan peaks in the Indian industry that richly contributed to the phenomenal economic growth and development of the country. Only few Indians could have matched his great inspiring intellectual patriotism, visionary qualities, pristine cultural characteristics with all-inclusive, all-embracive, affable and harmonious dispositions, spanning several decades. He lived a full circle for his industrial houses and had great praise for the numerous workers who sweated it out to make them flourish and scale new heights of astounding and amazing success.

 

The B K BIRLA GROUP comprised Century Textiles, Century Enka, Jayshree Tea Industries, and KESORAM Industries. Birla was the Chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust which runs an engineering college named B K Birla Institute of Engineering and Technology at Pilani, Rajasthan besides being a patron of 25 other educational institutions across the country.

 

To quote Henry Ford, “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is - make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” There is another dictum, ‘A genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.’ Birla-ji lived up to both the aphorisms.

 

Money is like manure. It stinks when you pile it; but it grows when you spread it. Keeping this maxim in mind, he made proper investments to make his industrial dreams become a reality to start with, and then turned his business houses lucrative, and in the process enriched and empowered his workforce with prosperity. Needless to say, he had a great care for his employees' welfare and well-being.

 

Realizing ‘if you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business’, he was making constant all-out efforts in pursuit of his successful business mission and vision with a palpable and striking distinction.

 

Like a true industrial ace and icon, he did remarkable things differently with marked excellence. It may not be an exaggeration if we call him the ‘PITAMAHA’ of Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs.

 

 

R.SAMPATH

5/7/2019

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