G. D. Birla

Lore & Background

Ghanshyam Das Birla was born on 10 April 1894 in Pilani, in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajputana, into the Marwari Rajasthani community. His father, Raja Baldevdas Birla, had established trading firms in Bombay and Calcutta. G. D. Birla was the most successful of four brothers. He moved to Calcutta, the world's largest jute-producing region, and began as a jute broker. In 1918, he established Birla Jute Mills, facing opposition from European merchants favored by British policies. During World War I, supply constraints boosted his business. In 1919, Birla Brothers Limited was formed with an investment of ₹5 million, and a mill was set up in Gwalior.

Birla was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1926 and became the first president of the Harijan Sevak Sangh, founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. In the 1940s, he ventured into automobiles with Hindustan Motors. During the Quit India Movement of 1942, he conceived the idea of a commercial bank with Indian capital, leading to the incorporation of United Commercial Bank Limited (now UCO Bank) in 1943 in Kolkata. After independence, he acquired European companies in tea and textiles and expanded into cement, chemicals, rayon, and steel tubes.

Birla was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, whom he first met in 1916. Gandhi stayed at Birla's home in New Delhi during the last four months of his life. During the Bengal famine of 1943, according to Janam Mukherjee's 'Hungry Bengal', Birla and other industrialists purchased large quantities of rice from rural Bengal at inflated prices, contributing to food scarcity. Birla reportedly used profits from this period to purchase British industrial interests after independence.

Reader's Guide

G. D. Birla's significance lies in his role as a pioneering Indian industrialist who transformed a family trading business into a diversified manufacturing empire, challenging European dominance in sectors like jute and automobiles. His establishment of educational institutions, including the Birla Engineering College (later BITS Pilani) and the Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences in Bhiwani, contributed to technical education in India. His founding of UCO Bank marked a step toward Indian-owned banking. Birla's close association with Mahatma Gandhi highlights his involvement in social and political movements, though his actions during the Bengal famine of 1943, as documented by Janam Mukherjee, reveal a controversial side where industrial interests may have exacerbated rural suffering. His legacy includes multiple family business groups tracing ancestry to him, and his philanthropic institutions continue to shape education in Pilani and beyond. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1957.

Did You Know?

• Birla was a vegetarian.
• He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor, in 1957.
• His writings include 'In the Shadow of the Mahatma: a personal memoir' (1953).
• There is a memorial to him at Golders Green Crematorium in London.