Business

Hasmukh Thakordas Parekh, fondly known as Hasmukhbhai, was born in 1911 in Surat. His early life in a Mumbai chawl, where he lived with his father, was marked by modesty and hard …

Meena Bindra's story is one of ambition, resilience, and an unwavering spirit to remain independent. Born and raised in Delhi, Meena Bindra married a Navy man right after she turn…

Raunaq Singh was from a middle-class family in the Pakistani province of Daska. When Raunaq and his friends were young, they went about Lahore selling used steel pipes at the same…

At the age of ten or eleven, Thirupathi Raja fled his family and went to live in Chennai, where he found employment cleaning tables at a restaurant.  Later, he started helpin…

Amarshi Bhurabhai Shah, who stowed away to Africa in his youth, eventually returned to India and secured a job in Bombay. He soon left that job to venture into business on his own…

Before India's Independence, the domestic pencil manufacturing industry struggled to compete with imports. In the years before World War II, around 6.5 lakhs worth of pencils were…

A member of a family of rubber planters, PC Mathew founded Duroflex in 1963. Mathew, an engineer by training, had been working in his family’s tyre business, National Tyres, and s…

The origins of the Kurlon brand can be credited to Ramesh Pai, a member of one of Karnataka’s prominent business families. His father founded Syndicate Bank, and Ramesh Pai played…

Digambar Parashuram Dandekar, a young chemistry graduate, left his government job to pursue a start-up. Realizing that quality stationery products in India were mostly imported fr…

GB Sundararajan and B Soundararajan never received any formal college education. They were born in Udumalpet village, about 70 kilometres from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This quie…

Duke and Sons Pvt. Ltd, based in Bombay (now Mumbai), was established in 1889. The company was the brainchild of Dinshawji Cooverji Pandole, a multifaceted individual who was a…

Panniyampally Sankunni Varier was born on April 10, 1869, in Kottakkal, part of Madras Presidency's Malabar district. His parents, Marayamangalam Rama Varier and Panniyampally Kun…

Born into a peasant family, Mammed Koya's childhood was marked by poverty. His formal education ended in seventh grade, and he had to fend for himself early in life. Initially, he…

C.K. Kumaravel was born and raised in Cuddalore, a small town near Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. He graduated with a degree in nutrition from PSG Arts, Coimbatore. Coming from a busi…