Business

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…

One of seven children, Jayaram Banan had a harsh upbringing with an abusive father. His father, a driver by profession, punished him severely, even using chilli powder on his eyes…

Abel Joshua Higginbotham was born in 1819 in Cannanore (now Kannur), Kerala. His father, Joseph Higginbotham, passed away a year after his birth. Joseph served in Bangalore as par…

The rosogolla, a beloved sweet, has catalysed both harmony and strife. Odisha and Bengal recently settled a Geographical Indication (GI) tag dispute over the origin of Banglar Ros…

The Havmor story began over 75 years ago in Karachi, undivided India, with Satish Chandra, an engineer employed with BOAC (now British Airways). Despite his engineering career, Sa…

Growing up in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, the Padmanabha Potti family faced financial difficulties. Padmanabha Potti ran a small Udupi restaurant, while his wife, R. Kasiam…

In 1972, at the age of 15, Chandubhai Virani, along with his brothers Bhikhubhai and Meghjibhai, migrated from Dhundhoraji, a small village in Kalavad Taluka, Jamnagar district of…

Zoho Corp. (in an earlier avatar) emerged sometime between 1995 and 1996. Founding Years and Initial Struggles 1995 saw the launch of two bootstrapped businesses, one in the…

Kochouseph Chittilappilly was born to C. O. Thomas of the Chittilappilly house in Parappur, a neighbourhood of Thrissur in the former State of Travancore-Cochin (now Kerala). He a…

On the one-acre plot of land around his mud-and-straw dwelling, where he resided with his wife Shantabai and seven children, Srinivas—a trader hailing from Mulki in South Kanara—g…