B K Babu, India Inc’s patriarch, dies

Kolkata: Basant Kumar Birla, the grand old man of Indian industry, passed away at his Mumbai residence on Wednesday. He was 98 and is survived by his grandson, Kumar Mangalam Birla, daughters Manjushree Khaitan and Jayshree Mohta and an extended family of nephews, nieces, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“B K Babu” or “Basant Babu”, as he was fondly called by his peers and juniors in hometown Kolkata, was the last surviving member of a generation of industry greats, who included JRD Tata (the two pre-eminent business families also lent their surnames to the “Tata-Birla” duopoly in the pre-Ambani and pre-liberalisation days).
Besides being among post-Independence India’s first generation of key industrialists who helped shape India Inc’s growth, the Birla family patriarch also enjoyed close personal relationships with the tallest of national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, right from his teens. Sardar Patel, in fact, was said to have played Cupid in his marriage (in 1941) to Sarala.
Birla’s cremation will happen in Kolkata on Thursday in accordance with his “express wishes”, family members said. “He was the first Birla of his generation to have been born in Kolkata and, so, always wished that his cremation take place here,” a family elder told TOI.
President Ram Nath Kovind and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee were among the first to condole the death. “Sorry to hear about the passing away of veteran industrialist Shri B K Birla. He made crucial contributions to business, education and several social causes,” Kovind said. Birla’s death created a void that could not be filled, the Bengal CM said, recalling the 2013 Banga Bibhushan honour the state government conferred on him. Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts, led the tributes from Indian industry. “My condolences to the family of Mr B K Birla, who passed away today. Mr Birla was one of the prominent industry leaders in India with a long history of entrepreneurial leadership,” he added.
Son of the illustrious Ghanshyam Das Birla, B K Birla started his career at the bottom of the rung — as a junior employee in Kesoram Industries — as wished by his father. He diversified the business from textile and jute and entered sectors like cement, tyre, chemicals and engineering, turning the B K Birla Group into a Rs-16,000 crore business empire of which he was the chairman till he breathed his last. The group now comprises five major companies — Kesoram Industries, Century Textiles & Industries, Century Enka, Mangalam Cement and ECE Industries — and several smaller, unlisted entities.
What marked him out, his juniors said, was his enthusiasm to take risks even till his 90s. Birla Tyres (a part of Kesoram) entered the radial segment, considered to be the tyre industry’s future, with an investment of over Rs 800 crore — setting up two facilities in Haridwar and Balasore in 2013-14 — when Birla was 93. The group also kept on investing heavily in two cement units — Kesoram Cement and Vasavdatta Cement — to increase the combined production capacity to over 7 million tonnes.
Like Kesoram, he also transformed another family business — Century Textiles and Industries — to a diversified company with interests in cement, paper and textiles. Entities like Century Enka, Mangalam Cement, ECE Industries, Mangalam Timber, Jayshree Tea & Industries were all set up, one after the other, under his close watch.
Birla was also considered one of the pioneers in another important area of Indian firms setting up joint ventures with global majors. He roped in Akzo Noble for Century Enka, now a leading manufacturer of nylon tyre cords.
Family, friends and colleagues, however, remembered him as much more than one of the rare visionaries who guided Indian industry through its infancy. He was a keen photographer, who saw the transformation from analogue to digital photography (just as he saw the transformation of the Indian industry to its post-liberalisation days under Manmohan Singh). He kept a camera, gifted by his dad, till well into the twenty-first century; its replacement was a Leica digital, which he cherished till his last vacation to Europe a few years ago (Europe, mainly London and Switzerland, remained his favourite destinations till he could travel).
Another favourite destination — closer home — was the group headquarters, Birla Building, in the heart of old Kolkata; he spent most of his time at the 15th-floor office on R N Mukherjee Road, talking business with his nephew, S K Birla, till four years ago.
Birla was also one of the oldest members of the Calcutta Club, one of his favourite haunts in the city along with Sangeet Kala Academy and Birla Academy (which has a collection of more than 2,000 paintings). But his hometown’s gradual decline was an abiding pain though he never lost hope in “his city”. “Kolkata is still my favourite city. But, in the last 30-40 years, Kolkata has lost its economic power. It is really unfortunate. We get good doctors, engineers, writers but not entrepreneurs and, sometimes, I feel bad about it. Now, there is some effort to bring in industry. Only the future will tell whether it will be successful or not,” the doyen of Indian industry had told TOI in 2010.