Dalmia

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The Dalmia Companies came into existence in India in the early 1930s as the Dalmia-Jain Group. Founded by the late Ramkrishna Dalmia, with the assistance of his younger brother Jaidayal Dalmia and his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, the group’s activities included Banks and Insurance Companies, Newspapers and Publishing Houses, Aviation and Railway Companies, Electric Supply Companies, Collieries, a Motor Car Company, Biscuits, Cement, Chemicals, Distilleries, Dairy Products, Jute, Paper, Plywood, Paints, Refractories, Sugar, Textiles and others.

The Group’s greatest contribution to national development was in the emergence of the Indian cement industry. Entering this area in 1936 as a challenge to the monopoly of one powerful combine, the ACC Ltd., the Group set up several cement factories. Reflecting the geographic expansion of the group and its presence in each corner of the country, cement factories were set up in Dalmianagar (Bihar, East India), Dalmia Dadri (Haryana, North India), Dandot (West Punjab, now in Central Pakistan), Dalmiapuram (Tamil Nadu, South India), Karachi (Sind, now in South Pakistan), Rajgangpur (Orissa, East India) and Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan, North India).

In 1943, the Group established the Bharat Bank Ltd., which on the basis of authorised capital, became the biggest bank of its time. Later it acquired controlling interests in the Punjab National Bank and in the Times of India group of publications. At the time, the Dalmia companies together ranked third among India’s major industrial groups after the Tatas and the Birlas. In the automotive sphere, one company of the Group, Allen Berry & Co. Limited, purchased the entire lot of American surplus disposal vehicles, numbering about 50,000, after World War II. This company ran vast workshops in various parts of India till the 1950s when it was disbanded.

The Dalmia Family traces its roots to a town in Rajasthan, known as Chirawa. Today, the family and its relatives have interests, among others, in publishing, industrial explosives, cement, magnesite, sugar, olive oil, leisure resorts and hotels, refractories, castings, cigarettes, soda ash, textiles, rigs and drilling equipment and services such as inbound tourism, public relations, business process outsourcing, software development and financial services.

Total turnover of these companies exceeds US$ 3 billion

[edit] Ramkrishna Dalmia

Ramkrishna Dalmia (7th April 1893 – 26th September 1978) was a pioneer industrialist and founder of the Dalmia-Jain Group. He was born in the small village of Chirawa in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan and started his life with barely any material resources. He shifted to Calcutta at an early age. His father died when he was only 18 years old, leaving behind no property. It fell upon Ramkrishna Dalmia to support his mother, grandmother, wife and younger brother.

His maternal uncle, Motilal Jhunjhunwala, gave him a job in his bullion business, which enabled him to earn just enough to support his whole family. People he met through this formed a high regard for his business acumen and sought his advice. He started a brokerage business of his own and, soon, through a stroke of luck and genius, made one lakh rupees on a single transaction. This was the beginning of what would soon become India’s third-largest business empire.

Beginning with a sugar factory in what is now known as Dalmianagar in the state of Bihar, Dalmia went on to set up many industries with the assistance of his younger brother, the late Jaidayal Dalmia and his son-in-law, the late Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.

Ramkrishna Dalmia gave huge financial support to the nationalist movement against the British regime. Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience movement, started in 1930 with the salt satyagraha, was, in fact, financed almost entirely by him, a fact to which national leaders like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Shri Syed Hasan Imam alluded in the future.

Dalmia had contacts with persons in all walks of life. Among national leaders, he had direct contact with Gandhi, Jamuna Lal Bajaj, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Jinnah. He set up cement factories in the kingdoms of Jind and Jaipur at the invitation of their ruling princes.

Dalmia was also a great philanthropist and presided over a number of religious, educational and social conferences. He formed the Anti Cow-Slaughter League. He began a worldwide campaign promoting the idea of “One-World Government”. He authored many books on spirituality and inspiration.

Dalmia passed away on the 26th of September 1978 at the age of 85 after a prolonged illness.

[edit] Companies controlled by the Dalmia family today

Artech Infosystems Pvt. Ltd (NOIDA, U. P.) - Software Products, IT Consulting & BPO

Bharat Explosives Ltd. (Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh) - Industrial Explosives

Colwell & Salmon (NOIDA, U. P.) - Public Relations Management

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. (incl. Dalmia Electronics Corpn., Dalmia Magnesite Corp, Govan Travels, Ramgarh Sugar Mills) (Dalmiapuram, Tamil Nadu) - Cement, Refractories, Sugar, Magnesite, Iron Ore, Travel Agency, Electronic Capacitors and Resistors.

Dalmia Centre for R&D (Coimbatore) - Applied Agricultural Research

Dalmia Continental Pvt. Ltd (New Delhi) - Distribution and sale of olive oil and related products

Dalmia HealthCare Ltd. (New Delhi) - Alternative healthcare products and solutions

Dalmia Resorts International Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) - Time-share Vacation Ownership, Hotels, Resorts.

DSS Mobile Communications Ltd. - Radio Paging Services (Collaboration with Sunkyong, Korea and Samsung, Korea), BPO Services

Electrosteel Castings Ltd. (Calcutta) - Castings

First Capital India Limited (New Delhi) (incl. Landmark Holdings) - Financial Services, Private Equity Placement and Venture Capital

GTC Industries Limited (New Delhi) - Tobacco products

GHCL Limited, Veraval, Gujarat (incl. Sree Meenakshi Mills, Madurai, Tamil Nadu) - Soda Ash (collaboration with Akzo Zout Chemie, Holland and Klockner Industries Analgen, Germany), Textiles, BPO Services

Hari Machines Ltd. (Rajgangpur, Orissa) - Industrial ceramics and engineering products

Grandeur Travels Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) - C&F Agents, Travel Agents

KV Foundation Ltd. (New Delhi) - Real Estate Development, Merchant Exports, Investments

Khammam Granite Ltd. (Khammam, A.P.) - Granite Mining and Export

OCL India Ltd. (Rajgangpur, Orissa) - Cement, Refractories, Chemicals

Revathi Equipment Ltd (Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) - Rigs and drilling equipment

Shree Ram Plastic Udyog (NOIDA, U.P) - Plastic bottles and Materials

Sunshine Tourism Services Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) - Tour Handling & Management

TRW Limited (Chennai) - Welding Works

WGF Securities Limited. (New Delhi) - Merchant Banking, Financial Services