Sahgals

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The Sahgal family (Urdu: خاندان سہگل ) is a Punjabi Shaikh business family of Punjab, Pakistan. The Sahgal family belongs to the Sahgal clan of Muslim Khatri belonging to Khatri tribe.

Amin Sahgal, the founder of the Sahgal business family. Amin Sahgal was from the village of Khotian in Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan. This village is now known as Sahgalabad. He migrated to Kolkatta in 1890 where he started a shoe shop which later transformed into Kohinoor Rubber works in 1938. It was one of the biggest rubber manufacturing concerns of South Asia at the time.

Amin Sahgal had four sons, of which three, Yousuf Sahgal, Bashir Sahgal, and Saeed Sahgal migrated to Pakistan in August 1947, but fourth, Gul Sahgal, stayed back in India taking care of the leftover business until it was expropriated by Indian government, as an enemy property in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965.

The biggest undertaking of the family was the Kala Shah Kaku Industrial Complex near Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. They also launched United Bank in 1959. When Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1973 nationalized heavy industries, the family lost 70% of their assets. During the Bhutto era, Sahgals moved out of Pakistan and launched Conforce Construction Company in collaboration with Germany's Veba Group.

In 1976, Sahgals split into distinct groups headed by Nasim Sahgal, Tariq Saeed Sahgal and Rafiq Sahgal. Rafiq Sahgal died on December 10, 2005. Nasim Sahgal heads Pakistan's largest group in engineering goods industries. It is the biggest manufacturer of air conditioners, deep freezers, and electric goods supplied to Water and Power Development Authority. Tariq Saeed Sahgal heads the Kohinoor Maple Group which comprises Kohinoor Ttextile Mills and Maple Leaf Cement.

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