JRD Tata, Cyrus Poonawalla, Nusli Wadia: Parsi Stalwarts Who Contributed To India’s Growth Story
Though they may be a minority, the Parsi community in India has been instrumental in the industrial revolution in the country. The community, which now belongs to the descendents of migrants from Persia, came to India during mediaeval times and made India their home. As the Parsi community celebrates its New Year on 16 August, here is a look at a few of the famous Parsis who have created lasting footprints on the industrial map of India.
Ardeshir Godrej
He and his brother Pirojshah Burjorji co-founded the Godrej Brothers Company (today the Godrej Group). Ardeshir was born in 1868 to a Parsi-Zoroastrian family in Mumbai. Like many other financially successful Indians at the time, he was a law student, but he quickly decided that the legal profession wasn't for him and went back to India. He then began working as an assistant at a pharmacy, where he discovered a passion for creating surgical tools, which he later turned into his first company.
Sir Dorab ji Tata
A renowned philanthropist and founder of Tata Steel. He was the first child of the founder of the Tata group, the visionary Jamsetji Tata. Born on 27 August, 1859. Sir Dorabji Tata not only inherited his father's financial savvy, but also his father's sense of generosity and sacrifice.
Jamsetji Tata
Entrepreneur and the man who started the Tata Group of Companies. Another well-known Parsi of India was Jamsetji Tata. He was an entrepreneur who assisted India in becoming a developed nation. He was a humanitarian and a patriot whose beliefs and vision helped him create a remarkable commercial empire. The creator of the Tata group began with a textile plant in central India in the 1870s. His vision gave India's steel and power industries a boost, set the stage for technical education, and helped the nation rise to the status of a developed country.
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (J.R.D.) Tata
Entrepreneur who founded India's first commercial airline, Air India. Indian aviator, manufacturer, and businessman Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata served as the chairman of the Tata Group. He was a member of the Indian Tata family and the son of renowned industrialist Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his wife Suzanne Brière. He was India's first licenced pilot in 1929, and his mother was the nation's first lady to operate a vehicle. In addition, he founded the Tata Group companies Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Titan Industries, Tata Salt, Voltas, and Air India. He received the French Legion of Honour in 1983, the Padma Vibhushan, and the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honours, in 1955 and 1992, respectively.
Ratan Tata
Industrialist and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. Naval Ratan Tata is a former chairman of Tata Sons and an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He governed over the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012. From October 2016 to February 2017, he served as interim chairman. He is still in charge of the organization's philanthropic trusts. The Padma Vibhushan (2008) and the Padma Bhushan (2000) are two of India's highest civilian awards that he has earned.
Cyrus Poonawalla
Industrialist, pharmacologist, and founder of the Serum Institute of India. The largest vaccine producer in the world, Serum Institute of India, is owned by Indian industrialist Cyrus S. Poonawalla, who was born in 1941. He serves as the group's chairman and managing director. He was listed as number five on Fortune's India Rich List in 2021 with a net worth of USD 9 billion.
Nusli Wadia
The chairman of the Wadia Group, an Indian conglomerate with ownership interests in FMCG, textiles, and real estate, among other things, is Nusli Wadia, a millionaire businessman and entrepreneur from India who was born on February 15, 1944. In August 2021, Forbes pegged his net worth at US$4.1 billion.
Nusli was born in Bombay. He is Neville and Dina Wadia's son, two successful business people. His paternal grandmother, Lady Evelyne Clara Powell Wadia, and his paternal grandfather, Sir Ness Wadia, both played important roles in Bombay's development into one of the biggest cotton trading hubs in the world in the late 1800s. Having graduated from the University of Florida, he went on to receive a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering.
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