Delhi@100: Tracing Delhi through eyes of business veterans

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Delhi@100: Tracing Delhi through eyes of business veterans

This special feature of CNBC-TV18 chats up three industry leaders about what went into building their Delhi empire.

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She was born centuries ago. Her life and event flows as empires peaked and troughed. Then, 100 years ago, she became the capital of India and started a chapter in her history that we are now living out. New Delhi's evolution from a commerce center to a political capital has had one prominent threat - power games. This special feature of CNBC-TV18 chats up three industry leaders about what went into building their Delhi empire.

Unlike most of Delhi's big family businesses who have had their roots in other parts of the country and erstwhile undivided India, the Shri Ram Family moved out of crumbling old Delhi in the early 1900s when 25 year old Lala Shri Ram joined the Delhi Cloth and General Mills Company. Rising through the ranks, Lala Shri Ram built North India's first textile giant and created an industrial empire with interests in chemicals, sugar, fertilizers and even electrical equipment. The Shri Rams have also given the city some of its premier education institutes like Shri Ram College of Commerce, the Lady Shri Ram College and a chain of schools.

CNBC-TV18 caught up with Arun Bharat Ram, the great grandson of the founder, outside North block which is home to the Finance Ministry. On known territory, this former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) talks about the Shri Ram Family's contribution to Delhi's education, art and cultural landscape and the very Delhi culture of fixing deals.

Q: Yours is an unusual story because your family was actually one of the founding families of Delhi when it comes to business as opposed to other business families who actually migrated from either across the border or came down from Calcutta and then moved ahead quarters here.

A: That's true. My great grandfather was involved in setting up the DCM. At that time, there were no buildings in existence here. These were all forests. So in a sense, yes, my family was the first business family to emanate from the North because most of the industry that was put in place here was either established by the British in Kanpur or in the south or in Bengal or in Maharashtra and Gujarat. So, there was virtually no industry in the North.

Q: What are the stories that you have heard from your grandfather about the way that your great grandfather actually got started in and DCM has been synonymous with business in North India, not just in Delhi and it has laid the foundation for doing business in this part of the country?

A: It is an interesting story because my great grandfather didn't have much money but it was his idea to start a textile mill in Delhi. He said all the cotton grows around Delhi in Haryana, Punjab but there are no textile mills here. So he decided that he will get together with some rich businessmen who had the money and seed the idea with them. They setup this company, and believe it or not, it was from the start a public limited company where shares were actually sold and distributed to people. There were tailors and school teachers who invested in the company and there were all kinds of people who invested Rs 20, Rs 25, and Rs 100.

Q: But even outside of business, education was a huge area of interest for your family, why is that?

A: That really was something which my grandfather was very passionate about. In Delhi, apart from the established universities like ST. Stephens College, Hindu College and the Delhi University, there were not enough educational institutions particularly for women. But before even setting up the women's college which turned out to be Lady Shri Ram College, he established it as college of commerce. He was not a highly educated person. He had done his matriculation and he felt that was a great handicap that he had. His education came from observing and he travelled abroad and saw factories there, he saw how business was done abroad and he came back with ideas from that.

Q: You have probably made the trek right here to the ministry of finance several times. Fortunately not so often now, is that because you don't need to interact with them anymore or is it because the government is out of your hair?

A: I think largely the government is out of our hair because since the 1991 reform started, people don't realize that a lot of simplification of rules and procedures actually did take place. And what we call the License Raj, to a large extent, disappeared. Why we still come here is because there is a feeling amongst many people in the industry that not enough reforms continue to take place and therefore this is the Mecca of reforms.

Q: Do you believe that at least as far as the big decade reforms are concerned, the last decade is really been a lost decade?

A: I think so. It has been a lost decade and unfortunately this is because of competitive politics. Because it is the same people who proposed the reform who oppose the reforms now. The whole political class is not realizing that we are losing the ability to create jobs; we are losing the ability to be competitive with the rest of the world.

Q: What makes Delhi special? Is it because it is the political capital that makes Delhi special?

A: Every city has a character of its own. Bombay has always been the financial sector capital. It has been the industrial sector capital. Even after independence, Delhi was in that sense, a very small industrial base in comparison to the rest of the country. The seat of power was always here. This is a political town and it is very much like Washington where everything revolves around politics and everything revolves around politicians.

Q: So business revolves around politics and politicians as well?

A: Yes, business does too. As long as we don't have transparency - and this is one of the things that I am a strong believer in - that part of the reforms that haven't taken place is the fact that we still have decision making in the government where a businessman and a politician can get together and fix deals.

Q: One area where Delhi perhaps has been able to preserve or keep intact its character is really on the cultural scene, and that's again another area, where your family has been actively involved for many years now.

A: Art, as a whole, whether it was music, dance, painting or theatre was always supported by the the upper crust in the olden days - the Maharajas, Mughal kings, Nawabs. I think it is important that business people should provide that patronage and support the artists especially those who are up-and-coming and I think it's our responsibility, having replaced the maharajas and kings, as the better-off people today that we should really support this.

Q: How has your relationship with Delhi changed? Do you find that there is a difference in the way that you deal with this city and feel about this city?

A: When I was a small kid, Delhi was a small town. I still remember at the time of partition, the population of Delhi was 2 lakh. Although the Rashtrapati Bhavan was built, if you went down that road, you could hardly see a vehicle. Our house used to be about 1.5 kilometers from India Gate, and in the evenings, we were told you can't go to India Gate because there are foxes and other animals. That only shows what the city has become in terms of its infrastructure, in terms of its size, in terms of its enormity today compared to what it was.

Delhi is reflecting what Indian culture has become. While we don't have Bollywood here, the aspirations of young people are to be able to do exactly what is happening in Bollywood. My granddaughters watch more Bollywood than they do of classical music, and today, life is definitely not as laid back as it used to be. Life is hectic and highly competitive.

Q:What is your most favourite memories of Delhi?

A: My childhood memories are really the best memories. Even though we were a business family and business came first, we all thoroughly enjoyed music, dance, theater, plays and that's the way we were brought up. But today, in comparison to that life, is just too hectic.

Q: Was it a simpler life?

A: Much simpler life than it is today.