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Sarad Saraf
The Life and Times of Karam Chand Thapar
Author: Arunabha Dasgupta
Publisher: Archive Publishers
Time itself is productive. In the private sector, inefficiency results in loss; but in the public sector it results in higher taxes. What is basically necessary for the healthy functioning of the economy is wholesome competition. It ensures the production of those things which people desire most, with the minimum expenditure of human and material resources--Lala Karam Chand Thapar, March 1962.
In the rise and fall of the British rule in India lay the seeds of a new breed of entrepreneurs and the beginning of the 20th century saw the emergence of the majority of the pioneering Indian industrial families. The Birlas, Bangurs, Singhanias, Rams, Bajajs, Poddars, Tatas, Goenkas, Walchands, Nagarmals, Kanorias, Sarabhais, Mafatlals and the Thapars -- all have their origins in this era. These families contributed a great deal to the shaping of the Indian economy and several accounts ofentrepreneurs such as Dwarkanath Tagore, Rustomji Cowasji, Manakji Petit, JRD Tata, Ambalal Sarabhai, GD Birla, Purshotamdas Thakurdas and Lala Shri Ram have been recorded.
But Arunabha Dasgupta was intrigued "to discover that information on Karam Chand Thapar was conspicuous by its absence even though his contribution to the evolving industry and commerce of an Indian released from the colonial yoke was considerable." He was, therefore, compelled to "embellish the archives with a touch of the spirit and intensity of the man". The author's research found him trudging along the paths that Karam Chand Thapar had probably once scaled. He "visited the Thapar home and walked the streets where young Karam Chand took his first tentative steps through the mine-field of Indian business". This research has culminated into "The Life and Times of Karam Chand Thapar".
This is not just another biography of a great industrialist. Arunabha has taken pains to go back to the history of the times in which Karam Chand Thaparstrived to shape his destiny. During the era of colonisation, "the dice of commerce was loaded heavily against Indians, purely because of their brown skins. As such sorry circumstances swept over a peaceful and tolerant people, India watched and waited, biding its time and dreaming of independence. It was in such circumstances that the infant Karam Chand was born". The book, thus, not only speaks of the man, but also educates the reader about how political history helped to shape the destiny of trade and commerce in the country.
A research historian, the author has traced each of the businesses that Karam Chand Thapar ventured into, to its origins in India. He has also delved deeply into the factors that moulded these businesses. "Haiti and San Domingo virtually fed England with all its sugar needs in the 18th century. In 1771, however, the infamous Black Rebellion led to the entire white population of the islands being massacred. Consequently, supplies were cut off and the price of suggar in Englandreached dizzy heights. This was reason enough for the East India Company to take an extraordinary interest in Indian sugar. It now began exporting every quality of sugar it could lay its hands on from India and in the process, made a considerable fortune in the trade till 1815, when the British West Indies once again started up its exports. When conditions were ripe, Karam Chand jumped into the fray and he savoured the sweet ladder of success."
The Thapar group, the foundations of which were laid by Karam Chand Thapar, and which was further strengthened by Lalit Mohan Thapar, is now a Rs 4,800- crore entity. But tragically, chances are slim of the group successfully making it to the next century. It has been suffering from the internicine squabbles among the three heirs of the family, and they have failed their grandfather on at least two counts. Karam Chand Thapar had always willed that his family remain together and that it should be prepared to change with the times. The third generation of India'ssixth-largest business family would do well to take the advice of its visionary founder.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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