Balkrishan Gopiram Goenka (born 15 August 1966) is among India's most dynamic business leaders and an Indian businessman based in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Maharashtra,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. He is the Chairman of the

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

2.3 billion

Welspun Group Welspun Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, , headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses in line pipes, textiles, Infrastructure, and steel. It does business with 50 countries and has a distribution network in 32 countrie ...

. A global conglomerate with operations in more than 50 countries. He is the co-founder and largest shareholder of companies such as Welspun India Ltd, the world's largest manufacturer of terry towels, and

Welspun Corp Ltd Welspun Corp Limited is the second largest manufacturer of large diameter pipes in the world based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a flagship company of the $3 billion (129 billion) Welspun Group. It operates a 1.65 mtpa plant in Anjar, Gujarat ...

, the world's second-largest producer of large-diameter pipes. As Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) President (2018-2019), Goenka contributed significantly to shaping India's Trade, Commerce, and Industrial environment. According to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

, Goenka's net worth is estimated at $1.3 billion as of 29 December 2022. Goenka ranked 83rd on 2015's

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Rich List.

Early life

Balkrishan Goenka (known more as BK or BKG) was born on 15 August 1966 in Hisar,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

, the son of Gopi Ram Goenka and his wife, Gayatri Devi Goenka. The second of three children, he grew up in Delhi before moving to Mumbai in the early 1980s. Balkrishan Goenka lived in a joint family in a large house with grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, four uncles, aunts, and cousins. He came from a Marwari family engaged in exporting food grains but seemed interested in something other than carrying on the family business. Goenka wanted to venture into a different business. The 16-year-old BKG decided to turn the family's movie hall into a commercial complex and set up a fast food joint there.

Career

The career of BKG has been majorly influenced by Gopi Ram Goenka (Babuji). Balkrishan Goenka draws inspiration from his father. Goenka founded Welspun in 1985. The initial project was in Maharashtra's

Palghar Palghar () is a town in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, India and a municipal council. It is in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and since 2014 it has been the administrative capital of the Palghar district. Palghar lies on the Weste ...

Canara Bank Canara Bank is an Indian public sector bank under the control and ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Established in 1906 at Mangalore by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, the bank also has offices in London, Dubai and New York. Hist ...

provided the funding, and Himsons, Surat, a company that assembles texturizing machinery, was contracted to supply the first machine. Within a year, the company made a profit of INR 18 lakhs. Goenka set up Welspun with his cousin, Rajesh R. Mandawewala, now the managing director of the

. Over 25 years, he built up a $3-billion turnover company.

Timeline

2000s–present

In 2006, Welspun acquired an 85 percent stake in CHT Holdings Limited, the holding company of Christy, the leading towel brand in Britain. BKG has ventured into various businesses ranging from home

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

s to steel pipes, infrastructure,

renewable A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

business,

warehousing A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, ...

and Oil & Gas.

Personal life

He married Dipali Goenka in 1987, and they have two daughters, Radhika and Vanshika. He is passionate about

vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that en ...

s and owns two vintage cars: A Standard Coventry 1929 and a 1930 Ford.

Leadership Style

The visionary leadership of Mr. Goneka envisions Welspun Group as one of the world's leading conglomerates. In an interview with the financial express, he stated, “There’s no point in getting into anything and everything. We have to be focused about what we are doing and be the best in it.” BKG Award

Awards and honors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goenka, B K Living people Businesspeople from Rajasthan 1966 births Indian businesspeople in textiles