Rai Bahadur Sir Badridas Goenka CIE (29 July 1883 – 26 February 1973) was an Indian industrialist and business tycoon who served as the Chairman of the Imperial Bank of India from 1933 to 1955 and the first Chairman of the State Bank of India upon its formation in 1955.

Early life and education

Badridas Goenka was born on 29 July 1883 in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

to Ramachandra Goenka. The Goenkas were a Marwari family which hailed from Dundlod in

Rajputana Rājputana (), meaning Land of the Rajputs, was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the entire present-day States of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, parts of the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and adjo ...

. His elder brother was Hariram Goenka and younger brother was Ghanshyam Das Goenka. In 1905, Goenka graduated from the Presidency College, Calcutta - he was the first Marwari to graduate. In college, Goenka developed an interest in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. He married Manorama in 1899.

Career

Goenka joined the family business after graduation and was in 1910, elected Secretary of the Marwari Association. In 1923, Goenka was nominated over his rival G. D. Birla to the Marwari reserved seat in the Imperial Legislative Council of India. This resulted in an uncompromising political rivalry between the two. However, in 1930, Goenka declined an offer to be a part of the Viceroy's executive council. In 1928, Goenka was part of the Hilton-Young Commission which investigated the financial situation in India. In 1930, he was appointed a director of the Imperial Bank of India and in 1933, he became Chairman, the first Indian to hold the post. He was elected for a second term in 1941 and subsequently, served till 1955, when the Imperial Bank of India was nationalized and became the State Bank of India. Badridas served as the first Chairman of the State Bank of India from 1955 to 1957.

Later life

Goenka patched up with his old opponent G. D. Birla in the early 1940s and joined his Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) of which Badridas became President in 1945. During the Bengal Famine, the two worked together to provide relief measures in the affected areas. When his term as President of FICCI came to an end, Goenka retired from all business and voluntary associations. In his later years, Badridas increasingly transferred his responsibilities to his son Keshav Prasad Goenka. Goenka died on 26 February 1973. His death was mourned at a special meeting of the prominent citizens of Calcutta.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goenka, Badridas 1883 births 1973 deaths Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Indian Knights Bachelor Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Goenka family Rai Bahadurs