Tarachand Ghanshyamdas
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Tarachand Ghanshyamdas was a famous
Marwari Marwari may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the Marwar region of Rajasthan, India, largely in the Thar Desert ** Marwari people, an Indian ethnic group originating in the Marwar region ** Marwari language, the language of the Marwari ...
trading firm that flourished from 1791 to 1957. It is believed to have been responsible to introducing many of now famous Marwari clans from
Shekhawati Shekhawati is a region in the northern part of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu, and Churu district, Churu. The language of this region is also called Shekhawat ...
to national and international business field. The grandfathers of both G.D. Birla and
Lakshmi Mittal Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (; born 15 June 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan, Sadulpur, Rajasthan, India) is an Indian steel magnate, based in the United Kingdom. He is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world's second largest steelmaking company ...
worked for great Tarachand Ghanshyamdas while grandfather of Raja Baldeo Das Birla worked at the great Ganeriwala Firm Tarachand Ghanshyamdas in 1870, had offices at Kolkata, Mumbai, Amritsar, the Malwa
opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
belt of Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. Another great Marwari firm Sevaram Ramrikhdas, employed the RPG Group patriarch, Rama Prasad Goenka's grandfather's great-grandfather, Ramdutt. The division division of Sevaram Ramrikhdas resulted in independent branches of that family at Kanpur, Mirzapur, Farrukhabad and Kolkata; the Singhanias are descendants of the Kanpur branch.


Rise

The firm initially dealt in woolen garments. In the early 19th century many Marwari merchants settled in Calcutta. Opium soon became a major commodity. The records of "Sevaram Ramrikhdas", a Marwari firm based out of Mirzapur in 1830s show opium to have been their major commodity. Tarachand Ghanshyamdas had several branches in the opium tracts of Malwa. Opium sales were Legalized in Hong Kong in 1845 after the British defeated China in the
First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...
. The opium trade was expanded after the
Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...
in 1860. Calcutta became an important market for opium trading after auctions in Bombay were discontinued in 1830s. The Poddar family originally hails from Churu in the
Shekhawati Shekhawati is a region in the northern part of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu, and Churu district, Churu. The language of this region is also called Shekhawat ...
region of
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
. Around the year 1791 CE, when the local ruler (thakur) of Churu imposed very heavy taxes on the wool trade, a group of Marwadi tradesmen, including ancestors of the Poddar family, left Churu and moved into the domain of neighbouring Raja of
Sikar Sikar is a city and municipal council in the Sikar district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Sikar district. It is largest city of the Shekhawati region, which consists of Sikar, Churu and Jhu ...
. They created a settlement there and named the village Ramgarh. The founder or earliest known patriarch of the Poddar family was Bugotee Ram (Bhagwati Ram). He became the treasurer of the nawab of
Fatehpur, Rajasthan Fatehpur is a city in the Sikar district of Indian state Rajasthan. It is part of the Shekhawati region. It is midway between Sikar city and Bikaner on National Highway 52. It is also the land to Havelis built by Marwari Seth's. It also has m ...
, a large local landowner. The local term in that region for Treasurer was "Fotedar" or "purse-man". That term mutated first into "" and then "", and this is the origin of the name by which the family is known. The Nawab of Fatehpur, although important within his immediate region, ranked far beneath the rulers of the great Rajasthani states such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner or Udaipur. Nevertheless, the position of treasurer was one of prestige, and conferred upon men whose personal wealth is so vast that they can bankroll the Nawab's estate on credit. Bugotee Ram must have been both extremely wealthy and good at his job, for he also became a trusted banker to the royal families of Jaipur, Bikaner, and even distant Hyderabad. Bugotee/Bhagwati Ram's son, Chaterbhuj, help a Jain
Yati Yati, historically was the general term for a monk or pontiff in Jainism. Jainism In the late medieval period, yati came to represent a stationary monk, who lived in one place rather than wandering as required for a Jain monk. The term was mo ...
(monk). The Yati inspired him to go to
Bhatinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda district. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa Region, west of the capital city o ...
in
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
where, he was told, his business would prosper. Chaturbhuj duly went and resided in
Bhatinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda district. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa Region, west of the capital city o ...
for many years, and also extended his business by opening branches in
Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...
and Hissar. Until this time, the family kept to their traditional businesses of money-lending and commodity trade, mainly in cotton and grain. It was Chaterbhuj's son, Tarachand, who added the extremely lucrative trade in opium to the family business portfolio. Indeed, it was the opium trade which was the true source of enrichment for the Poddar family, and which magnified their wealth manifold. Their role in the trade was to source poppy/opium from the hinterland and supply the same to
Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...
tradesmen who plied the China trade, and to Parsi-owned opium units in Ahmedabad and Surat. Tarachand's son, Ghanshyamdas, was the founder of the trading firm 'Tarachand Ghanshyamdas.' Tarachand Ghanshyamdas was the greatest Marwari firm during 1860s and 1914 when it rivalled British companies in size. They took deposits, gave loans, engaged in the wholesale trade, transferred money for clients to distant cities, cashed bills of trade, insured shipments, as well as speculated on commodity futures.


Dissolution

After the dissolution of Tarachand Ghanshyamdas, the three brothers Bimal Kumar Poddar (were adopted by his maternal grandfather Janki Prasad Poddar, a partner of Tarachand Ghanshyamdas), Suresh Neotia and Vinod Neotia set up Radhakrishna Bimalkumar in the mid '50s. Shrikumar Poddar another descendant of Tarachand Ghanshyamdas set up the successful Poddar Group ventures in the Americas and Europe. As a leading agent of Burma Shell in India it operated several branches across UP, Bihar and West Bengal.


The "Great" Firm model

Dr. T. Timberg considers Tarachand Ghanshyamdas to be a good example of a "Great" Firm. He suggests the following challenges to the existence of the great firm: * Decentralisation: Too much intervention by family members and not enough delegation to professional executives. * Scouting Opportunities: The business group often needs to find businesses for the heirs. * Succession and continuity: Heirs need to be groomed by the family. * Routinisation of Charisma: The founder's charisma becomes institutionalised, but the heirs focus on systems. * Family splits: The splits that need to be managed while preserving the organisation. The model has been used to explain the decline of the Mughal empire.The 'Great Firm' Theory of the Decline of the Mughal Empire, Karen Leonard, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1979), pp. 151–167


References

{{reflist Rajasthani people Marwari people Businesspeople from Rajasthan Ethnic groups in India