Dalmia Group

The Dalmia Group of Companies came into existence in India in the early 1930s as the Dalmia-Jain Group. Founded by the late Ramkrishna Dalmia, with the assistance of his younger brother Jaidayal Dalmia and his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, the group’s activities included banks and insurance companies, newspapers and publishing houses, aviation and railway companies, electric supply companies, collieries, a motor car company, biscuits, cement, chemicals, distilleries, dairy products, jute, paper, plywood, paints, refractories, sugar, textiles and others.

The Group’s greatest contribution to national development was in the emergence of the Indian cement industry. Entering this area in 1936 as a challenge to the monopoly of one powerful combine, the ACC Ltd., the Group set up several cement factories. Reflecting the geographic expansion of the group and its presence in each corner of the country, cement factories were set up in Dalmianagar (Bihar, East India), Dalmia Dadri (Haryana, North India), Dandot (West Punjab, now in Central Pakistan), Dalmiapuram (Tamil Nadu, South India), Karachi (Sind, now in South Pakistan), Rajgangpur (Orissa, East India) and Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan, North India).

In 1943, the Group established the Bharat Bank Ltd., which on the basis of authorised capital, became the biggest bank of its time. Later it acquired controlling interests in the Punjab National Bank and in the Times of India group of publications. At the time, the Dalmia companies together ranked third among India’s major industrial groups after the Tatas and the Birlas. In the automotive sphere, one company of the Group, Allen Berry & Co. Limited, purchased the entire lot of American surplus disposal vehicles, numbering about 50,000, after World War II. This company ran vast workshops in various parts of India till the 1950s when it was disbanded.

The Dalmia (Rajasthani: डालमिया (Devanagari) ڈالمیا (Perso-Arabic)) Family traces its roots to a town in Rajasthan, known as Chirawa. Traditionally, the Dalmias belong to the community loosely known as Marwaris, a term commonly used to denote businessmen hailing from the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan and neighbouring districts of Haryana. Though Marwar is a geographical region and former kingdom in Rajasthan, the term Marwaris gained coinage as a description of the business community from Shekhawati rather than an indication of geographical origin.

Dalmia as a surname originated from a place name in Haryana but the Dalmia people have now spread to many regions of India and abroad. No longer restricted to trading, they follow other professions as well in modern times. The Dalmia Family, or the Dalmia Group, usually refers to the blood-line and businesses of those who descended from the late Ramkrishna Dalmia and the late Jaidayal Dalmia - industrial pioneers and the first prominent businessmen to emerge on a global scale from the community.

Today, the family and its relatives have interests, among others, in media, industrial explosives, cement, magnesite, sugar, olive and other edible oils, leisure resorts and hotels, refractories, castings, cigarettes, soda ash, textiles, rigs and drilling equipment, non-conventional and renewable energy and services such as inbound tourism, business process outsourcing, software development and financial services.

Total turnover of these companies exceeds US$ 5 billion

Companies controlled by the Dalmia Family and its immediate relatives today

Artech Infosystems Pvt. Ltd (NOIDA, U. P.) - Software Products, IT Consulting.

Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (the Times of India Group incl. Times Internet Ltd., Times Global Broadcasting Ltd., Times Business Solutions Ltd. and TIML Radio Ltd.(Mumbai, Maharashtra) – Newspapers and Periodicals, Internet, TV Broadcasting, Radio Broadcasting.

Caretel Infotech Ltd. (New Delhi) – BPO and other IT enabled services.

Dalmia Bharat Enterprises Ltd. – (incl. Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. and Dalmia Power Ventures Ltd.), (Dalmiapuram, Tamil Nadu) – Cement, Captive Power.

Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Industries Ltd. (incl. Dalmia Solar Power Ltd., Govan Travels), (Dalmiapuram, Tamil Nadu) – Sugar, Refractories, Travel Services, Solar Power, Wind and Agro Power.

Dalmia Continental Pvt. Ltd (New Delhi) – Olive Oil, Canola Oil and other premium consumer goods.

DALMIA finetex (Stuttgart, Germany) – Design & Distribution of Cashmere products.

Dalmia HealthCare Ltd. (New Delhi) – Alternative healthcare products and solutions.

Dalmia Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) – Real Estate Development, Investments.

Dalmia Resorts International Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) – Time-share Vacation Ownership, Hotels, Resorts.

Electrosteel Castings Ltd. (Kolkata) – Ductile Iron Pipes & Fittings, Pig Iron, CI Spun Pipes, Low Ash Metallurgical Coke, Water Supply and Sewerage Systems.

Entertainment Network India Ltd. (Mumbai, Maharashtra) – Radio Broadcasting.

GHCL Limited (Veraval, Gujarat) (incl. Sree Meenakshi Mills, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Rosebys Interiors India Ltd., Noida UP) – Soda Ash, Chemicals, Textiles, Retail Stores.

Golden Tobacco Ltd. (Mumbai, Maharashtra) – Tobacco Products and Real Estate Development.

Grandeur Travels Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) – C&F Agents, Travel Agents.

Hari Machines Ltd. (Rajgangpur, Orissa) – Refractories Equipment, Engineering Equipment, Heavy Industrial Machinery.

Landmark Property Development Co. Ltd. (New Delhi) – Real Estate Investment and Development.

OCL India Ltd. (Rajgangpur, Orissa) – Cement, Refractories.

OCL Iron & Steel Limited (Rajgangpur, Orissa) – Sponge Iron, Pig Iron, Steel, Billets.

Potential Semac Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (Bangalore, Karnataka) – Engineering Design and Solutions.

Revathi Equipment Ltd. (Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) – Drilling Equipment and Concreting Equipment.

Satellier India Pvt. Ltd. (Noida, UP) – Design Support, Product Solutions, BIM Services for AECO firms.

Shri Nataraj Ceramic and Chemical Industries Ltd. (Dalmiapuram, Tamil Nadu) – Refractories.

Sunshine Tourism Services Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi) – Tour Handling & Management Services.

Times of Money Ltd. (Mumbai, Maharashtra) – Online Remittance.

Worldwide Media India Ltd. (Mumbai, Maharashtra) – Magazines and Periodicals.

External links

• Artech Infosystems Pvt. Ltd.
• Time Magazine article
• Centre for Civil Society research paper
• Dalmia Brothers
• OCL India Ltd
• Dalmia Continental
• Sunshine Tourism
• Revathi Equipment Ltd
• The Times of India
• GTC Industries Ltd
• Hindustan Times article
• Frontline Magazine-1946: A Fateful Year
• The Milli Gazette article
• Frontline Magazine-The House That Jinnah Built
• Daily Times article
• Peace Prize
• Epic of the New India
• Indian Millionaires arrested
• Wealthy Indians Jailed
• Books of the Times
• Hindu Boys' Home
• Indian Praises America
• Dalmia Jain Enterprises
• Independence Day Observed
• Industralist Fails to End Indian Rift