Karam Chand Thapar

Karam Chand Thapar (1900 to 1963) was the founder of the Thapar group of companies. Persondata
NAME=Karam Chand Thapar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=KCT
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH=1900
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1963
PLACE OF DEATH=

He was originally from Punjab. He started his career in 1920 as a coal trader in Calcutta, and built up the family fortune through [http://www.kctcoalsales.com/about_us.htm| Karam Chand Thapar and Bros] . He then started JCT Limited [http://www.jcttextiles.com/Thapar.htm] that is into textiles as well as molasses and alcohol. He also took over The Oriental Bank of Commerce [http://www.obcindia.com/uniquepage.asp?id_pk=114] , and ventured into paper manufacturing with the Ballarpur Industries Limited. In 1956 he started the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Tech. In 2006 the college was made a university Thapar University [http://gist.ap.nic.in/cgi-bin/edn/ednshow.cgi/?en=00250] .

Personal

Born in 1900, he died in 1963 and was survived by four sons: Inder Mohan Thapar, Brij Mohan Thapar or BM Thapar, Lalit Mohan Thapar, or LMT, and Man Mohan Thapar.

The eldest son, Inder Mohan, was not offered the reins of the group when KCT fell sick. BMT was not ready to take on the responsibility and third son Lalit was made head of the business by KCT before his death, with the undertaking that he (LMT) would ensure that Inder Mohan's son would be given the reins after LMT turns 65 and all of LMT's brothers would be given their due share of the family business.LMT stood by his word to his dying father and did over the years divide the group among his brothers; his not marrying helped his cause by not adding more claimants to the group assets. However he gave the reins of the bigger part of the company to Gautam Thapar, son of BMT, and gave the chemicals division to Vikram Thapar, the son of IMT. [http://www.businessworld.in/July1006/indepth05.asp]

Thapar Group

The Thapar group was started by Karam Chand Thapar, till the 70's and the early 1980s it was one of the top 10 business houses of India. Karam Chand Thapar died in 1963, and his third son L.M. Thapar took over the group, which then included the [http://www.obcindia.com| Oriental Bank of Commerce] , as well as [http://orientalinsurance.nic.in/index.htm| Oriental Insurance] . Both these companies later got nationalised. Other Thapar group companies and concerns in India are or were ,The Pioneer , Thapar House on Janpath Lane, Tiger Bay Restaurant, Global Green, Crompton Greaves [http://www.cglonline.com/corporate_structure.htm] , Greaves Cotton and JCT group, Bilt Chemicals, BILT and KCT Bros.

Divisions

Greaves Cotton and JCT are now with MM Thapar. His son Samir Thapar runs JCT Mills and his son Arjun Thapar runs JCT electronics. [http://www.jctel.com/]

Crompton Greaves, Bilt Chemicals and Bharat Starch was vested with BM Thapar and hence would be under his sons Gautam and Karan Thapar's control. Gautam has also been named by L.M. Thapar as the successor of his group of companies, inlcuding BILT.

IM Thapar's son Vikram Thapar looks after his group which includes KCT Bros, the Calcutta based coal trading business K.C Thapar started out with and prawn farms for prawn exports as well as the Tiger Bay restaurant chain.

Thapar Institute of Engineering and Tech (now Thapar University) is a group project funded by the Thapars.

After L.M Thapar's death in 2007, his nephew Gautam Thapar (son of BM Thapar and grandson of Karam Chand Thapar) has taken the reigns of BILT which is the flagship company of the group. The company has recently come out of a slump in the industry.

Links

[http://www.hrfolks.com/knowledgebank/businesshouses.htm| Business Houses list]

[http://www.businessweek.com/1997/15/b352212.htm| Businessweek mention in 1997]

[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060616/asp/business/story_6359623.asp| Article on family division]

[http://www.jcttextiles.com/Thapar.htm| JCT textiles website]

[http://tiet.edu/| Engineering college website]

[http://www.kctcoalsales.com/about_us.htm| KCT website]

[http://www.biltpaper.com/| Bilt website]