Kamalnayan Bajaj – Architect of the Bajaj Group
23rd January 1915 to 1st May 1972
Architect of the Bajaj Group
India was in turmoil, Partition, wars, riots; shortages of food, power, raw materials, technology and foreign exchange; upheavals in the banking system and the introduction of the Licence Raj – these are just some of the challenges the country and its entrepreneurs faced in the 1940s, ‘50s, 60s and early ‘70s.
Unfazed, Kamalnaya Bajaj quietly got to work in 1942 the Bajaj Group had sales of approximately Rs.1 crore, under 200 employees, a few ginning and pressing mills and a fistful of debts. His first act was to work off the debts. During partition, the group lost almost one-third of its assets. He started afresh. Over the next three decades, he built sixteen factories and acquired five. By 1965, the Bajaj Group was the 19th largest business house in the country. Today its market cap is approximately Rs.130,000 crore with a pre – tax profit of over Rs.8,000 crore. Bajaj Auto is the world’s third largest motorcycle manufacturer. The two Bajaj Allianz Insurance Companies and Bajaj Finance, a consumer finance company, are leaders in their respective fields.
Of greater importance, Kamalnayan Bajaj laid strong foundations by embedding values and ethics in the group. It’s a heritage cherished by his successors – and a worthy tribute to the Architect of the Bajaj Group.
He received Mahatma’s loving attention and Vinoba’s teaching experimentations. But, he doggedly matched wits with both these pillars of contemporary Indian history before accepting their philosophies. He was a patriot. He was a rebel. He was a capitalist with a social outlook. He was a maverick; an original thinker.
He was a sound businessman, a politician with a conscience.
He fought night and day against the shackles of the British Raj. Yet found time to consolidate his business enterprises. He laid the foundation of the Bajaj group. He was Kamalnayan Bajaj, Elder son of Jamnalal Bajaj, A great son of India.