India’s business icon BK Birla passes away at 98 leaving behind a legacy of calculated risks

• Birla family patriarch B K Birla passes away on July 3 due to age-related ailments, at the age of 98.
• A 13-year old BK was chided by an uncle about earning pocket money, and that led him to invest in shares.
• B K Birla’s funeral will be held on Thursday in Kolkata, as per his last wishes.
• He wrote in his autobiography, Swanta: Sukhaya that he was taught accounting by his family.

Decades before Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group purchased American metal company Novelis, yet another Birla had set the stage to the group’s global dreams. That was his grandfather B K Birla, who passed away yesterday at the age of 98.


BK Babu as he was lovingly called, is known to have fought and won many internal battles to take the group started by his great-grandfather to new heights. The first was taking manufacturing to Ethiopia, and its most illustrious one was to convince his father, G D Birla to enter the tea plantation business.


This legacy came to an end on July 3 due to age-related ailments.

The man who knew ‘hisab-kitab’

However, BK Babu was as industrious as he was full of fire and risks. And, he started young. A 13-year old BK was chided by an uncle about earning pocket money, and that led him to invest in shares. Within a year, he made Rs 4,000 profit.

Needless to say, this budding genius was inducted into the family business, the very next year, kick starting his illustrious journey. Though he missed college, his family taught him the basics of business which is ‘hisab kitab’ or accounting.

He wrote in his autobiography, Swanta: Sukhaya (For my Happiness Only) that he was put through a one-year programme learning accounting, keeping books and understanding bank statements.
So deft was BK at this, that his employees could never ‘pad’ books, as he would catch any fudged number, immediately! He is known to go through his books in the middle of the month, a life-long discipline that he adhered to. Keeping his books clean, was one thing that ensured that there no big trouble at his companies.

Love for photography

BK was not all about business, though he attended office well into his 80s, on the fifteenth floor of Birla Building at BBD Bagh in Kolkata ---as he continued to remain the chairman of many companies in the group’s pulp to cement businesses.

He was an avid photographer who carried on his passion well into his sixties. He is also a patron of arts and he and his wife Sarla helped set up the Birla Academy and an auditorium Kalamandir, a legacy which will remain long after he is gone. He is survived by his daughters and a grandson. His son, the father of Kumar Mangalam Birla, Aditya Vikram Birla, passed away in 1995.

B K Birla’s funeral will be held on Thursday in Kolkata, as per his last wishes.