Nonagenarian industrialist Basant Kumar Birla, 98, died on Wednesday.
Born on 12 January 1921, the nonagenarian was the chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET) and various educational trusts and institutes.
Birla was the youngest son of industrialist and philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla.
By fifteen years of age, he was already actively associated with a large number of companies and eventually became the chairman of Kesoram Industries.
In this role, he concentrated on the industries of cotton, viscose, polyester and nylon yarns, refractory, paper, shipping, tyrecord, transparent paper, spun pipe, cement, tea, coffee, cardamom, chemicals, plywood, MDF Board, etc.
In April 1941, he married Sarla, the daughter of activist and writer Brijlal Biyani. They had a son, Aditya Vikram Birla, and two daughters, Jayashree Mohta and Manjushree Khaitan.
He also established Birla Public School in Qatar and the Birla College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Kalyan. Also founded Birla Vidya Niketan in the national capital.
He was the author of several books, including an autobiography entitled ‘Svantah Sukhaya’.
