Today is the centenary of the Delhi Durbar, the coronation event of King George V where the British proclaimed they would be shifting the Indian capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The move was formally made in 1931, forcing many a prominent industrialist to relocate here.

The Dalmia Jains were the first among the Marwari industrialists of the East to move in (the Birlas came later even though GD maintained a home here — the house that Mahatma Gandhi was shot in). The partition brought here families like the Singhs of the Ranbaxy group and hotel magnate Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi (via Shimla) from across the border.

But the true blue Dilliwalla business family are the Shri Rams, who have been in the city for 300 years. “We were perhaps the very first industrial family in Delhi,” says Mr Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman, SRF. DCM founder Lala Shri Ram, whose grandfather was the kotwal of Delhi during the 1857 mutiny worked as a shop hand in Chandni Chowk before he became a business baron.

A NEW POWER CENTRE

Delhi's business climate began to change with the arrival of the Marwaris. Mr V N Dalmia, the youngest son of Ramkrishna Dalmia, founder of the Dalmia-Jain group, says, “Our manufacturing base was Dalmianagar, Bihar but as my father began acquiring companies and we became a conglomerate, he saw the need to be closer to the Central Government.”

Delhi was more a sleepy government town then, but today he feels it has morphed into a busy business town.

Mr Bharat Ram feels that the city actually began to acquire an industrial character only in the 1960s, after Escorts settled in. The refugees introduced a spirit of enterprise to the city. A case in point is Bhai Mohan Singh's family. Says his grandson, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman and CEO, Fortis: “Our grandfather migrated from Rawalpindi during the partition, and the family began a new life in Delhi.”

THEN AND NOW

Mr Dalmia feels the business climate in Delhi was more challenging than Calcutta. Delhi had no stock exchange and none too great telecom and transport connections. “In Calcutta, the Indian business community had a strong social network — perhaps that's why my father threw so many parties here. I have pictures of parties at his 27 Akbar Road residence attended by the likes of Jinnah,” he says.

Mr Bharat Ram differs. “In my grandfather's time, business was much easier to do, there was virtually no corruption at all and industrialists were a respected lot. My grandfather was among those called in to draft the Bombay Plan,” he says.

“Yes, there were less than 1,000 telephones here in Delhi then,” he adds. “I still remember the telephone number in our house at Curzon Road; it was 222.”

A far cry from today indeed, points out Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman and MD, Bharti Enterprises: “Delhi is on course to becoming one of the major global cities of the future. The growth of Delhi from a small city to a large metropolis epitomises the rise of India itself.”

(with inputs from Thomas K. Thomas)

>Chitra.n@thehindu.co.in

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