DCM chairman Bharat Ram dies at 93

Bharat Ram, Chairman Emeritus of DCM, died today at 93, bringing the curtain down on the pioneering generation of north Indian businessmen.

Bharat Ram's younger brother, Charat Ram, died two months ago, aged 89.

The others who have passed on are M S Oberoi of the eponymous chain of hotels, H P Nanda of Escorts, Bhai Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy, Raunaq Singh of Apollo Tyres and Gujar Mal Modi and K N Modi of Modi Enterprises.

These names comprise pretty much the entire first generation of businessmen in north India, many of who had braved displacement and poverty.

The DCM group, one of India's leading industrial groups for many decades, lost a lot of its lustre in the late 1980s partly because of a feud between the three sons of Lala Shriram "" the third being Murli Dhar "" and their families.

After his graduation, he joined DCM in 1935 as an apprentice. He then rose to the position of chairman and managing director in 1958.

Over the next quarter of a century, DCM attained an eminent position in the Indian corporate sector, riding on the wings of its labour policies (it had an elected workman on the board long before empowerment became a buzzword) and its famed management training programmes.

Ranked among the top 10 conglomerates in India, it diversified beyond its traditional areas of textiles and sugar into emerging sectors such as chemicals, fertiliser, tyre cord, automobiles and electronics.

Bharat Ram retired in 1985, but stayed on as the Chairman Emeritus of DCM and SRF and the chairman of Coromandel Fertilizers.