View source for Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{More citations needed|date = January 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya
|image         = KaramshiJethabhaiSomaiya.jpg
|image_size    = 
|caption       = Karamshi Somaiya's Statue at [[Somaiya Vidyavihar]]
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1902|05|16|df=yes}}
|birth_place   = Remote village of Malunjar, [[Ahmednagar]] District,<br />in [[Maharashtra]], [[India]].
|death_date    = {{death date and age|df=y|1999|5|09|1902|05|16}}
|nationality   = Indian
|alma_mater    = New High School in [[Mumbai]] <br />(now Bharda New High School)
|spouse         = Sakarben Karamshi Somaiya
|children       = Shantilal Karamshi Somaiya
|profession     = Sugar industrialist
| awards        = [[Padma Bhushan]] (2000)
}}
'''Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya''' was an Indian educationist who founded educational institutes in [[Maharashtra]] state in [[India]]. He was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] for his service to society in 2000.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2014 }}</ref> The [[Somaiya Vidyavihar]] educational campus in Mumbai and several colleges in this campus are named after him. He was also an industrialist and founder of Somaiya Group of industries.

== Early life and education ==
Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya, born on 16 May 1902 in the remote village of malunja in shrirampur taluka [[Ahmednagar]] district of [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]. Karamshi, after completing school at the New High School in [[Mumbai]] (now the Bharda New High School) went back to his hometown in [[Ahmednagar]]. Karamshi Somaiya engaged in looking after his father's small grocery business, would travel from village to village selling groceries and booking orders.

== Business career ==
In the 1939 Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya launched 2 sugar factories&nbsp;– in Sakarwadi and in Lakshmiwadi to mark the launch of his own sugar business. He soon came to be known as the Sugar King of India. Karamshi became a partner in a leading sugar trading firm of Shobachand Ramnarayan Khatod of [[Shrirampur]] in [[Ahmednagar]] district. The Deccan canals were commissioned by the [[Government of India]]. He was the President of the Deccan Sugar Factories Association, the President of the Deccan Sugar Technologists Association.

== Works in education, medical, agriculture ==
Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya bought a large area of land at [[Ghatkopar]]. Karamshibhai laid the foundation for [[Somaiya Vidyavihar]] in 1959. In close to four and a half decades it has grown into a large educational complex with 34 institutions catering to diverse fields of education such as Humanities, Engineering, Education, Medicine, Management and Mass Communication, with more than 23,000 students and 1,500 teaching faculty on a 65-acre campus.
Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya established the Girivanavasi Pragati Mandal in 1974 in the tribal area of [[Dahanu]], in [[Thane]] District, 110&nbsp;km from [[Mumbai]]. Mandal associated well known surgeons and physicians with the annual eye-cum-medical camps. The Mandal established a training centre and experimental farm for agriculture extension work. Karamshi founded a residential school to cater to the educational needs of children of the migrant <br />tribal population providing free quality instruction. He also built a 40-bed hospital with a resident doctor facility to cater to their health needs.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080420182149/http://www.somaiya.edu/tafe/about.htm K. J. Somaiya Vocational Training Institute]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121023224534/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-09-13/mumbai/27947782_1_university-status-ugc-educational-institutes Somaiya colleges to seek deemed university status ]
*[https://www.somaiya.edu/kjsce/about_us/founder About Karamshi]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somaiya, Karamshi}}
[[Category:Businesspeople from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:People from Shrirampur]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian philanthropists]]