HongGrasby5256 at 21:02, 14 March 2026

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{{short description|Indian industrialist and philanthropist (1884–1963)}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lala Shri Ram
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|04|27|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|01|11|1884|04|27|df=yes}}
| parents = {{Unbulleted_list|Madan Mohan Lal|Chando Devi}}
| spouse = Phoolan Devi (Lady Shri Ram)
| children = Murli Dhar, [[Bharat Ram]], Charat Ram
| relatives = Sir Shankar Lal (brother)
| alma_mater = [[Hindu College, Delhi|Hindu College]]
}}

'''Sir''' '''Shri Ram''' (27 April 1884 – 11 January 1963), better known as '''Lala Shri Ram''', was an Indian [[industrialist]] and [[Philanthropy|philanthropist]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Our Founder | DCM SHRIRAM |url=https://www.dcmshriram.com/our-founder}}</ref> Ram was the owner of [[Delhi Cloth & General Mills]], one of the oldest companies in India.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhandari |first=Bhupesh |date=20 January 2013 |title=DCM's split family disorder |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/dcm-s-split-family-disorder-111041400059_1.html |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=Business Standard}}</ref> During his business career, Ram was one of India's most prominent industrialists.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ramesh |first=P. R. |date=25 October 2024 |title=The Big Bharat Boom |url=https://openthemagazine.com/cover-stories/the-big-bharat-boom/ |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=Open}}</ref> In 1941, the [[British Raj]] government in India conferred Ram with [[Knighthood (UK)|knighthood]] in recognition of his contributions to the development of Indian society.<ref>{{cite web |title=Home |url=http://nationalarchives.nic.in/ |website=nationalarchives.nic.in}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> Ram was also noted for his philanthropy, which included founding the [[Shri Ram College of Commerce]] and [[Lady Shri Ram College|Lady Shri Ram College for Women]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhattacharya |first=Debasis |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Corporate_Social_Development/ZyVfMUm0X2wC?hl=en&gbpv |title=Corporate Social Development: A Paradigm Shift |date= |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-8069-324-3 |location=New Delhi |page=44 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" />

==Early life==
Shri Ram was born on April 27, 1884.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Bhasin |first=Sonu |date=30 May 2023 |title=LSR was a labour of love for Lala Shri Ram. He even picked library books himself |url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/lsr-was-a-labour-of-love-for-lala-shri-ram-he-even-picked-library-books-himself/1607613/ |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=ThePrint}}</ref> He was the first son of Madan Mohan Lal and Chando Devi to a [[Agarwal]] family in [[Haryana]], which was then [[Punjab Province (British India)|British Punjab Province]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Tripathi |first=Dwijendra |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi2004trip |title=The Oxford history of Indian business |date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-565968-9 |location=New Delhi |pages=186–188}}</ref> Ram had a younger brother, Lala Shankar Lal.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Bhandari |first=Bhupesh |date=25 January 2013 |title=Bhupesh Bhandari: Of governmental honours |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bhupesh-bhandari-of-governmental-honours-111021100064_1.html |access-date=17 May 2025 |website=Business Standard}}</ref>

Ram's family at the time was known as the Kotwal family, which stemmed from Ram's great-grandfather, who was [[Kotwal]], a military title, in Delhi during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhandari |first=Bhupesh |date=9 October 2014 |title=Bhupesh Bhandari: Remembering Bharat Ram |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bhupesh-bhandari-remembering-bharat-ram-114100901277_1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423004404/https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/bhupesh-bhandari-remembering-bharat-ram-114100901277_1.html |archive-date=23 April 2023 |access-date=14 May 2025 |website=Business Standard |url-status=live }}</ref> Ram's early education was from a Municipal Primary School in Bazaar Sita Ram.<ref name=":3" /> He matriculated in March 1900 and later enrolled in the Intermediate Arts course at [[Hindu College, Delhi|Hindu College]], [[Delhi University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://srgslucknow.com/about-us/sir-shri-ram/|title=Sir Shri Ram|access-date=1 August 2019|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002004050/https://srgslucknow.com/about-us/sir-shri-ram/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Business career==
Lala Gopal Roy, Ram's uncle, was one of the founders and the first secretary of [[Delhi Cloth & General Mills]] (DCM), which was founded on 2 March 1891.<ref name=":0" /> Prior, he had been a ''munim'' (a kind of private secretary) working in a ''pedhi''.<ref name=":0" />{{Clarify|date=July 2024|reason=What is a ''pedhi''?}}

Ram's first interaction with DCM happened in 1905, when Ram, at the age of 21, attended an annual general meeting with his uncle, Lala Gopal Roy.<ref name=":0" /> His uncle died the same year and Ram's father, Madan Mohan Lal, was appointed in his place as secretary of the company.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Dubashi |first=Jay |date=31 May 1984 |title=Lala Shri Ram (1884-1963): The merchant of Delhi |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/guest-column/story/19840531-lala-shri-ram-1884-1963-the-merchant-of-delhi-803661-1984-05-31 |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=India Today}}</ref> In 1909, Ram, at the age of 25, joined the company as an apprentice in the accounts department under Munim Ram Path and though Ram at the time did not have a formal company title, he had enough authority to act on his father's behalf.<ref name=":0" /> Ram ran the company with his father for another decade; however, his father gradually lowered his own responsibilities, and Ram assumed formal charge of the company.<ref name=":0" />

During [[World War I]], Ram secured a large contract to supply tents for the [[British Indian Army|British Army]] and the [[British Raj]] government, which grew DCM's earnings.<ref name=":4" /> Ram also grew his personal fortune through the tents contract by forming a distinct tent company which had a tripartite ownership between DCM, which owned 50%, Ram, who owned 25%, and a contractor who owned the remaining 25%.<ref name=":4" /> Ram and the contractor were entitled to receive 20% of profits from the tent deal and DCM received 50%.<ref name=":0" /> Ram used the money he earned from the tent deal to buy shares of DCM, which increased his holding in the company from less than 5% to 16%, and then to 20% by 1925.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" />

Between 1923 and 1929, DCM's sales increased by three times and the company was the only textile producer in the region of Delhi and Punjab.<ref name=":4" /> In 1932, DCM entered the [[sugar]] industry and Ram supervised the construction of the company's [[Sugarcane mill|sugar mill]] in [[Daurala]], [[Meerut district|Meerut]].<ref name=":4" /> In the 1930s, Ram led DCM's entry into various industries that began to manufactured a vast variety of products, including [[textile]]s, [[Chemical substance|chemicals]], ''vanaspati'' ([[Fat hydrogenation|hydrogenated vegetable oil]])'','' [[pottery]], [[Fan (machine)|fans]], [[sewing machine]]s, [[electric motor]]s, and [[capacitor]]s.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Indian_Textile_Journal/zr4G3ZvMaaEC?hl=en&gbpv |title=The Indian Textile Journal |publisher=Business Press |year=1980 |page=151 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Manmohan |first=Nutan |date=24 December 2022 |title=DCM textiles is an original ‘Make in India‘ success. It survived plague, WWI and the British |url=https://theprint.in/feature/dcm-textiles-is-an-original-make-in-india-success-it-survived-plague-wwi-and-the-british/1279424/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |website=ThePrint}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

In 1941, Ram was [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|knighted]] by the [[British Raj]]'s government and his younger brother, Lala Shankar Lal was later knighted as well.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitra |first=Kushan |date=27 June 2011 |title=Web exclusive: DCM hopes to thrive again |url=https://www.businesstoday.in/specials/century-old-companies/story/dcm-among-100-year-old-indian-companies-22774-2011-06-27 |access-date=17 May 2025 |website=Business Today}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> In his business career, Ram managed to make managed to make Delhi Cloth & General Mills an industrial empire by 1963, the year he died.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhandari |first=Bhupesh |last2=Singh Gurjar |first2=Ramveer |date=3 May 2013 |title=Capital gain |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/capital-gain-113050300907_1.html}}</ref> During his business career, Ram was noted as one of North India's most prominent businessmen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundar |first=Pushpa |url=https://archive.org/details/businesscommunit0000sund/ |title=Business and community: the story of corporate social responsibility in India |date= |publisher=SAGE |year=2013 |isbn=978-81-321-0955-6 |page=62}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kudaisya |first=Medha M. |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Tryst_with_Prosperity/NfVyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv |title=Tryst with Prosperity: Indian Business and the Bombay Plan of 1944 |date=12 November 2018 |publisher=Penguin Random House India |isbn=978-93-5305-327-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=30 May 2023 |title=Industrialist, visionary, philanthropist – new book on Lala Shri Ram captures man behind DCM |url=https://theprint.in/softcover/industrialist-visionary-philanthropist-new-book-on-lala-shri-ram-captures-man-behind-dcm/1601983/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |website=ThePrint}}</ref>

== Philanthropy ==

=== Education ===
In 1920, Shri Ram conducted the first experiment in vocation-oriented education by founding the Commercial Education Trust (CET). The first school promoted by CET was the commercial high school, which was raised in 1926 to the standard of an intermediate college, in 1930 to a degree college, and in 1934 to a post-graduate college. In 1942, Shri Ram became the chairman of the governing body of the college. By 1948, although comparatively young among the colleges of Delhi University, the Commercial College had the maximum enrolment possible under the university rules. The college offered a B.A. Pass course, a B.A. Honours course in Commerce, and M.A. courses in Economics and Commerce. In 1949, it was proposed to rename the college as "[[Shri Ram College of Commerce]]" but it took three years to implement it due to Shri Ram's reticence. His association with the CET continued right up to the end of his life.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Founder |url=https://www.srcc.edu/about-us/founder |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=Shri Ram College of Commerce}}</ref> Shri Ram College of Commerce later became one of India's most prestigious institutions for commerce and economics.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Mihika |date=15 May 2017 |title=India's best colleges: Why DU's Shri Ram College of Commerce makes you ready for business |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/best-colleges/story/20170522-commerce-du-india-today-best-colleges-survey-srcc-986348-2017-05-15 |access-date=18 May 2025 |website=India Today}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Baruah |first=Sukrita |date=10 August 2021 |title=Expect higher cut-offs this year: SRCC principal |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/expect-higher-cut-offs-this-year-shri-ram-college-of-commerce-principal-7446570/ |access-date=18 May 2025 |website=The Indian Express}}</ref>

The Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, founded in 1947 by Shri Ram, started functioning in 1950. Shri Ram believed that if India was to catch up with the rest of the world, it was necessary to understand existing technology and innovate it through research.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shriraminstitute.org/profile/|title = Scientific and Industrial Research Institute | Shri Ram Institute}}</ref>

Lady Shri Ram College for Women was established in 1956, in New Delhi, by Ram in memory of his wife Phoolan Devi.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Bhasin |first=Sonu |date=2 June 2023 |title=LSR was a labour of love for Lala Shri Ram. He even picked library books himself |url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/lsr-was-a-labour-of-love-for-lala-shri-ram-he-even-picked-library-books-himself/1607613/ |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=ThePrint}}</ref> Lady Shri Ram College for Women began in what was earlier the hostel building of the Shri Ram College of Commerce in [[Daryaganj]], and today, the college's campus is in [[Lajpat Nagar]].<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kuntamalla |first=Vidheesha |date=29 May 2023 |title=Pincode 110001: A businessman’s tribute to his wife, LSR college has helped fuel dreams of several young women |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/pincode-110001-a-businessmans-tribute-to-his-wife-lsr-college-has-helped-fuel-dreams-of-several-young-women-8634047/ |access-date=18 May 2025 |website=The Indian Express}}</ref> Lady Shri Ram College for Women is one of India's most prestigious colleges.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pillai |first=Soumya |date=14 August 2024 |title=How DU's once-'notorious' ARSD dethroned LSR in NIRF rankings by improving its science programme |url=https://theprint.in/india/how-dus-once-notorious-arsd-dethroned-lsr-in-nirf-rankings-by-improving-its-science-programme/2222245/ |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=ThePrint}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mani |first=Gayathri |date=10 October 2020 |title=DU's first cut off list out, highest is 100% at Lady Shri Ram College |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/education/2020/Oct/10/dus-first-cut-off-list-out-highest-is-100-at-lady-shri-ram-college-2208594.html |access-date=19 May 2025 |website=The New Indian Express}}</ref>

=== Association with other organisations ===
On 16 February 1930, Ram became the 4th president of the [[Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry|Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry]] (FICCI), and with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] by his side, delivered his presidential address.<ref name=":0" />

Ram was nominated as a member of first Central Board of Directors of the [[Reserve Bank of India]], effective 1 January 1935.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Money/5T2DQyx59hkq5IvMHF3dgM/RBI8217s-sepiatinted-conflicts.html|title = RBI's sepia-tinted conflicts|date = 13 December 2011}}</ref>

On 2 March 1937, the Delhi Improvement Trust came into being and Ram became its member.<ref>http://www.rgplan.org/delhi/DELHI IMPROVEMENT TRUST (D.I.T) 1936.pdf</ref>

Ram was the member of All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers (AOIE) since its inception and became the President of AOIE for the year 1940 and 1941.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aioe.in/html/about.html|title=All India Organisation of Employers}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Ram died on 11 January 1963.<ref name=":1" /> Following his death, [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan|S. Radhakrishnan]], the [[President of India]] at the time, said, "He was not only a great industrialist but helped many good causes. His contributions to education are memorable."<ref name=":1" /> Ram's businesses were inherited by his two sons: [[Bharat Ram]] and Charat Ram. His eldest son, Murli Dhar, died in a plane crash near Karachi in 1949.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Bhandari |first1=Bhupesh |date=14 April 2011 |title=DCM's split family disorder |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/dcm-s-split-family-disorder-111041400059_1.html |newspaper=Business Standard India}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bharat Ram]]
* Charat Ram<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/dr-charat-ram-passes-away/story-8boouKl67TR0FBK2kwAX8O.html|title = Charat Ram}}</ref> – husband of [[Sumitra Charat Ram]]
* [[Sumitra Charat Ram]]
* [[Bansi Dhar]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://html.lsr.edu.in/history.asp Lady Shri Ram College history page]
* [http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shri-ram-ram-ram/392141/ Business Standard Article]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=mryFNM7U8fwC&dq=delhi+cloth+and+general+mills&pg=PT14 Great Lives chapter on Sir Shri Ram]
* [https://www.srcc.edu/about-us/founder/ Link on the founder of Shriram College of Commerce]

==Bibliography==
Khushwant Singh and Arun Joshi, “Shri Ram-A Biography” (1968) Asia Publishing House, Bombay

==Suggested reading==
* Sir Shri Ram Biography prepared by The Shri Ram Biography Project
* From the Brink of Bankruptcy: The DCM Story by Vinay-Bharat Ram
* Draft of the Biography on Sir Shri Ram written by Bhupesh Bhandari
* Lala Shri Ram: A Study in Entrepreneurship and Industrial Management by Arun Joshi
* Shri Ram, A Biography by Khushwant Singh and Arun Joshi
* How business leaders like Shri Ram inspired workers to excel, Are unions losing influence by Dayal, I (1997) [Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27767528]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Lala Shri}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Delhi]]
[[Category:Indian industrialists]]
[[Category:Indian philanthropists]]
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the textile industry]]
[[Category:Indian Knights Bachelor]]

Lala Shri Ram - Revision history

HongGrasby5256 at 21:02, 14 March 2026