In this article, You will read the Industrial Houses (Business Groups) in India – for UPSC IAS.

Industrial Houses in India

Conglomerate – A conglomerate in simple words is a multi-industry company. A conglomerate includes one group that overlooks multiple business entities in entirely different industries.

Industrial Houses (Business Groups) – Business Houses are a public or private structure business that forms a group of various companies dealing in different segments. Business Houses are an important part of a nation’s economy and a major contributor to the GDP of the country. The industrial scenario of many developing economies is identified by various business groups. In India, 90% of the businesses are family-owned. They have played a very crucial role in the development of the Indian economy.

As we know the Indian economy is a mixed economy where both public and private players are allowed to participate in the development process. So, there are two types of industrial houses and industrial complexes based on ownership:

  • Public industrial houses and complex
  • Private industrial houses and complex (For examples, Tata and Birla Industrial houses)
Background (of Business Groups):
  • Some industrial houses in India have played a pivotal role in the industrialization of a country that was an agrarian economy primarily till mid 20th century. Many of the industrial houses have existed since the pre-independence days, yet there are some which have come up in post-independent India and have played praiseworthy roles in the direction of industrial development in the country.
  • The Indian economy has gone through a roller-coaster ride since the country’s Independence. In 1947, India was an open economy but by the mid-1950s, big business was a bad word and soon the government placed regulatory limits on the growth of big firms.
  • Public sector firms were at the center of the economy. The economic policy came a full circle in 1991, as the P V Narasimha Rao government unleashed reforms and liberalized the economy. Big businesses and foreign capital were now objects of desire, rather than derision.
  • All through this change, one feature of the Indian economy has remained unchanged – the dominance of family-owned enterprises. Fifteen of the top 20 business groups are family-owned.
  • But, beneath this apparent status quo, there has been a big churn. Except for a handful, most family-owned groups have fallen by the wayside. Conversely, many of today’s top business groups were either very small in the early 1950s or are products of post-Independence economic growth.
  • In all, only three business groups that were among the top 20 in 1951 – Tata, Birla (AV), and Mahindraare still at the league table. And, in case of Birlas, only one of the branches has managed to maintain its dominance.
Industrial Houses in India
  • Experts attribute the churn to a group’s (family) adaptability factor. “The groups that adapted to the new environment such as 1956 industrial licensing or post-1991 market reforms continue to grow, while others fell off the radar,”.
  • For example, the 1969 anti-trust Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act placed limits on the growth of big businesses, directly hitting prominent family-owned groups.
  • But this also made way for newcomers such as the Om Prakash Jindal group, which took advantage of the growth restriction on incumbents such as Tata Steel (then TISCO). Many of today’s cement barons also owe their rise to the same law.
  • The 1970s also witnessed the rapid rise of the Dhirubhai Ambani group.
  • The Ambanis grew by tapping opportunities in sectors where corporate India’s old money was hardly present – synthetic textiles and its entire value chain from petrochemicals to crude oil refining.
  • In all, 16 of today’s top 20 business groups are products of post-independence economic growth. They now account for two-thirds of the combined assets and nearly 70 percent of the combined revenues of the top 20.
  • The 1991 economic reforms accelerated the churn. Nine of the current top 20 business groups owe their rise to the opportunities unleashed by the reforms – abolition of industrial licensing, free cross-border movement of capital, and opening of sectors such as banking, infrastructure, and telecom for the private sector.
  • This led to the rapid growth of business groups such as Bharti, Adani, GMR, HDFC, and the Jaypee group.
  • With the global software boom, Infosys and Wipro became the 15th and 16th largest business groups, respectively. Tata Consultancy Services is the most profitable and valuable company in the Tata group, while Tech Mahindra is the group’s second-largest business after farm equipment and automotive.

The Tata

Being one of the oldest industrial houses in India this industrial house has iron and steel as well as an automobile (heavy) as its traditional areas of interest. But in the coming times, it has diversified in a great many areas/sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cement, publishing, power, finance, hotel, insurance, software, refrigeration, air-conditioning, telecommunication, etc. Its Tata Consultancy Services, a software development, and export company, is the largest software services company in the country. Its recent foray into the four-wheel segment has been able to make historic news around the world with the launching of the $ 2500 car—the Nano.

tata group

The Birla

The Birlas, though they have gone for divisions, are among the oldest industrial houses in India like the Tatas. Their traditional areas of activities have been textile, paper, paraffin, cement, aluminium, and automobiles. In the last few decades, they have diversified in other areas too such as machine tools, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, consumer durables, and nondurables, etc.

birla group

The Goenka

One among the oldest industrial houses of the country, this has business interests in the areas such as power generation and distribution, textile, pharmaceuticals, machine tools,
entertainment, etc.

The Bajaj

Among the oldest business families of India, they are known around the world for their
commendable product the Bajaj Scooter, which is competent enough to fight out the international competition in the segment. Of late, they diversified into the areas of bikes also. Their areas of activity expand to electric and home appliances, entertainment, etc. Recently, they announced their intentions of entering the automobile sector with one of the cheapest cars in the world (after Tata’s Nano).

the bajaj group

The Escorts

One among the oldest industrial houses, this organization has been popular in the country for its contributions in three areas especially—manufacturing the most popular and lone motor-bike brand `Rajdoot’, a heart-oriented hospital, and the ‘Eicher’ brand of tractor.

The UB Group

This group is amongst the oldest and the leading industrial houses of India with its traditional interest in the alcoholic drinks sector. Of late, it has also started diversifying in the areas such as airlines, infrastructure, hospitality, and real estate segments.

The Firodias

Being one of the oldest industrial houses the Firodias have attained specialization in the field of manufacturing automobiles ( four-wheelers and two-wheelers) generators sets, etc.

The Godrej

Amongst the top, oldest, and reputed industrial houses of the country, this organization has
contributed in the areas of detergents, refrigeration, almirahs, furniture, air-conditioning, and lock industries providing the highest of the standards.

The Ambanis (The Reliance)

Though the group is now divided between two brothers, the industrial house is considered rags to riches story and represents the rise of a new entrepreneurial class in the country. It has paraffin and synthetic yarn as its traditional interests; today it has diversified in more than a dozen traditional and new industrial areas such as power, petroleum, textile, garments, hospitality, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals, software, banking, insurance, etc.

The Reliance group

The Kirloskars

This industrial house is famous for manufacturing high-class heavy and light machine tools. it has a place of pride in locomotion. The credit for producing India’s first diesel pump set goes to this industrial house. it has brought about a revolution in farm mechanization by manufacturing India’s first tractor. Its compressors are known for high-quality performance. It is also producing cars in collaboration with Toyota.

The Infosys

The main industries of this house are electronics and software for which it is a well-reputed house. Besides this house is making a significant contribution in the fields of education and social work.

The Wipro

The doyen of the sunrise industries, this industrial house of India is primarily involved in the field of software development and export including the production of computer peripherals. This is also a leading company in the field of business process outsourcing (BPO).

Wipro group products

The Bharati

Bharti Enterprises was founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal in the year 1976. The company has its headquarters in New Delhi and is operational in 16 countries across Africa and Asia. The company has businesses in the field of telecommunications, agribusiness, financial services, and manufacturing. It has its presence in many sectors but its largest revenue comes from the telecom industry. Some international companies like Singtel, IBM, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, and Alcatel-Lucent are the current key partners of the company in telecom. Its charitable arm, the Bharti Foundation is reaching out to 2,40,000 students and engaging 8,000 teachers across 13 Indian states to revolutionize the education sector.

The Bharati group

The Becon

The main field of activity is Biotechnology. Although a comparatively newcomer in the industrial field, It has carved a niche for itself.

The Ranbaxy

This is among the leading drug and pharmaceutical industries of India, having a reputation of international standards. The industrial house has been an inspiration for a great number of new drug-makers in the country.

The Thapars

This house is famous for paper, sugar, and some allied industries.

The Jagjit Group

This industrial house is famous for textiles and sugar industries apart from distilleries.

The Sarabhais

This industrial house is mainly concerned with the drugs and pharmaceutical industries for which they are renowned all over the world.

Hamdard

This industrial house is has done a pioneer work in the Unani tradition of medicines in India and has the high tradition of medicines in India and has the high tradition of preserving, pursuing, and propagating this stream of medicines.

The Dabur

Its primary activity is the manufacturing of Ayurvedic medicines for which it has earned a name for itself.

The Baidhyanath

Like the Dabur, this industrial house is also known to preserve and propagate Ayurvedic medicines and is quite renowned in this field.

Manipal Group

Manipal Group was founded in the year 1953. Manipal Group provides education and healthcare services in India and internationally through its subsidiaries. The group has been imparting world-class education for over six decades. Manipal Healthcare manages 11 hospitals including 8 teaching hospitals, making it Asia’s largest healthcare management group. MNE Technologies Pvt Ltd is the only Asian group of companies solely dedicated to providing integrated biomedical equipment maintenance and management.

The Oberois

This industrial house is well known for its mark in the hospitality industry. It has built high-class hotels in different parts of India and in different countries in the world.

The Arya Vaidyashala

This industrial house is known as the harbinger of the Ayurvedic tradition in India and also runs a hospital dealing with Ayurvedic treatment and naturopathy.

The Jaypee

This is one of the major real estate and construction companies of India which has earned the reputation of construction major roads and bridges within the stipulated time.

Bombay Dying

Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company Limited (Bombay Dyeing) is the flagship company of the Wadia Group, engaged primarily in the business of Textiles. Bombay Dyeing is one of India’s largest producers of textiles.

The Arvind Mills

Arvind Limited (formerly Arvind Mills) is a textile manufacturer and the flagship company of the Lalbhai Group. This company is one of the largest producers of Jeans cloth and supplies this cloth to almost all the major brands in the world.

The Modi

Gujarmal Modi founded the Modi Group. this is also one of the oldest industrials houses in India. The famous industrial town of Modinagar in Uttar Pradesh owes its origin and growth to this industrial house. the main industries are set up by this industrial house are textiles, ready-made garments, carpets, sugar, pharmaceuticals, tyres and tubes, hospitality, etc.

The Sriram

This house has a wide variety of industries which include textiles, ready-made garments, fertilizers, electricity, home appliances, generator sets, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, etc.

The Singhania

This is also one of the oldest industrial house of India. The main industry run by this house are textiles, pharmaceuticals, machine tools, tyres and tubes, and entertainment.

The Ansals

The Ansals are one of the largest and oldest real estate developers and their activities can be seen in most of the cities of India.

The Pioneer

This company is doing a pioneer job in the development of high-yielding varieties of seeds and is promoting hybrid seed-based farming in India. This company is also credited with producing different types of pesticides and herbicides.

The Pantnagar

This company is also producing better seeds and helps in the success of the green revolution. Apart from seeds, this company produces various pesticides and herbicides.

The ACC

This is the organization of cement-producing companies and is known as Associated cement company (ACC). It produces high-quality cement which has great demand in the market. The company has contributed a lot in boosting the construction activity in the country.

Hinduja Group

Hinduja Group was founded in the year 1914 by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja. It was founded in the year 1914. Its product range is Oil & Gas, Media & Telecom, Financial Services, ITES. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Companies under this group are involved in a wide range of activities including foundries, import-export, trading, motor vehicles, banking, call centers, and healthcare, etc. It is one of the top 10 Business Groups in India.

Hinduja group

Mahindra Group

Mahindra Group was founded in the year 1945 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India. The group has operations in over 100 countries around the globe. The group has a presence in aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket, automotive, components, construction equipment, defense, energy, farm equipment, finance and insurance, industrial equipment, information technology, leisure and hospitality, logistics, real estate, retail, and two-wheelers.

It is considered to be one of the most reputable Indian industrial houses with market leadership in utility vehicles as well as tractors in India. The group has been divided into six Strategic Business Units: Automotive; Farm Equipment; Infrastructure; Trade and Financial Services; Information Technology; and Automotive Components (Systech).

mahindra group

TVS Group

TVS Group was founded in the year 1911 and is headquartered in Madurai. It was founded by  T. V. Sundaram Iyengar. The Group is India’s leading supplier of automotive components and one of the country’s most respected business groups. It currently comprises over 50 companies. These operate in diverse fields that range from two-wheeler and automotive component manufacturing to automotive dealerships, finance, and electronics

tvs group
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Purushothaman

Excellent notes… Thank you sir