Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

Author(s): Rauf Ahmed
Publisher: Bhupendra Singh Anand

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PRATAP BHOGILAL - JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE
profitable textile mill in Mumbai in the 1960s as its Managing Director, and then raising Batliboi & Company to a position of pre-eminence in the machine tools and related businesses. Yet, around 1976-77, when textile mills in Mumbai ran into problems in the wake of the widening of the excise differential between the mill cloth and the cloth from the powerloom sector, Pratapbhai was the first to think of moving out of the textile business by selling off the mill he had prided in building up. A die-hard pragmatist, he said, "You can't be emotional in business. You have to see the writing on the wall in good time and act swiftly before circumstances overtake you!" Pragmatism has been the touchstone of his approach to life and business.
In contrast, when Batliboi was on the brink of a collapse due to the liberalisation policy of the Government which hit many businesses, especially the engineering and capital goods business, he didn't panic. Instead, he chose to ride the rough weather bravely. Ignoring all advice to pull back money and drop out of the business, he resorted to several unpopular but realistic measures and turned the company around.
If Pratapbhai had had his way, Batliboi would have been the first to manufacture two-wheelers in India as early as in the 1950s. He had actually purchased a scooter in Japan during his visit to that country in 1948 and shipped it to Mumbai for a feasibility study of manufacturing two-wheelers in India. However, he was too preoccupied with other pressing business commitments at the time to be able to push the process through personally. Bajaj Auto, which had started out by selling imported two-wheelers and three-wheelers in India, hit the streets with their first indigenously manufactured two-wheelers in the '60s.
The Bhogilal legacy can be traced to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, of the late nineteenth century. The family went by the surname of Shah. Pratap Bhogilal's great-grandfather Uttamchand Shah's ancestors used to run a flourishing business in grocery at Madhavpura in the Shahibaug area of Ahmedabad. They were regular suppliers to the British Army Camp located in the vicinity.
Eat like a nobleman, work like a donkey - My grandfather