Mumbai: Birla group patriarch Basant Kumar Birla passed away on Wednesday. He was 98.
He was the youngest son of the legendary Ghanshyam Das, father of Aditya Vikram and grandfather of Kumar Mangalam, Basant Kumar Birla was truly a ‘Birla’ — a ‘rare person’.
He was the chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, which runs an engineering college named BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology in Pilani, Rajasthan, the Swargashram Trust, which administers a Sanskrit school in Rishikesh.
He also established Birla Public School in Qatar and the Birla College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Kalyan near Mumbai.
He is the author of several books, including an autobiography entitled Svantah Sukhaya.
Birla is survived by his daughters Jayshree Mohta and Manjushree Khaitan. His son Aditya Vikram Birla died in 1995. Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, is the grandson of BK Birla.
