Aditya Vikram Birla

Issued On: 14 Jan 2013
Denomination: 500 Paise
Stamps Printed: 0.31 Million
Printing process: Wet Offset

Aditya Vikram Birla was an Indian industrialist. Born into one of the largest business families of India. He was one of the first Indian industrialists to expand abroad, setting up plants in South East Asia, the Philippines and Egypt.

Birla was born on 14 November 1943 in Kolkata to industrialist Basant Kumar.  His grandfather Ghanshyam Das Birla was an associate of Mahatma Gandhi and had built his fortune on aluminum prospecting and as the manufacturer of the Ambassador car.

After attending St. Xavier's College in Kolkata, he earned a degree in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the best institutes of the world. His son Kumar Mangalam, who now heads the Aditya Birla Group.

He established different companies in various countries.

• Indo-Thai Synthetics Company Ltd at Thailand in 1969
• P.T. Elegant Textiles at Indonesia in 1973
• Thai Rayon at Thailand in 1974
• The Indo Phil Group of companies at Philippines in 1975
• Pan Century Edible Oils at Malaysia in 1977
• Thai Carbon Black at Thailand in 1978
• P.T Indo Bharat Rayon at Indonesia in 1982

In 1993, Birla was supposedly diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for treatment for prostate cancer, and died on 1 October 1995.

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Mr. Birla "Among the best and brightest citizens of India."