Dr. Sarla Birla – Birla matriarch and businesswoman

Dr. Sarla Birla (1923 – 2015), daughter of Indian independence activist and writer Brajlal Biyani was a member of Birla family. She was married to Basant Kumar Birla, third generation member of Birla Business Empire, thus becoming a part of family. After marriage she joined business, and became an educationist as well. She was an art collector and social worker. She was the daughter-in-law of Ghanshyam Das Birla, well-known industrialist and close associative of Mahatma Gandhi. Her son Aditya Vikram Birla and grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla carried forward the family legacy, and expanded their business empire.

Sarla Birla was born in Kuchhaman, Rajasthan. Later the family lived in Akola, Maharashtra where she grew up. Her marriage with Basant Kumar Birla happened via Mahatma Gandhi and Jamnalal Bajaj, who introduced her to Birla family. Birla family, especially her father-in-law Ghanshyam Das Birla had a good relation with Mahatma Gandhi those days. In fact Gandhi lived his last three months in Birla family, before he was assassinated. After marriage, she fully supported her husband’s business and philanthropic activities and also co-founded 45+ educational institutions. Both were fully involved with their profession till their last years, and both lived a long life of 90+ years.

Sarla Birla – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She outlived her son Aditya Vikram Birla for exactly 20 years. Aditya passed away in 1995 in his middle ages due to prostate cancer, giving responsibility of family business to less-experienced Kumar Mangalam Birla in his 20s.

2. Her daughter-in-law Rajashree Birla is a philanthropist, businesswoman and Padma Bhushan recipient.

3. Present generation (6^th) of her family members include Ananya Birla – a singer and Aryaman Birla – a cricketer, and both stay away from business.

4. Rameswar Das Birla, Baldeo Das Birla, Krishna Kumar Birla, Ganga Prasad Birla, Chandrakant Birla and Yasovardhan Birla are some prominent figures of Birla family belonging to different generations. Most of them were associated with business and well-known industrialists.

5. Seth Shobharam, grandson of Seth Bhudharmal, who lived in the early 19^th century, was the first one from Birla family who got into trade and business. He was a local trader. It was his son, Seth Shiv Narayana in the second half of 19^th century who ventured business outside their hometown Pilani, now a part of Rajasthan. Birla industrial family flourished since then.

6. Well-known industrialist Krishna Kumar Birla was her brother-in-law.

7. Her niece Shobhana Bhartia (daughter of Krishna Kumar Birla) is perhaps the most prominent female member of Birla family (Rajashree Birla and Sarla Birla being daughter-in-laws). She is the Chairperson and Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times Group, inherited from her father.