[Reader-list] Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar by BN Sharga

[Pawan Durani]

Hello members ,

Thought that some of you may find this brief biography of first Indian
Chairman of ITC interesting .

Pawan


  First Indian Chairman of I.T.C.

Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar

By. Dr. B.N. Sharga

To check the fast growing monopoly of the American tobacco companies in the
world market especially of James Buchanan Duke thirteen British tobacco and
cigarette companies including the famous W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol merged
together in 1901 to form the Imperial Tobacco Company to carry out their
business in the global market under this new brand name. Mr. William Henry
Wills of the leading W.D. & H.O. Wills group became the first Chairman of
the Imperial Tobacco Company on 24th August 1910. The company was
incorporated as a Private Limited Company under a new name Imperial Tobacco
Company of India Ltd. for manufacturing cigarettes and smoking tobacco in
the country. Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar who joined this company in 1948 as a
trainee in marketing became its Chairman in 1969. He was first Indian to
occupy that coveted post.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar’s ancestor Pt. Mahesh Haksar was originally a
resident of Srinagar in Kashmir, where he used to live in Tankipora locality
near Kani Kadal around 1680. He was a highly religious person with sharp
intellect. He had a son Manohar Haksar who inturn had a son Roop Ram Haksar
and a grandson Nand Ram Haksar. As the Afghan rule in Kashmir from 1752 upto
1819 was not very conducive for the Kashmiri Pandits because they were
subjected to all kinds of brutalities and indignities by various Afghan
governors during this black chapter of Kashmir history so many Kashmiri
Pandit families migrated from Kashmir to the plains of North India to avoid
their religious persecution during this period. Pt. Sita Ram Haksar, who was
the son of Pt. Nand Ram Haksar came to the imperial capital Delhi in 1804 to
seek employment in the Mughal court, whereas his brother Pt. Sahib Ram
Haksar stayed back in Kashmir to look after their ancestral property there.

When Pt. Sita Ram Haksar came to Delhi he found the Mughal emperor Shah Alam
II (1759-1806) almost a puppet in the hands of the British as the British
forces under the command of Lord Lake took over Delhi under their control
after defeating Marathas in the Anglo – Maratha War leaving little scope for
the Mughal emperor to exercise his powers. Finding the employment
opportunities quite dim in those ancertain conditions in a war zone. Pt.
Sita Ram Haksar after living in Bazaar Sita Ram for a couple of years then
moved to the Gwalior state in Central India from Delhi to try his luck
there. After some time he became a teacher in some school there. He had a
son Jagat Narain Haksar and a grandson Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar.

Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar was born in 1805 at Delhi. He became well versed in
Urdu and Persian language at a very young age and started writing Urdu
poetry. His poetic compositions were published in
‘Bahar-e-Gulshan-e-Kashmir’. He was an ardent admirer of Lord Krishna. He
had four sons Dharam Narain, Prem Narain, Swaroop Narain and Shyam Narain
alias Kanhaiyya Lal.

Pt. Swaroop Narain Haksar who was born in 1828 at Delhi and had his
education in Delhi College was the first member of this Haksar clan to take
up a job in the Indore state around 1846 as a teacher in a school on the
recommendation of his British Principal of Delhi College. He was in the good
books of Mr. R.H. Hamilton, who was British Political Agent for the
Indorestate during the rule of Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar. Pt.
Swaroop Narain
Haksar became a ‘Mir Munshi’ of the British Political Agent in 1850 and then
Dewan of Bundelkhand in 1856.

Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar who was born in 1824 left Delhi in 1849 after
completing his education at Delhi College and became the editor of *Malwa
Akhbar*. In 1856 the British appointed him as the *Mir Munshi* of the
Indorestate. His another brother Pt. Prem Narain Haksar became Dewan
of Tehri
state in Central India around 1854.

So when Mutiny broke out at Delhi in 1857 Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar was
living in Bazaar Sita Ram with his youngest son Pt. Shyam Narain Haksar and
his cousin Pt. Ram Krishna Haksar who was the grandson of Pt. Sahib Ram
Haksar and their families. As there was great chaos, confusion, mayhem and
bloodshed every where so Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar decided to go to Alwar
state where he had his relatives for the security of his family members. He
asked his cousin Pt. Ram Krishna Haksar to bring the curfew pass so that
they could move out from Delhi. When Pt. Ram Krishna Haksar came out from
his house with a relative to arrange the curfew pass, he was shot dead by a
British sergeant for violating the martial law. After performing his last
rites Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar with his family members moved to Alwar state
from Delhi to live in peace there.

Pt. Ram Krishna Haksar had a son Pt. Prem Krishna Haksar and two grandsons
Pt. Maharaj Krishna Haksar and Pt. Brij Krishna Haksar. Pt. Maharaj
KrishnaHaksar had two sons Suraj Krishna and Bal Krishna besides a
daughter
Roopwanti who was married with Pt. Manharan Nath Sharga of Kashmiri Mohalla,
Lucknow. Pt. Brij Krishna Haksar had no son. He adopted the son of Pt.
Ganesh Sahai Gurtu of Jodhpur who by virtue of this adoption became Pt. Sri
Krishna Haksar Pt. Sri Krishna Haksar was married with Brij Kumari the
daughter of Pt. Nand Lal Hukku of Kashmiri Mohalla, Lucknow. He had two sons
Tej Krishna Haksar who was employed in Land Development Bank and is married
with Geeta the daughter of Pt. Karhaiyya Lal Raina of Rani Katra,
Lucknowand Raj Krishna Haksar who is working in a pharmaceutical
company and is
married with Rekha the daughter of Pt. P.N. Dhar of Delhi. Both of them live
at Luck now.

When Queen Victoria of England took over the administration of India
on 1stNovember 1858from the East India Company and conditions became
perfectly normal at Delhi
Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar came back from Alwar to Delhi and found his
ancestral *haveli* badly damaged and completely ransacked by the British
soldiers totally unfit for living. The then commissioner of Delhi C.B.
Saunders helped him in getting a big compensation from the British
government. Pt. Bishan Narain Haksar from that money purchased a big plot of
land in Gali Prem Narain and built two *havelis* Rang Mahal and ‘Sheesh
Mahal’ besides a temple of Lord Krishna at Mathura in 1870. He died in 1890
at the age of 85 years at Gwalior.

Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar after his retirement from the British service in
1879 shifted his base from Indore to Gwalior. Maharaja Jajaji Rao Scindia
made him a Hony. magistrate and tutor of prince Madhav Rao Scindia. The
British conferred the civilian title of Rai Bahadur upon him for his
services in the Gwalior state. He died in 1892 at Gwalior at the age of 68
years. He was married with Sushil Kumari the daughter of Pt. Pran Nath Raina
of Kashmiri Mohalla, Lucknow who later on migrated to Gwalior and became
Principal of Victoria College there.

Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar had a son Har Narain Haksar who was born in 1853 at
Indore. He started his career as a translator in the office of Indore
Residency. He used to go to Gwalior quite often. He died suddenly due to
heart failure at the residence of his elder son Col. Sir Kailas Narain
Haksar in 1902 at the young age of 52 years.

Pt. Har Narain Haksar had two sons Kailas Narain and Iqbal Narain besides
five daughter Swaroop Kumari married to Pt. Swaroop Narain Razdon the son of
Pt. Bishan Narain Razdan of Amritsar, Ram Pyari married to Pt. Roop Krishna
Kitchlu the son of Pt. Praduman Krishna Kitchlu of Lahore, Bilaspati married
to Pt. Pratap Narain Shivpuri the son of Pt. Brij Narain Shivpuri of Alwar,
Maharaj Kumari married to Pt. Prem Nath Agha of Allahabad and Shivrajpati
married to Pt. Brij Krishna Kitchlu the son of Pt. Praduman Krishna Kitchlu
of Lahore.

Col. Sir Kailas Narain Haksar was born in 1878 at his ancestral *haveli* in
Gali Prem Narain, Bazaar Sita Ram, Delhi. He had his initial education in
Urdu and Persian at Delhi. He then did his F.A. in 1893 and B.A. in 1895
from Victoria College, Gwalior. He got married in 1895 with Swaroop Kishori
who was the daughter of Pt. Jialal Hukku and granddaughter of Pt. Moti Lal
Hukku of Bijnor.

Col. Sir Kailas Narain Haksar did his LL.B. from the University of
Allahabadin 1897. He then served as a lecturer in
Victoria College, Gwalior from 1899 upto 1902. He then became Private
Secretary of Maharaja Madhav Rao Scindia in 1903. He was then honoured with
the rank of Colonel of the State army. In 1913 he became a member of the
governing council of the Gwalior state and functioned on that post till
1937. He also worked as the director of the Princes Council formed by the
rulers of different states between 1929 and 1931. He took part in all the
three Round Table Conferences held between 1930 and 1933 at London. For his
valuable contributions in different fields he was knighted by King George V
of England in 1932.

Col. Sir Kailas Narain Haksar then became the Prime Minister of the
Bikanerstate in 1938. He went to
Kashmir in 1940 where Maharaja Hari Singh appointed him as tutor and
guardian of prince Karan Singh. In 1940 the University of
Allahabadconferred upon him the honourary degree of LL.D. He became
the Prime
Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state in 1943 and worked on that post till
1944. He then devoted his life in social work. He was a great orator and had
an equal command on English and Persian. He died after a long illness in
1953 at the residence of his son Pt. Prakash Narain Haksar in Calcutta.

Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar was born around 1890 at Gwalior. He had his
education in the famous Victoria College and then joined the Gwalior State
Scindia Railways as an Administrative Officer around 1919. Maharaja Jayaji
Rao Scindia, who ruled over the Gwalior state from 1835 upto 1886 sent Rs.
75/- lacs to the British in 1772 for the construction of the Agra – Gwalior
portion of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway and a similar amount in 1873
for the construction of Indore-Neemuch section of the Rajputana – Malwa
railway line.  Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia had a great fascination for the
railways and developed an extensive narrow two feet gauge network of
railways within his state known as Gwalior State Scindia Railways. Not only
that he got a silver toy train designed on the banquet table in his palace
to serve constly imported drinks and cigars to his guests. This antique
train is still in the working order in the Gwalior Palace.

Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia died on 20th June 1886 and was succeeded by his
son Madhav Rao Scindia from his fourth wife Sakhyabai. Maharaja Madhav Rao
Scindia appointed Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar as the administrative officer of
the Gwalior State Scindia Railways to look after its proper management and
maintenance, which he did with great ability and farsightedness. This Haksar
family earned a great respect and honour in the Gwalior state.

Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar was married with Shammo (Tej Rani) around 1992, who
was the daughter of Pt. Jagat Narain Mulla a leading criminal lawyer of
Lucknow. Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar died on 9th June 1953 at Gwalior and was
survived by three sons Anand Narain, Raj Narain and Ajit Narain besides two
daughters Sheila married with Justice Ram Narain Gurtu the son of Rai Brij
Narain Gurtu of Kanpur and Tara married with Pt. Suraj Narain Razdan the son
of Pt. Chand Narain Razdon of Ujjain.

Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar was born in 1924 at Lashkar, Gwalior. He passed
his Senior Cambridge examination from Doon School, Dehradun in 1940. He then
did his Intermediate from Victoria College, Gwalior in 1942. He then went to
Allahabad and did his B.A. in Humanities from the University of Allahabad in
1944. He then went to America and did his M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School in 1948.

Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar after coming back to India started his career as a
trainee in marketing with the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Ltd. in
September 1948. He was a man with a vision and extraordinary managerial
skills. He soon started showing his potential as a marketing expert by
evolving new strategies in the field of marketing based on his studies and
expertise in that time. He gave new fillip and direction to this wing of the
company. He was made the Marketing Director of the company around 1954 to
implement his policies and programmes more vigourously with the result that
on 27th October 1954 the company was converted into a Public Limited Company
and apart from manufacturing cigarettes and smoking tobacco also started
Lithographic printing business.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar then became the Deputy Chairman of the company around
1960. He then diversified the business of the company by opening up new
avenues and adopting new business priorities. He thus became the first
Indian Chairman of a British Company in September 1969. Under his
Chairmanship the name of the company was changed from the Imperial Tobacco
Company of India Ltd. to the India Tobacco Company Ltd. in May 1970. It was
due to his untiring efforts and meticulous planning that the company entered
into the hotel business in 1972 and built a chain of hotels in the country.
In 1973 under his stewardship the company received the approval of the
government for setting up three processing plants.

On 1st April, 1974 the name of the company was again changed to Imperial
Tobacco Company Ltd. In 1975 I.T.C. Ltd. purchased the net assets in India
of India Leaf Tobacco Development Co. Ltd. (U.K.). In 1979 the name of the
company’s chain of hotels was changed from Welcome Hotels to Welcom Group
and the company entered into a marketing service and reservation agreement
with the Sheraton International. Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar retired from active
service on 11th January 1983 after an outstanding track record of 14 years
as the Chairman of the company.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was then made the Chairman emiritus of the company to
utilize his ability and farsight for the benefit of the company. A new
company under the name Gujrat Hotels was incorporated under a joint venture
agreement signed between the company and Gujrat Industrial Corporation to
build hotels in Gujrat. In 1986 the company signed a joint venture agreement
with Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation for setting up four
hotels in Madhya Pradesh. The company introduced the new brand of Wills
Flake Premium Filter and Scissors Filter in 1987 and acquired Neidoue Hotel
of Srinagar, Kashmir on lease. In the same year the company added 30 rooms
in Mughal Sheraton at Agra.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was the President of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and
Industries for two years. He was a Member Board of Directors of Reserve Bank
of India, Industrial Development, Bank of India, Indian Airlines and Heavy
Engineering Corporation, Ranchi. He was Chairman Board of Governors of
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Indian School of Mines,
Dhanbad. He was Member Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta and Hyderabad Staff College. He was Member National Committee on
Tourism and Government Committees on Public Sector.

The Hony. Membership of the Indian Institute of Industrial Engineering was
conferred upon Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar in 1981. In the same year he got Man
of the Year Award from NIF. Modi Enterprises. He was given NIQA outstanding
Industrialist Award in 1982 and Business India’s First Businessman of the
Year Award. He was elected in World’s Hall of Fame in 1982 and 83. He became
an Honorary Fellow of All India Management Association 1987-88. He got Udyog
Ratna Award in 1988 and Life Time Achievements Award in 2005.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar during his school and college days was a voracious
reader and a good sportsman. He was a god hockey and football player. He had
a great passion for cricket. He also took a keen interest in theatre during
his student life. Later on in service he switched over to playing lawn
tennis. He then started playing golf to keep him fit and mentally alert.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was a thorough gentleman with pleasing manners. He
always recognized the dignity of labour and encouraged promising young men
to achieve excellence in their life. He was a man with a mission. The
qualities of his head and heart made him dear to everyone. He used to
command a great respect among his colleagues as well as subordinates. Work
was the motto of his life. He died on 20th May 2005 at Delhi at the age of
80 years due to brain haemorrhage.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was married with Madhuri the daughter of Pt. Trijugi
Narain Sapru and granddaughter of Dr. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru of Allahabad. He
had a son Anant Narain Haksar and a daughter Neena married to Pt. Kapil
Narain Channa the son of Pt. Uttam Narain Channa.

Pt. Anant Narain Haksar was born on 31st August 1951 at Gwalior. He had his
schooling at Doon School, Dehradun. He then did his graduation from the
University of Calcutta in 1971. He then went to London and did his
graduation in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1975. He then
did his Bar-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn. in 1977. He then came back to
Indiato start his legal practice as an advocate in the Delhi High
Court. He
became a senior advocate of the Delhi High Court in March 1992. He is an
ardent lover of music and has a keen interest in cricket and golf. His
favourite passtime is book reading. He married Vandana the daughter of Pt.
Pratap Krishna Kaul former Cabinet Secretary, Government of India and
granddaughter of Pt. Kunwar Krishna Kaul of Kashmiri Mohalla, Lucknow. He
has two daughters Avantika born in July 1980 and Anusha born in November
1981.

Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was responsible for steering the change at ITC
towards a company that may look more Indian than British. He took the
company to new heights by introducing a new work culture in it. He was one
of the most dynamic and high profile Indian manager in independent India. He
very successfully led the ITC into newer businesses beyond cigarettes. He
will always be remembered as a great visionary and a pioneer in business
management. In the words of William Hazlitt. If you think you can win, Faith
is necessary to victory.





*( Dr. B.N. Sharga )*

Manohar Niwas,

Kashmiri Mohalla,

Lucknow – 226 003


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