Birla family

[7] With growing wealth and increasing confidence, Shiv Narayana Birla moved up the value chain and began chartering cargo ships in partnership with other Marwadi tradesmen to trade opium with China, thus by-passing British middlemen.

By the early 1880s, Shiv Narayan (Narain) had passed on the baton of his business interests to his adopted son, Baldeo Das Birla, established Shivnarayan Baldeodas, a trading house based in Bombay.

After India's independence in 1947 he started Grasim (Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing, 1948) and Hindalco (Hindustan Alum Company 1958) among others.

He also generously led the grant on the request of Vallabhbhai Patel to lay the foundation of Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya in Anand, Gujarat.

Baldeo Das, as well as his sons, were among the key supporters of the Swaraj movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, in addition to being dedicated Hindu activists.

[17] When E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the chief minister of Kerala (1957–59), as a result of the first elected Marxist government anywhere, the Birlas were invited to establish a pulp factory there.

By early 1900, the Birla family began to support education, influenced by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.

Currently they have 6 schools run by Birla Education Trust (BET), which evolved into BITS Pilani, which has branches in Hyderabad, Goa and Dubai.

The institutions founded by the Birlas include: In a letter, Ghanshaym Das offered this advice to Aditya (his grandson) when he was studying at MIT: GD Birla instructed his son Basant Kumar to 'never utilize wealth only for fun and frolic,' to 'spend the bare minimum on yourself,' and to deride 'worldly pleasures.

[29][30] However they have continued to maintain family relationships that go back to the times when "Birla Brothers" were an actual entity and Raja Baldeo Das was still alive.

GD Birla's both wives died early because of tuberculosis (He remarried after the death of his first wife), a common affliction at that time.

[31] It is reported that Kumar Mangalam Birla had dipped into his own resources to help his beleaguered relative Yash with his financial issues with creditors in order to preserve the family name.

[33] They were distantly followed by Dalmias (Dalmia-Sahu Jain group) for some time,[34] however Tatas and Birlas have been able to sustain themselves as among the most prominent industrialists in India (for 1939-1997 data see[35]) while others have declined.