Meet Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia, The Man Who Built India's Oldest Running Business Group

Nearly 290 years ago, India¡¯s oldest running business group, the Wadia group, was founded by Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia. And since then, many other presitigius business groups have been born in India, including the Tata group and Godrej, but the Wadia group still remains as the oldest running business group in India.

When Was Wadia Group Founded?

wadia group/wadia

The oldest running business group in India is the Wadia Group, whose origins are traceable to the year 1736. Also, its subsidiary, The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited. which was established in 1863, is the oldest publicly traded company in India.

Who Founded India's Oldest Running Business Group?

lovji nusserwanjee wadia/postoast

The Wadia Group was founded by Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia in 1736, when he opened a Marine Construction company that built ships for the British. He was one of India¡¯s first master shipbuilders and a pioneer of the global ship building industry.

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia was born in 1702 and was a Parsi from the Surat province of Gujarat. The Bombay dry-dock, the first dry-dock in Asia, was built by Lovji and his brother Sorabji in 1750.

Lovji is considered the founder of the shipping and shipbuilding industry in Bombay. In around 1760, the first Atash Adaran in India was established in Siganpur, near Surat, by Lovji Wadia. His descendants are the Wadia family: Neville Wadia, Nusli Wadia, Ness Wadia, and Jehangir Wadia. His great-grandsons, JBH Wadia and Homi Wadia, founded Wadia Movietone in 1933, which had its studios at Lovji Castle (Lovejee Castle) in Chembur, Mumbai. The company even had its logo as a ship, honouring their family legacy.

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Which All Companies Come Under Wadia Group?

Wadia Group has presence in several diversified industries, including FMCG, real estate, textiles, chemicals and food processing. From Bombay Dyeing to Go First, here's a list of companies that fall under India's oldest running business group:

Go First

Bombay Dyeing

Britannia

Bombay Realty

Wadia Techno-Engineering Services

Bombay Burmah

National Peroxide

Dental Products

Medical Microtechnology

Instruments Orthopaedics

Who Is Currently Heading The Wadia Group?

Nusli Wadia/forbes

With a $6 billion net worth (as per Forbes), Nusli Wadia currently heads the Wadia Group as its chairman. He is the grandson of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Wadia is often referred to as a corporate samurai by the Indian press for waging many legal battles.

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