Page 10 - Seniorstoday November 2023 Issue
P. 10
Essay
Have Marwaris
lost their Midas touch? Forbes India
My friends, the reports of the demise of the Marwari Midas touch are greatly
exaggerated, writes Harsh Goenka
A Gujarati industrialist recently remarked, same period. While these figures show the
‘You Marwaris have lost the Midas touch!’ community remaining as relevant as one
Current public perception certainly seems of the top wealth creators, it was equally
to corroborate his observation. But have obvious they no longer occupied centre
they really lost the Midas touch? My stage.
first point of search was data on the Top The community’s historically pre-
50 business houses in the country. In Independence dominance continued
1964 there were 13 top Marwari families after 1947, with many Marwari business
comprising 26% of the highest echelon houses ruling the roost with the likes of the
of business houses. In 1990, the figure Tatas. Entrepreneurial, as well as astute
increased to 14 families comprising 28%. In negotiators, their keen understanding
2000, this remained static. of costs and sense of financial risk
Comparing the number of Marwaris in management set the stage for their rise in
2013 that made it to the Forbes list of top industry as well as in the financial services
IOO Indian billionaires with those in 2022 sector in the post-Independence era.
showed that while there were 29 Marwaris This dominance continued till
in 2013, in 2022, the number had gone liberalisation. Unfortunately, this time
down to 26, but the number of Marwaris around, Marwaris were not in a position to
in the first 10 had risen from 2 to 4 in the take advantage of the opportunities. With
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