Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd. facts for kids

The Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd. is an Indian company that makes sugar. Its main office is in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It started on September 21, 1934. This makes it one of the oldest companies in India that is still working today. A college in Pune, the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, is named after this company.

Chandrashekhar Agashe started the company as a limited liability company. He raised money from many people to get it going. At first, the company got help from sugar-making rules in the Bombay Presidency. It also got support from some princely states in the Deccan States Agency between 1934 and 1938. Its first factory began working in 1939. During World War II, the company grew food crops because the British Raj asked them to. After India became independent in 1947, the company faced some challenges.

In the 1950s, the company was managed in a way that allowed different parts to make their own decisions. This continued until Agashe's sons, Jagdish and Dnyaneshwar Agashe, were old enough to take over. In the 1960s, the company lost a lot of its agricultural land. This happened because the Indian government started policies to take over land for public use. In the 1970s, the company was one of the first to make Indian-made drinks after the Government of Maharashtra changed its rules. However, it sold this part of its business to Radico Khaitan in 2013. Since 1988, the company has worked like a cooperative. Since the 1990s, it has also started making veterinary medicine, health care products, and Ayurvedic skincare products. It does this directly or through its other companies.

Company History

Starting the Company: 1934–1956

In 1933, the Governor of Bombay, The Lord Brabourne, wanted more sugar to be made in India. He made it more expensive to bring in sugar from Mauritius. This helped Chandrashekhar Agashe to start the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd. on September 21, 1934. He spent two years raising money from many middle-class people in Maharashtra. The company's main office was in Pune.

Between 1934 and 1936, Agashe planned to open a factory in his hometown of Bhor. He started growing sugar cane on 2,000 acres of land. In 1935, he hired local farmers to grow or transport sugar cane for the company in Bhorgaon village. By 1936, he had permission to use or bought 12,000 acres of farmland. People praised him for helping the local economy. He even received more land from bankers and politicians.

Agashe set up the company's main office in the Commonwealth Building. In January 1935, the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture announced that 300,000 shares of the company were for sale. The first share cost Rs. 25. From 1935 to 1937, Agashe traveled to different states and areas. He told people about the company in many village meetings. By 1937, the company's factory made 35 hundredweights of sugar.

In November 1937, Agashe ordered sugar cane machines from Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia. This was before World War II began. After Adolf Hitler came to power and Germany took over Czechoslovakia, Agashe thought about canceling his order. But he received the machines before a German company took over Škoda. He started building the first factory in April 1938. The company's first sugar cane factory opened in Bhorgaon village in March 1939. He also bought land around the factory to grow his own sugar cane. By 1940, the main factory was making 150,000 bags of sugar each year. They sold the sugar under the name Shree. The village was even renamed Shreepur.

In 1943, Agashe gave money to the Deccan Education Society. This led to the creation of the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce in Pune, named after the company. In the same year, the Bombay Presidency ordered sugar makers to grow food crops. This was to help British troops during World War II. Agashe created a farmers union to keep making sugar and also meet the food needs of the British Raj. However, farmers were not happy because it did not make much money.

After India became independent in 1947, Agashe was able to make more sugar. By 1950, the company could process 1000 tonnes of sugar cane each year. In 1950, the University of Bombay looked into the company's worker conditions. By 1953, some people did not like Agashe's role as the company's managing director. The company faced some claims about misleading shareholders. Agashe wrote a long report to defend himself. He said his critics were supported by a competitor who wanted to buy his company.

In 1954, the company advertised in a publication from the Mahatma Phule Museum. Agashe was on the museum's board. In July 1955, the company and other sugar factories went to court. They wanted to settle disagreements with worker unions about how much money they had to pay into employee savings funds. Agashe passed away in June 1956. His sons, Panditrao Agashe and Dnyaneshwar Agashe, continued his business.

New Leadership and Challenges: 1956–1970

Agashe left the company in a strong position. The company was managed in a way that allowed different parts to make their own decisions. S. L. Limaye became the chairman of the company's board of directors. He served from 1957 to 1990. K. V. Champhekar became the managing director from 1957 to 1962. Then G. S. Valimbe took over from 1963 to 1969. Agashe's sons, Panditrao and Dnyaneshwar, became joint managing directors in July 1970.

The company's senior managers helped Panditrao Agashe. He was quite young when he joined the board in 1957. By 1958, the company also had offices in Solapur and Shreepur, Maharashtra. The company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1959. Between 1958 and 1966, the company helped many farming communities. This included areas affected by the Panshet dam flood in 1961.

In the late 1960s, the company fought against the Government of Maharashtra's plans to take over land. They eventually lost, giving up thousands of acres of company land to the Government of India. By 1966, Panditrao's brother Dnyaneshwar Agashe joined him on the company's board. Both brothers became joint managing directors in July 1970.

Expanding Products: 1970–2009

Starting in the 1970s, under Panditrao and Dnyaneshwar Agashe, the company made different kinds of beverages in Shreepur, Maharashtra. The company was one of the first to make government-approved beverages after the Maharashtra state changed its rules. In 1978, Panditrao retired, and Dnyaneshwar became the sole managing director.

By the early 1980s, the company also briefly worked in metal printing. In October 1980, a study looked at how the company affected Maharashtra's rural economy. Under Dnyaneshwar, the company launched a new beverage in partnership with Camus Cognac. In 1984, the company sponsored a sports tournament. In 1986, it sponsored a squash tournament. In 1988, the company changed to work as a cooperative. By 1989, the company was seen as a top maker of beverages in the country.

In 1990, Dnyaneshwar became chairman of the board after S. L. Limaye passed away. He stayed in this role until his death in January 2009. In 1991, a special plant was installed at the company. It was developed with money from the United States Agency for International Development. This plant helped control pollution when making industrial alcohol. In the same year, Dnyaneshwar's son Mandar Agashe joined the company's board. He became a joint managing director with his father by 1994. Dnyaneshwar's younger son, Ashutosh Agashe, joined the board in 1996.

By 1998, the company started selling ayurvedic medicines, health care products, and raw materials. It also made food products and veterinary medicine. In the same year, the company held cricket tournaments in Pune. In 1999, Mandar left his role as joint managing director. He then started the company's subsidiary company, Brihans Natural Products Ltd., in 2000. The company began promoting ayurvedic skincare products made by Brihans Natural Products Ltd. In the same year, Ashutosh became a joint managing director.

By 2002, the company also made chemicals based on alcohol. In 2005, the company partnered with Howling Wolves Wine Group from Australia. They planned to set up a wine production base in India. This partnership was with Baumgarten & Walia Ltd., a company fully owned by the syndicate. In the same year, Radico Khaitan agreed to buy the company's beverage brands.

Modern Era: 2009–present

In 2009, after Dnyaneshwar Agashe passed away, Ashutosh Agashe became chairman and managing director of the company. In 2013, the company sold its beverage-making part to Radico Khaitan. In 2014, the company had a disagreement over the brand name 'Tango' with another company.

In May 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Ashutosh and the company gave oxygen concentrators to hospitals in Shreepur, Maharashtra. In 2022, the company asked Nandan Phadnis to translate a 1992 book about Chandrashekhar Agashe from English to Marathi. They also had a 2002 book about Dnyaneshwar Agashe translated. Both translated books were published by the company in the same year.

See also

In Spanish: Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate para niños