The story of my life essentially focuses on how politics destroyed an assiduously built industrial
empire; how I fought a long but unsuccessful legal battle for getting my textile mills back; and how I
eventually succeeded in reinventing life in the very industry I always loved.
The origin of the House of Jaipurias dates back to 1914, when my father, Seth Mungturamji Jaipuria,
left our native town of Nawalgarh (in Rajasthan) to travel to Kolkata (earlier Calcutta), which was
then India’s industrial and commercial hub, and had been its official capital till 1911. (Delhi then
acquired that privilege.) I have tried to explain the evolution of the Jaipuria Group, as well as of the
Indian textile industry, in as lucid a manner as I could. I hope the young entrepreneurs, as well as
the students of management, apart from the public at large, would find my narrative educative and, if
I may say so, inspiring.
I hope this book would not only help the younger generation understand India’s industrial history
and the roots of its own entrepreneurial abilities but would also inspire some of the few remaining
entrepreneurs of my generation to record their life histories and share their rich experience, besides warning present and future governments about the dangers of unnecessary meddling in affairs of industry and trade.