A Century Old Legacy
Our Family Business
Out of three brothers, elder brother Neki Ram Sharma decided to move to Calcutta at the age of 11 in year 1922. Very soon, he was joined by my father Dwarkadas Sharma and his brother Rati Ram Sharma. Out of three, it was only Rati Ram Sharma, who passed middle school i.e. the eighth standard.
The shift was something that was forced upon them. Their parents had expired in a plague epidemic and there was an urgent need to make ends meet, while having to overcome the lack of education.
Calcutta was undivided India’s city of opportunity, the economical capital of this vast subcontinent, driven by a number of industries – tea, jute and engineering. The city attracted capital; it attracted businessmen from various states, its economy was sustained by import and export; it traded with a number of countries through its bustling port.
Three brothers were at the right city at the right time. What they did not possess by way of a formal education and family support, they more than made up their common sense and the ability to spot a commercial opportunity. They started out by working as share brokers.
Their preservance and honesty resulted in their being able to soon set up their own firm Nekiram Dwarkadas with their own gaddi at 94, Lower Chitpore Road (Mia Katra) which we still have and celebrated its 100 years, only last year.
Nekiram Dwarkadas initially engaged in share trading at the Calcutta Stock Exchange (One of the oldest in South Asia) and all other trading hubs like Tissi Bara, Chandi Bara, and Borabazar, among others. Being perceptive, they later expanded to jute and hessian trading, becoming founder members of East Indian Jute and Hessian Exchange Limited in 1945.
