{{Short description|Indian industrialist and philanthropist (1921–2019)}} {{Multiple issues| {{cleanup rewrite|date=April 2011}} {{primary sources|date=October 2008}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2008}} }} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} {{infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Basant Kumar Birla | image = Basant Kumar Birla - Kolkata 2009-05-02 0066.jpg | alt = | caption = | honorific_suffix = GCM | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1921|1|12}} | birth_place = Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2019|7|3|1921|1|12}} | death_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | monuments = | citizenship = Indian | other_names = | known_for = Industrialist, Philanthropist | television = | education = University of Calcutta, (Bsc) | alma_mater = | employer = | notable_works = | style = | agent = | occupation = Businessman, Educationist | years_active = 1942–2019 | title = Chairman of Birla Group | term = | predecessor = Ghanshyam Das Birla | successor = Aditya Vikram Birla | political_party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge = | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = {{marriage|Sarala Birla|1942}} | partner = | children = 3 including Aditya Vikram Birla | father = Ghanshyam Das Birla | relatives = Kumar Mangalam Birla (grandson) <br>Ananya Birla (great-granddaughter) <br> KK Birla (brother) | callsign = | awards = Padma Bhushan <br> Order of the Holy Trinity <br> Order of Menelik II | signature = Signature of B. K. Birla.svg | signature_alt = B. K. Birla | website = | footnotes = | module = }}
'''Basant Kumar Birla''' (12 January 1921 – 3 July 2019) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist of the Birla family. He was chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET) and various educational trusts and institutes.
==Biography== Birla, the youngest son of philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla, was born on 12 January 1921. By fifteen years of age, he was already actively associated with a large number of companies and eventually became the chairman of Kesoram Industries.{{when|date=January 2012}} In this role, he concentrated on the industries of cotton, viscose, polyester and nylon yarns, refractory, paper, shipping, tyrecord, transparent paper, spun pipe, cement, tea, coffee, cardamom, chemicals, plywood, MDF Board, etc.
In 1959, he established the Indo Ethiopian Textiles Share Company, which was the first major joint venture by any Indian industrialist.<ref name="Ethiopia India Relationship">{{cite news |title=Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla passes away |url=http://www.ethiopianembassy.org.in/EthiopiaIndia.htm |accessdate=14 July 2019}}</ref> In response, the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, awarded him the medal of the Order of Menelik II, the highest Ethiopian award.<ref name="Ethiopia India Relationship"/>
On 13 April 1942, he married Sarala, the daughter of activist and writer Brijlal Biyani, after having been introduced to each other by Jamnalal Bajaj and Mahatma Gandhi in 1941. They had a son, Aditya Vikram Birla and two daughters, Jayashree Mohta and Manjushree Khaitan.
Birla died on 3 July 2019, at the age of 98.<ref name="ToI Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla passes away">{{cite news |title=Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla passes away |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/industrialist-basant-kumar-birla-passes-away/articleshow/70057795.cms |accessdate=3 July 2019 |work=The Times of India}}</ref>
==Philanthropy== He was the chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, which runs an engineering college named BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology in Pilani, Rajasthan, the Swargashram Trust, which administers a Sanskrit school in Rishikesh. He also established Birla Public School in Kalyan and the Birla College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Kalyan near Mumbai. He is the author of several books, including an autobiography entitled ''Svantah Sukhaya''. BK Birla also founded the Ashoka Hall group of schools in Kolkata under the aegis of whom they have 3 schools- Ashoka Hall, Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar and G.D.Birla centre of education. He also help found the Birla Institute of Management Technology(BIMTECH)
==See also== * Birla Family * B K Birla Centre For Education
{{Commons category|Basant Kumar Birla}}
==References== {{reflist}} {{Birla family}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Birla, Basant Kumar}} Category:1921 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Kolkata Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges Category:Indian businesspeople in the textile industry Category:Rajasthani people Category:20th-century Indian philanthropists Category:Recipients of the Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia)