Story of Jain Gem Premchand Roychand (Founder of Bombay Stock Exchange)
Bullion king Speculator by instinct Master manipulator of the market.
The donor of the iconic Rajabai tower.
A Big gun in those early days of Bombay.
The Roychand family moved Mumbai from surat when Premchand was a young boy (probably on a Bullock cart), He was educated at Elphinstone College. Recorded as the first Indian broker able to speak, read and write English, he entered the lists as a stockbroker in 1849.
Premchand with his fingers dug deep in several markets — commodities, bullion, stocks, real estate, and banking — his rise and fall over a decade marked the commercial rise of Bombay.
He used the money to gain immense power. By 1865, he controlled Bombay. He influenced the British policy-makers, pressurized businessmen, controlled commodity, and stock traders His words were the law in money markets, his action were cues for blind following.
When he was 21, in 1852, Premchand joined Ramchand Lala, a senior broker, and, within no time, ran the latter’s business. Later, he bought over Lala’s firm and became a full-fledged independent broker. By 1858, the Roychands amassed a wealth of Rs 1 lakh and got into real estate.
There were several reasons why the Bank of Bombay acted like Premchand’s personal bank. The latter was a renowned director in the bank and had a towering statue in the city’s financial circles, He had followers, loyalists, and supporters in all the sections of the society.
He earned significant profits from the cotton boom which was triggered by the start of the American Civil War in April 1861 which stayed till 1865.
He lost the majority of his fortune in the Backbay reclamation scheme, and other such ventures. He subsequently earned a portion of it back and turned to philanthropic ventures. He opened many schools for girls. His most remarkable donation was the Rajabai Tower in Mumbai.
Premchand Roychand’s mother was blind and as a staunch follower of Jain religion, she was supposed to consume her dinner before evening. Legend says that the evening bell of the tower helped her to know the time without anyone’s help. That’s a noble son and a staunch Jain.
He donated 2 lakh ₹ in 1869 on the condition that the tower is named after his mother. He died in 1906. His bungalow in Byculla that he named Premodayan became an orphanage and school for destitute girls. a remarkable life PR lived and made the whole Jain community proud of it.
Author — Ajay Sarode, Blogs at hegeeks.com
