A long time ago, in a simple lower-middle-class house in grant road, there used to live a young man named Pallonji Mistry. In the year 1865, Pallonji Mistry founded a small construction company with an Englishman, they named the company as Littlewood Pallonji. Their first project was the construction of pavement on Chowpatty. This project led to a profit of Rs. 2000, a huge amount at that time. And this first profit became the stepping stone of Pallonji’s future success.
Later in 1880, Pallonji’s company constructed a reservoir on Malabar Hill, which supplied water to Mumbai for over 100 years. Later his 13-year-old son, Shapoorji joined the family business. And together they father and son, expanded the business. Now more than a century later, their company is known as, the Shapoorji Pallonji group. One of the world’s oldest surviving construction companies. Moreover, the group is also the largest individual shareholder of the humungous conglomerate, Tata Group. So without any further delay, let’s begin this never before seen journey and witness Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s fascinating Business Empire.
Journey of Shapoorji Pallaonji
We will start this voyage in Americas & reach the windy state of Kansas. Here the group’s subsidiary, Sterling and Wilson, has been involved in the development of multiple solar projects including the largest solar farm in Kansas. Moving to Vancouver, Canada. Here the company owns a publicly traded General Contracting company, which has been involved in multiple projects including the construction of Providence Cricket Stadium in Guyana. Speaking about Cricket, the group has also set up a cricket academy and training center based in Dublin, Ireland.
Now let’s move to the vibrant Africa. Here the group has developed solar projects in Nigeria, Jordan, Niger, and a 230-hectare Solar farm in South Africa, which at the time of construction was South Africa’s largest solar plant. Moreover in Africa, the group has been involved in the construction of multiple projects, like International Port in Gabon, National Assembly in Gambia, Housing & hospital projects in Algeria, and also Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre in Niger. Moving to scenic Mauritius, here the group has jointly constructed major projects like Cyber Tower and the International Convention Centre at Port Louis.
Now let’s travel by a large transportation ship, yes this too is owned by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. We are currently passing Europe, here the group owns a majority stake in an Italian gas-based power generation company, STC, and also jointly owns a direct selling consumer goods company in Switzerland.
Now after the world tour, it’s time to reach Asia. And we will first set foot in the desert sands of Oman. We are right now outside a stone palace built for the Sultan of Oman back in the 1970s. This was the first international project of the Shapoorji Pallonji group. Moreover in Oman, the group has been involved in the construction of Oman’s first Power plant, the Tallest Residential Tower, the Largest Township, Municipality Building and Commercial Complexes. While the group also employs over 6500+ people in the country. From Oman, let us travel to Saudi Arabia. Here the group has been involved in the construction of multiple towers, hotels, and even a college. Moving to nearby Qatar, here the group has undertaken construction work of landmark buildings like Boulevard and also a skyscraper project in Doha. From Doha let us take a ride & reach UAE. Here the group has been involved in the construction of Residential complex, Office Buildings, Malls, multiple 5-star hotels, and has also developed one of the world’s largest single-site solar project in Abu Dhabi. Moving to the rest of Asia, Shapoorji Pallaonji group has been involved in the development of multiple solar projects in Philippines and a 168 MW solar plant in the neighbouring country Vietnam. Moving to Indonesia, here the group has also been involved in the development of the world’s first large sulfur processing floating facility.
Business empire in India
Now finally after our world tour, it’s time to land in India. And we will return back to Mumbai. Here the group has been involved in the construction of many of Mumbai’s landmark buildings, which include, Bombay Stock Exchange building, the Reserve Bank of India building, Taj Mahal hotel, Oberoi hotel, and also the tallest residential twin towers in India, The Imperial. Moreover, in the rest of India, the group has been involved in the construction of over 100 Software Development Centres, over 25 automobile manufacturing plants, over 4and half thousand lane kilometers of roads, multiple Bridges, Marine Facilities, Hotels, Institutes, Stadiums, Solar farms and also the recently completed world’s longest highway tunnel above 10,000 ft, the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang, which was jointly completed by their group company, AFCONS Infrastructure. Furthermore, the group also manufactures diesel generators, operates an Investment Advisory company, a NBFC, a precision products manufacturing company, a magazines publishing company, a listed textile company, and also a Real Estate company, that has developed over 13 million sq. ft. of residential properties, including 20,000 apartments in one of India’s largest mass housing project in Kolkata. Moreover, the group also owns, Eureka Forbes, the leading consumer goods brand with over 2 crore customers. The company also manufactures the famous Aquagaurd waterpurifier.
Furthermore, in the past the group was involved in the production of the most expensive & highest-grossing movie of those times, the iconic Mughal-e-Azam. Other than operating multiple business, Shapoorji Pallaonji Group has been involved in various social causes which include, Rural Education, Flood Relief; the company has served more than 500,000 meals to children from low-income families and have also set up a Biodiversity Garden in Maharastra. After covering almost everything about the group, we still have not discussed the biggest asset of Shapoorji Pallaonji Group.
At this point of time, the group owns an 18.37% stake in Tata Sons, making the group the largest individual non-trust shareholder of the gigantic conglomerate, Tata Group.
Conclusion
So to end this long journey, that started with a young contractor working on a small pavement project in Mumbai, which has now been transformed into a construction powerhouse spread across the world. In the end, all I can say, this was Shapoorji Pallaonji group’s fascinating business empire
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